by Han-Pinn, Ong
1/350 IJN Yamato (Tamiya)
Since a couple of years back (some 10 years ago), I already had plans to build this historic vessel that symbolized not only its nation but also the marvels of technology of some 70 years ago. The Yamato was the largest battleship built and it was supposed to be designed as the most powerful battleship of the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Second World War. Although it met its tragic end during the final months of the war, it is still highly regarded by many till this day. It was sunken by American planes off the coast of Southern Japan not because it was not powerful enough but because it did not have the support it need which included air cover and the backup of other naval vessels like destroyers, light cruisers etc.
I thought that it would be meaningful to embark on building a 1/350 scale replica of this historic battleship so that I can put it side by side other 1/350 scale ships that I have to compare and see roughly how big it is. Coincidentally, this happened in April 2005, which was exactly 60years after the real Yamato was sunken by American forces off the coast of Southern Japan. Throughout my ship modeling history, it was on Yamato that I experimented with adding greater detail and realism to the ship. Unlike my other 1/350 ship models built previously, Yamato was the first ship that I introduced Photo-etched detailing as well as rust on the ship's hull to add realism.
It took me a total of two and a half years to complete this ship (of course I had not spent all my time working entirely on this model alone). There was a period that I worked on this ship and stopped then after a few months continue to work on it again.
One of the other reasons that inspired me to build this ship is my father. Some 20 to 30 years ago, he had built a model of this Yamato also but instead of building a 1/350 scale kit, he built one that was 1/450 scale. As modeling paints, airbrush, rigging and photo-etched parts were not so easily available in those days, the level of detail and realism of models made back then may not be as good as what we have now. Hence, I was also inspired to build my own Yamato that would 'complete' and if possible 'perfect' what my father had not 'perfected' back then on the Yamato he made.
