Those tiny things in life: Takara Yamato : Part 3 : Initial Design Version

Alright, after finishing the sectioned part (click here), we get to the final part for the Initial Version. When all 7 sections is combined you get the complete Yamato in the configuration right after it finished the commissioning and enter service.

IJN Yamato with Yahagi class cruiser escort

In this initial design version, we can clearly see the unique outline of The Yamato class battleship. Both Yamato and Musashi has the same design, and if not mistaken, the difference only in the bridge area where Musashi’s bridge was specifically design as a flag ship.

The Yamato class in term of design is unique, in which the ship was actually built around the Guns. So the main design is actually the huge 18 inch guns, after which then they design the ship to carry it. The huge guns also required the ship to be so wide to stabilize it so we get to see the wide design on the ship. Since the ship is so wide, the drag on the water will be very high, so in order to counter this, the engineer made a breakthrough by creating the first "Bulbous Bow" which greatly reduce the drag and increase the speed.

see the wide distance from port to starboard and the small superstrucre

the bulbous bow

Gun housing and the sloping deck

The Yamato class also has unique bow deck, in which they employed the sloping deck feature in the front bow, located right at the second main gun turret. The sloping deck is also used to improve the armor and the defenses of the ship.

the sloping deck

The other interesting thing in the Yamato class which can be seen only in the Initial version is that the superstructure is built very simple and all concentrated right at the center of the ship. While other battleship has very intricate superstructure and buildings, the Yamato classes only have the main bridge and the funnel as their superstructure. The rest are just the platform to install the Anti Aircraft Gun. When we look at the clean arrangement in the Initial version, we can see how small and very little space the superstructure has taken compared to the entire ship, leaving many opportunities for more artilleries.

The pagoda bridge and funnel

Rear view of funnel

Anti-aircraft gun

Rear anti aircraft gun

The most difference in the initial design is the 2 sets of triple turret secondary gun located on each broadside of the ship. In total the Yamato initial design has 4 triple turret secondary guns, which is in equal to the firepower of a heavy cruiser itself. We can truly see that the Yamato was definitely design for firepower.

Triple turret 18 inches gun

broadsides secondary guns

secondary gun, anti-aircraft guns and the search lights

Okay, getting to the stern, it also has some unique feature, such as the semi wet deck that is located on each stern section of the ship, in which smaller boats can be deployed. Also the entire stern area above the waterline is a huge aircraft hangar and boat storage area. With such a huge space available, the Yamato can carry quite a number of planes, but in this figures, they only gave 2 for the display.

One of the weird thing is for such a huge ship, there is hardly any life boats, only 4 boats available, 2 of them is located at the stern deck, and 2 in the wet deck. And these 4 boats is probably used as transport also. The lack of lifeboats was probably due to the believe that the ship was virtually unsinkable.

Wet deck entrance for the boats

So in the figure here, the paintjob is superb. There are slight brown washing in the brown deck area, revealing the details in between the deck plank. The grey paint also applied evenly with some dark washing also in several areas, highlighting the little details available. This can be seen especially in the broadside of the ship hull. Also the little anti-aircraft gun has nice details, the gun barrel are colored black. The Main 18 inch Gun also has holes in each barrel to add realism with shades of black in every hole.

The best area with highlighting and washing would be the cross sectional area, it was painted perfectly, the only problem is that when you combine all the ship, the all this area is closed and cannot be seen. The stern area also has nice paint detailing; with the railing area is painted clearly on the deck. The aircraft in this initial version comes in white paint. The side net also painted black. The propeller also comes in standard gold area. And if you look carefully there is an additional anchor located on the stern.

And another nice feature of the Takara Yamato is that all the Main 18 inches Gun, the secondary guns, and the 6 large anti-aircraft guns are rotatable. And also the 2 huge Gun Directors is also rotatable too. Making it a nice additional point if you want to display the ship in different conditions.

So basically with such a price point which is considered nice (when it was released) this semi model kit from Takara Micro World is a very nice model. For a massed produce one, we can have a highly exclusive level of a model. In comparison, if you buy a Yamato model kit, plus the effort to assemble and painted it, this model is definitely win the price.