i decided to make a 1/200 yamato after getting an itch to build a scale battleship. in 1/200 it comes out more like a kongo class in 1/144 but still has all the styling of a yamato ( kongo is about as big as i can build due to car size and having to crate it up and hang from a rafter next year) After mangaling the first attempt i left the corpse alone for a week and failed at a shimakaze for a week (fixed my issues with it and it is now proceding, just slowly) having pretty much only weekends and one other day a week in which to do projects i tend to keep 2-3 projects floating at once so that as one dries i work on another and am not tempted to mess with it when it is still wet (messed up more things than i care to admit this way). I looked at the corpse of my yamato, found a flat surface, and slapped myself on the head... if i tie ribs one and two together then put a spacer between 2-3 i can resolve the down pitch in the bow that i couldn't figure out how to fix. also i figured out how to fix an issue with the deck hight change at the first bow main gun (stop caring and fix it on the main deck just make the frame strong and solid) requiring only recutting a single rib again. I have a picture of it in it's current state surrounded by the corpses of failed shimakazes ( made from scraps of this ship) and some leatherworking tools that i hadn't cleaned up yet from finishing a bag 2 days ago. you can see the height differance between ribs 8-10 ( i lost 9 needs recut) and i am debating just underlaying a peice of wood there and leaving that flat height differance and fixing it up with the main deck or recutting 8 as well to intensify the angle to where it should be. i have to say for only using a scroll saw and a hand pull saw i've managed to keep the tabs tight so it holds true down the centerline.
The Forums are a bit querky on photos and their sizes. The images apparently havet be posted on another site and linked to. I believe you had a picture to go with the post. I have stopped posting images due to complex issues around this matter. You mentioned going 1:200 for Yamato. I find that once my boats get to be longer than 3.5 feet, they start to be an issue to move and store. This is why the proposed Austerity class keeps the ship length to less than 40 inches with 36" being the preferred. I work with balsa since I lack the workshop to deal with large wood segments. The 3d printers that are making the their way to hobbyists is still some years away from being a workshop fixture. Long live the hand tools. MMJR
photo is a link to my google drive and it should be shared but that doesn't mean it will actually work. i looked into getting myself a 3d printer but i would have it for like 4 months than leave country for a year so that is a silly idea. they will change a fair bit in one year if anything in simplicity and price. kinda wanting to get the 1/144 plans from strike for the yamato but i know it is way to big... and i've already got 3/4 of the basic rib structure done on this one.
finished the ribs and frame! working on this as a wood build as total cost for the non electronics parts is fairly low and to get as much experience building a ship in a single build as possible. Also decided, that once i finish this, i'm going to order a Kongo fiberglass hull and build it for fast gun... at least i think fast gun. Shimakaze has so very little room inside i would HAVE to glass it and do a lost foam or other thing inorder to have enough room to put even a single veryy small non rotating gun in 1/144. that and i see very very few DD running around What would the legality of the ShimaKaze as a convoy ship be? it was a post war modification in 1948 or 50 i think.. pics of recent progress https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwYJq7DRRKMFNVU4cnZtNVBlcG15ci1kQ0h6NXlFTVZqOG9B/edit?usp=sharing this should be my whole folder. has a basic ship hull outline of the Yamato for a game called from the depths in it as well https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwYJq7DRRKMFYTZCY1p1S01iRkk&usp=sharing
An argument could be made for using a Japanese DD as a convoy; lots of them were pressed into service making supply runs in the island campaign... Not sure if Shimakaze specifically did duty in this manner, but worth looking into if you want to use it as such. Keep in mind that Shimakaze the convoy would only be allowed to do 34sec speed, not 21sec with the rest of the zoomies... Rudder spec might be different, too.
Sorry i was reading wrong.... should have just read it in Japanese rather than english... was thinking of the yukikaze ?? not the Shimakaze ?? wouldn't be legal as it wasn't refit until 1948 either.
What I'm saying is that they didn't modify the destroyers used for convoy runs, they just used them as such. Letter of the rules, not strictly convoy ships. However, there are about 20 years of practice where ships that weren't expressly modified were allowed to be used as convoys. I think the Japanese DDs meet that precedent. Whether I'd personally run one as a convoy, no, because they're tiny and would sink very fast without a pump (since convoys can't use pumps)...
The yukikaze was modified to be a hauler after the war as a prize of the Chinese. guns stripped and enclosed cells put up where the torp launchers used to be for putting in containers. but yea the Shimakaze would probably sink in about 3 seconds after it got hit especially if it had to stay slow. just thinking if i was going to have a use for it after i got it built or not. I should make another thread talking about the Shimakaze and see exactly what class and armament it could actually be and save this thread for the Yamato which should be skinned this weekend baring massive failure or to much homework. quick question about skinning however. i see most people place the balsa between the ribs rather than laying it over the whole structure. is this for ease of replacement when it has to many holes?
Incorrect.... they are, in fact "skinned". Sheet of balsa is glued onto the outside of the ribs. If a particular panel (area between ribs) is too shot up to patch, cut it out (exacto-knive down the middle of the two adjacent ribs) and glue in new panel. Also note that when I say "glue" I mean the preferred method of using Weldwood contact cement. CA glue is a nightmare to get off the ribs.
At 1:144 scale, you would a Yamato model 6 feet long and more that a foot wide !:blink: No wonder they are not a common sight at a pond. I like the size of your 1:200 model. It is under 4 1/2 feet long and around 8 inches wide. You still have room to arm it and you do not have to pump out 100 pounds of water if it sinks. MMJR
i had a moment of genius here... went to look for my decks and found them.... cut in half...... missing chunks... apparently i used them for another project when i thought i was going to have to recut the frame.. well that slows things but is fixable.
FOUND THE DECKS!!..well all but one. apparently the ones i thought i cut where for something else that looks a heck of alot like a deck doubt i will get it skinned this weekend as i had forgot to do first finish sanding as well as hole filling and putting the spar urithane on the frame( i don't feel like cleaning out my epoxy pump and replacing like 8 o-rings in it as the hardner eats them if you leave it sitting for about 2 years...) might get 2-3 bits of the hull down as i have cut roughly 1" wide strips due to the fun that is the armor belt on the yamato to the waterline and slightly below.. after that i can solid sheet again. then begins the fun of building the superstructure and finishing the 3d modeling for the main guns so i can order a single unit from shapeways and turn it into a mold for casting in 1/200. will repeat with all AA units as well as smaller guns... to bad i can't find the "Jake" in 1/200 or a model in another scale in common use yet. I might do a 3d model of the superstructure as well that way i can see how exactly i need to build it plus contribute to the growing pile of superstructure models that exist in Tugboat's pile (will need to talk to Tugboat about legality but for personal and hobby use I think this should be acceptable)
giving up on not glassing the Yamato now... just really didn't want to have to clean out the automatic measuring pump... and find where i left my 4 oz biweave at.. if i didn't use it all up... might get the vaccum pump back together as it would really clean up the hull lines and keep the hull shaped very very nicely. need to get my fine sander (if you have never used one it's a dremel that won't cut your hand easily. give you rugburn but won't cut) out as well to trim the fiberglass. first 3 ribs on a 1/200 yamato have such sharp angles that i keep cracking balsa strips and would have to glass over them anyway as i can be certain that i would bump it and crack it.. not doing this one as a combat ship helps simplify things but cutting windows wouldn't be to bad if i decide to later. if i could find some plans of the mogami in carrier mode that i could be certain of where not total crap and/or outrageously expensive for a pdf version i would consider it for my next build (shimakaze is just gonna be a royal pain to build so i might just make a mold for it to keep weight down... or i might finish the 3D plan im working on for it and see what it would cost to have printed.) barring not finding a decent set of at least pre conversion mogami plans i'm going to build a Haruna class from the strike kit. about 1/8 finished with a 3d model of the main turret on the Yamato as well. My obsession with Japanese battleships comes from the fact that i am going to school for Japanese and some of the books can be rather handy for practicing translations and reading. that and next year i'm going to Japan for at least one year. would like to go see the 1/42 model of her that they have somewhere... hope it's not in Okinawa as that is like 8 hours away from where i will be staying.
note to self... never use bloody scented trashbags even if they are the only things that the store has in.. then proceed to use weldwood and epoxy + Mr. color leveling compound in the same room..... i gassed myself and it's raining out so can't air it out that well. anyway hull is mostly cut but im gonna have to micro it to clean up some of the mistakes i made triming. (don't use to high power of a hotwiresaw nor overcompress the foam so it self destructs when cut.)
Here's a little inspiration First the hull pardon the blurry pic but you get the idea.à Then the marking and cutting out of window panels. Then your power plant an drive system..
Float test. Oh year have your buddy bring his Yamato hull for a float test too. Sea trial and sail and shake it down.
