IJN Yamato by RGL - FINISHED - Tamiya - 1/350 - PLASTIC

[ccoyle]

I am continually amazed at how much fine detail is presented by these newer PE sets. Of course, if the modeler doesn't have some skill and finesse at assembling the PE (unlike you, Greg), all that detail is wasted. Excellent work, my friend!

[mtaylor]

The detail is incredible on the PE stuff.  I do wonder when these bits and pieces will actually work instead of being static.

[RGL]

Cog, the answer is no, I also have the old tool which I bought second hand to practice painting, and the new tool does not need them as the detail is a lot better. The time spent in making the corrections would be saved with the new tool.

 

Mr Taylor,

 

Nothing is impossible but at this scale you use such tiny dabs of glue, they are very fragile and break very easily, not to mention that if you bend some etch the wrong way then bend it back they snap off.

 

The designers have to be engineers to make it all work, and still do it economically. My biggest issue is the instructions seem to make perfect sense once you have finished making an assembly. I dare say it is the language barrier as well and lack of decent photos. I would be happy for Pontos to give me free stuff and I would do their instructions for them. There is a fantastic build on another site which I have been following,and the bloke from Pontos seems to drop in and out of their forum in the way of marketing his wares.

 

Working rigging blocks on a tall ship are feasible but given the amount of crew they require, not possible for the single modeller to represent. If I hadn't made some wooden ships first I would never have the patience to do this one.

Edited January 8, 2017 by Greg Lester

[BANYAN]

Very nice job on the 20mm cannon / guns Greg, even if only a 6 of them, that is very well detailed and came up a treat.

 

cheers

 

Pat

[Canute]

Just be thankful this is brass. I've done some stainless steel PE and you don't get any redos. Your mastery of the Pontos and other brass PE is outstanding, Greg.

[RGL]

Next is the two 13mm machine guns that go on the tower. Thank god there are only two as they are flat out the smallest things ever with a lot of bending and very tiny barrels which are hard to align. You can see the Tamiya offering in the last photo.

[CDW]

Those are a huge improvement over the kit part. I can only imagine how small they must be.

[cog]

That kit part is a mere piece of plastic with some protrusions, those brass one's ... look a lot like the real deal. Well done with your fat fingers!

[RGL]

I am limited with my photography with my phone, my job once sent me on a course but it was all about not being seen by the subject. Needless to say my eyes are going with the scale and I've got great near sighted vision. The triple 25mm's are a lot easier but there are 26 of them, I did up the first draught this afternoon without glue and they're quite easy.

 

Can someone please recommend the very best brand of tweezers they know of? Tamiya is too big, and there must be something out there that can handle 1mm pieces without sending them into orbit. I have one excellent pair but open to suggestions

[FatFingers]

Hi Greg,

Excellent work your doing on Yamato. Regarding tweezers, try looking for some that are intended for electronic surface mount work. Some of the devices, resistors and capacitors, come in packages that small, an 0603 package is 0.6mm x 0.3mm for example. There are smaller packages too.

Edited January 9, 2017 by FatFingers

[cog]

Greg,

 

Look for juweler's tweezers, or the Japanese http://kaneshin.shop.multilingualcart.com/index.php?lang_id=en&genre_id=9&keyword=&sch_goods_tag=&act=&sortkey=&offset=10&tsuka_conv=jpy found the link in another log

Edited January 9, 2017 by cog

[RGL]

Next is the 25mm triple guns.

 

The Pontos kit provides 29 guns mounts, and the model requires 24.

 

So I spent the afternoon and this morning working of the first draft so to speak to see how it goes together. Not as hard as the smaller guns, but still fiddly, the final product is very rough and now I know what to do it will improve. The gun shields come off as they are not on the real ship and I expect they are required for the Mushasi, and there are two options for the sights, which the reference material says were simple iron sights in 1944/45. .

 

As I have spares, there are a few more ideas I want to try for ease of construction, the only thing is to have enough barrels I will probably have to pull the draft apart and burn it to get the glue off.

 

This is going to take a while.

[cog]

Where did you get that fat finger/thumb is that a blow up rubber finger???

 

 

Gawd that's tiny ... can imagine you'll be needing time to first find all the parts, and then fit them into one tripple gun ... great work, Greg

[Keith_W]

This build log shows what is possible - if the manufacturers of wooden ship kits invested in the same technology. 

[Old Collingwood]

Dont know about the Amazing work you have done - but I can read how old you are by your rings

 

 

OC.

[cog]

Yep OC,

 

He is just out of his infancy

[popeye the sailor]

wonderful work on those guns....your really moving right along!

[RGL]

Thanks all, slight miscalculation, there are actually 28 triple 25mm guns, so that's 76 barrels to insert, and 76 x 2mm magazines to fold and insert.

 

Just completed that aspect and somewhat cross eyed. Still, easier than stropping blocks.

Edited January 10, 2017 by Greg Lester

[BANYAN]

Nice work again on those 25s Greg; that ship sure had some close range fire power.  28 of this miniscule things; not just cross-eyed but a bit of a headache also I'd guess?

 

cheers

 

Pat

[schooner]

After seeing this I can never whine about tiny PE again!

 

As far as tweezers go, I've had some luck wrapping the tips in 1 wrap of masking tape (sticky side toward the tip - not the work piece) helps keep small parts from being propelled into a parallel universe when I squeeze too hard at just the wrong time.

Edited January 10, 2017 by schooner

[RGL]

The thing is with tweezers I find that if any CA gets on them they have to be polished back as CA builds up in layers making them useless.

[CDW]

The thing is with tweezers I find that if any CA gets on them they have to be polished back as CA builds up in layers making them useless.

Exactly this. I constantly clean the tips of my tweezers of any stray droplet of CA as it will cause problems for sure.

[Keith_W]

The thing is with tweezers I find that if any CA gets on them they have to be polished back as CA builds up in layers making them useless.

 

Try this. Pour some acetone into a glass jar, large enough to fit your tweezers in (I use pasta sauce jars). Put your CA caked tweezers into the jar and close the lid. After about 5-10 minutes, take it out and give it a wipe. Your tweezers will be as good as new. 

[RGL]

I just use a cigarette lighter, takes seconds then sand

[mtaylor]

Don't sand.... I doubt you can get the opposing bits perfectly square with each other.   Try the acetone as it works a treat.

[RGL]

Sanding is probably a bit harsh, but I can rub the soot off and it's as good as new.

[hexnut]

Continually amazing work.  As others have  said, electronics tweezers, like these are nice:http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Apex-Tool-Group/EROP5SA/?qs=9HaPiGkN4pO7DF6F5vzBuw%3D%3D&gclid=CJKI58mKudECFZmKswodOIgAcg

[cog]

Won't heating the tips soften them up, or make them brittle. The use of just acetone will definitely not ...

 

Cheers

[RGL]

Try it on a piece off offcut brass fret, burns for about a second then the glue is gone. I'm not poo pooing the acetone idea, as I was not aware of it, just when you are repeatedly dipping into the glue it is a bit quicker

[cog]

Thanks, I'll have a go at it.

 

Gave it a try, and it works well! The only downside is ... I can't sniff acetone anymore

Edited January 11, 2017 by cog