by Alton Chiu
1/700 IJN Yamato (Tamiya)
It took me about 6 months to complete the model. The armaments should represent the Yamato in her final voyage, though I added the planes just to make the quarter-deck look busy. The retooled kit is solid, though Tamiya should have molded the cable reels seperately so that modelers can add more detail. I used all Tamiya colors and have no complaints. The PE used is Tom's set. One main problem with the railings is that they are not made with the inclining deck in mind and thus, are hard to attach, plus, there are no "single" railings so the handrails around the bridge is done by cutting the stock ones in half. The main antenna mounted on the mast just aft of the funnel can be replaced by PE, but after much effort, I decided that plastic one looked fine. Some of the PE items are so small that I have trouble seeing them (complicated by my carpet floor). The corners mounted on the base is used to hold in a glass frame. The flags are shown as if a full admiral is on board and the ship is at general quarters. The "smoke" billowing out of the floatplane on the port side catapult is made of nylon stuffings (the same material inside pillows).
