Yamato

Could this ship be competitive at a NATS type environment (aside of campaign), do the sidemounts have enough down angle? Same with the stern, with the height of the deck are the stern guns worth it (or is this more for shooting long distance.
Basically asking if this would be a viable ship. Back in the day Charlie Stephens and his brother did very well at an MWC nats, I will rely on Bob if my memory is correct.

Opinions of course, no flame war.

 

If you can get her to the water... go for it!

 

I had the (?)pleasure(?) of being on the water with the Stephens' brothers Yammer/Mushy team.

Strengths: 24 second speed combined with 350bb's (7x50) means excellent for hunting down wounded and shredding them with the dual sidemounts / triple sterns.
Huge hull volume means (with any kind of reliable pump) you can absorb most of the allied fleet's bb's before (if) you sink. Great benefit to rest of your team

Weaknesses: Better have a pit crew or be a weightlifter to honk that mother in and out of the water
That 2nd strength mentioned means you're basically resheeting the entire boat after every sortie.

Regarding your questions:
Sidemounts- A turret doesn't get great depression, B isn't to bad, but the height of the hull means even it's shots are hitting water 2-3 feet from side of boat. Basically you don't want to allow anyone right alongside, as they will pummel your waterline while you bounce off their deck. Sit out a couple of feet and dump 100 bb's into them 2 at a time....
Sterns- 3-4 foot range easily. Any closer, you're probably hitting super.

Overall, I'd say the Stephens boys proved them viable, especially with two working together. Not a boat I'd recommend for lone-wolfing it, though, unless you like being the center of (Allied) attention....

 

Oh, one more "plus": You are not only allowed, but are strongly encouraged to play the "Empire Strikes Back" theme whenever launching The Beast

 

I do want to build a Yamato but want to battle the Kongo and Shima a few times to make certain i actually enjoy getting sunk.... that and i want to test some tape covers as balsa alternates.

 

I agree with irnuke. Can be good. But need a wingman and a patching support team. Must be build to a high quality.
Hard to make it worth it.

 

Please, it was very worth it. i drove one for 13 years and it was fun. More fun with a wing man, but in general a real fun ride.

The issue of 59 lbs. is never easy to deal with, more if it sinks. Just put a good pump in it.

It had a field around it and BB's would bend just to hit it. You can't be shy for damage, it can absorb hundreds of hits and still fight on.

Gun layout is limited due to three turrets and it will never "dance". But if you have someone to cooperate and trade sides with you, the fun never stops.

 

Advice on making it a quality build? Build it light and have removable weights?

 

build it light because even at 59 lbs. she would just make weight (bloat), but she was reinforced in all areas and in some ways to the absurd.

 

Curt Stokes' Yamato and Chris Osborne's Musashi dominated Cannats events for several years. THey must have been ballasted close to max. allowed weight because they did not have excessive freeboard and all guns were effective within 3' range. As has been pointed out the B turret side mounts had the closest range.

I recall Carl Camurati's Yamato Class being effective at NATS 2003.

 

I won most feared Allied that year with it. The fleets were evened out and the Axis didn't want the "turkey", I think they voted me most feared as a goof.

 

I recall your Yamato running over a small Japanese cruiser that was on the opposing fleet, Yamato being 'Allied'. It went under Yamato's bow, did a 360 roll underwater and popped up again. Must have had very good deck seals!

 

Tommy Tanners minelayer, and it was determined that he was outof-control and I didn't get hit with a penalty.

 

Lou, put the adjustable range sidemounts like Tony & Charlie had. Then you can shoot over escorts into convoys.

 

It took me a first short first season to get used to Yamato. After all I had operated Bismarck f0r 10 years so this was different. I had Yamato original at 54 lbs first season then afterward after a few mods to the internals and details added to the model the weight went up to max plus 10 percent. Chris even went further by having very flat very large propellers. We initially had identical drive systems but the props he used were custom made by BC and I got to tell you they made his Musashi unstoppable. It was able to over take a ship in reverse very quickly but it would not go beyond the regulated speed. The props gave it fantastic acceleration from dead stop. It could maneuver very quick and tight . He was using 1.75 or 2 in propls flat pitc blades 4 blades. We used 20 oz co2 bottles in our bows and had accumulator tanks for the side mounts and a larger tank for the triple cannons stern. He used stainless steel barrels which gave him a harder shot though the pressure was still within legal limits. He had a simple float as a back up for the pump that would activate when the waterchanneling was full of water. He sank my Yamato in Frederiction and it was not pretty. He was a force to reckon with by himself and as a wing man along with a single Nagato we were able to dominate the pond . We had no ESC's hooked up. Just the standard gear system large props and good waterchannelling. Chris was more aggressive with his ship than I was and this really put the fear into the other battlers. The last time it battled the whole allied fleet tried to put him down . It was a good effort but that ship was just too tough. However a few years later the ship was finally put down mainly by Chris as no one else could do it.
The class is a tough ship to put down. Generally takes 4 small ships or 2 large battleships to put her down. However she does have an Achilles heel. Put a lot of holes around the fantail at the waterline and just above. Once that goes under she will quickly go down unless the hatch on that small quarterdeck is sealed up and she has no other hulls in the hull .

I found it a beast to retrieve once sunk but just let the water pour out and use your legs to lift or get help. The model is great for those rough water battles. Very stable

Practice with this beast and learn to shoot at very small targets. If you can hit those with your sidemounts and triples while moving and maneuvering than the big ones will be easy.

My first Can-Nats with Yamato was not a good showing . The model went dead in the water and the Entire Allied Fleet converged at Point Blank Range and shot her full of holes. My PUMP failed to activate. The hull absorbed 600 holes all above the waterline. Some were on but the model was in light weight mode so the reserve buoyancy kept her up till the allies expended their ammo mostly. If your at Max load then you lose that reserve buoyancy and yes you will take a lot of holes sink but you will sink quicker. I sailed Yamato into the middle of a Allied furball and the pump happened to quit when I ran the Gauntlet. The model rolled and sank. .

Anyway the ship is a beast. If you love beasts and enjoy terrorizing and instilling fear than this is a fun ship to do that. Not great against pesky small slow ships that turtle around with nasty sidemounts and converge on you like Phiranah . If you build it righ it will turn tight and well . If you build it not so right. It will wallow around and become a BB sponge.

 

We were able to get our sidemount ranges of 2 ft for B turret and 3 ft for A turret. 3 FT was the smallest range we could get without having to trim the model down by the stern .I found with a ship that size you want breathing or maneuvering room . That way you can react in time case the opponent realizes the only way to avoid being ripped apart is to hug your hull.

 

I used 2 inch props 4 blade 25 pitch. Traaxis gear box. Motors were J 600 or 550 or 540s. 6-12v .I ran it on 6vs. Plenty of power.

 

The only differences in our engine sets up was I used a pair of cooling coils and water pickup tubes that were placed behind each prop. I found my motors got hot after running a long time. Chris had the same issue but it didn't affect his model's run time or performance. The coils kept the motors cool and of course they were more efficient in performance and easy on the battery draw because of it. I had the exhaust water pump out through small outlets I attached to the boat hanger doors that were located beneath the overhang of the flight deck on each side. Great way to extend the life of the drive motors.

 

Have some images of Yamato and Musashi Firing guns. You can get a good idea of the sidemount ranges.