1/500 2199 Yamato

[Madhatter]

Hello once again!

I recently saw this kit at a hobby shop and I had to splurge out on this Bandai kit as I haven't seen one on the shelves much at all. From what the fella in the shop said, only 6 were imported into Australia and it took them 9 months just to get one, so I thought I had better jump on it there and then. So, with no sign of my Zacto intakes for the SU-27 - despite the tracking saying it was delivered, I've made a start to the big Y. Hmmm - I am hoping someone at work has it and has forgotten to tell me they have it - otherwise that's $127.00 gone! I will not be amused if that is the case

With that delay and my continued and escalated interest in SBY 2199 - especially after finally watching the series from start to finish, I have decided to get this underway now. It will be a long term project - like most of my builds, but I am hoping the end result will be worth it.

I have looked at a few builds of this online and have stolen borrowed a couple of details that I really liked from a couple of different builders - simply because I think they really add something to the final build.

Of course, it goes without saying that this will be fully lit and I have Warren from Tyridium Models programming the boards for me ready for installation.

So, where have I gotten up to? I started on the engine nozzle. After watching the live action 2199, I was taken by the design of the nozzle (yes I know - small things etc) and when I was trawling the net looking for references, I came across one fellow who had made them. So, following his design, I made my own one. However, it took me ages to get the first one right - and I thought "bugger making 16 copies of this", so I made a mold of the one I made and will make resin copies of it to ensure uniformity. I am waiting for my resin to arrive which should be tomorrow. I also made the ring at the back of the nozzle. This was surprisingly easy considering when I first looked at it I thought "how the heck am I going to make that!?" Anyway, I have a cutting compass, so that made short work of the plastic rings and I used the angles on my cutting mat as an initial guide for the slats. The end result is pleasing - however, I am still undecided whether or not I will use it, or for that matter, if I will go ahead and use the feathers I am about to cast. I do like the box version and at least it's in keeping with the show, but I do like to be a bit more creative with my subjects. the below pictures show how easy it is to make and also show you the one and only feather I made:

Now I turn my attention to another area that I saw on one build that really stood out for me - the funnel. Even though it is technically a torpedo/rocket launcher. I have begun by detailing the inside of the funnel like that on the show. The next part however, isn't on the show but is a feature that I really did like is the vertical piping that feeds into the sides. I have just finished making one set of cat walks and am about to begin the lower walks - which is where I am at presently.

I carved a trench on the inside of the top of the funnel for the nav lights and then puttied over them. Once dried, I then sanded them back and you wouldn't even notice they were there. It also helps that the ribbing on the inside assists in covering them.

So there you have it so far. I will be continuing on with the piping and catwalks tonight. I think I will paint the inside of the funnels now before I proceed any more, and that will also save me masking hassles later on. Then I'll put the funnel together, fill in the seams and add the last part of the detailing and then that area is all done!

From there, I will endeavor to get the engine lighting set up ready for the boards, cast the feathers and then start work on the main superstructure. After that, I'll start on the lighting boxes for the observation decks on the side of the ship, then the fun part - getting the main gun batteries detailed and lit. The rest of the ship should fall together pretty quickly. I am not going to be adding too much extra surface details like I usually do because I don't think this ship needs any.

As always, thanks for stopping in

MH

[Dazzio]

Looking really good there, Madhatter. One of these days I will get the scratch building ideas for my Gundams... one day!

Looking forward to seeing more

Kind Regards,

Dazz

[Madmonk]

Si, just to let you know I am sat round the pool in the south of France thinking about the programming of the wave gun, found a RGB LED that might fit the bill perfectly, should be waiting when I get back!!

Great work on the nozzle.

Cheers,

Warren

[Madhatter]

mate - that's awesome! Thanks for that

My Facto intakes arrived today after I posted that they hadn't and its because the mailroom had written the wrong name on the parcel. So if there is a Chris Wilson (Zactoman) working in my building Im sure he would have had no idea what the heck he had received

I did some more work on the funnel last night and it's coming together swimmingly. Should be quite cool nice it's done. I just need to place in the LED inside the funnel and I can then finish off the detailing and move on to the next item

[Gimme Shelter]

looking good - keep the pic's coming

[Madhatter]

Greetings everyone

Well, it's time for a quick update. The funnel is finished and ready to go on. The LED has been installed inside which will make life a bit easier when it comes time to do the final wiring etc

The cat walks are attached and I must say, they were quite fiddly, but I am happy with the end result

I am still working on the engine exhaust, but to be honest, I am still not entirely convinced I should be doing these. I'm almost tempted to stop casting them and leave it as show standard. I shall ponder it a bit longer

Well, that's it for now. Sorry it's such a small update so hopefully I can make up for it next time

Till then

MH

[Misrule]

Like the little catwalks with the rails, bet that was a pain to line up

[Madhatter]

Well, it wasn't as painful as doing this:

Man, talk about fiddly! The whole area takes up about 1cm square. My eyes hurt...

Maybe I should've used my magnify lamp but I was lazy
That last image has been cropped which is why it looks a little...odd. That grey stuff on the ledge is only pencil

I will paint the SMD in the back green and then place a very thin piece of plastic over it to disperse the light

Thanks for looking
MH

Edited August 10, 2015 by Madhatter

[Madmonk]

Boy, do you have some patience Si.

Think I have the main guns programme sorted, will load it on to the PC over the next couple of days and test it.

Just sat on the Eurostar train north of Avignon on our way home from hols

Back to real life tomorrow!

[Madhatter]

yeah - the end of holidays is not pleasant. I won't make it any worse by reminding you that work begins again soon.....opps

I'm going to tackle the gun batteries once my SMD's arrive - I had to buy white ones - I only had warm whites on hand and they will not be bright enough.

So, while I wait for those to turn up, I think I'll finish off the superstructure then start the engine lighting rig

[whitestar12chris]

Totally awesome building Si, as usual, really love what your doing with this, was tempted to pick a Yamato up as a diversion.

All the best Chris

[Madmonk]

Work began too soon!! Arrived home at 2.00am this morning, alarm went off at 6.30am for work.

On the upside I have the Gun programme written and quickly tested, the Range Finders fade up then the main guns fire 4 times at 0.25 sec cycle then off for 2 secs then repat again 3 times, the Range Finder then fade out.

Will test it properly this evening and then pop a video up for you the look at, will post the engine video too.

Cheers,

Warren

[Madhatter]

awesome! any chance of making the firing it self longer than 0.25 sec? Maybe for 1 sec as on the show they seem to last a long time. I'm hoping Jim will correct me if I'm wrong

[Madmonk]

Had a quick sneaky look at a couple of video clips and the guns fire full intensity then fade out so I have tried to replicate that with a 0.5 sec full blast, fade out and 0.5 sec off. Repeat 4 times then a 2 sec delay before next barrage!

Will put it on a breadboard this evening and see how it looks.

Rotating engine effect video, using 12 orange LEDs.

Cheers,

Warren

[Madmonk]

Hi Si,

Main Gun programme, let me know what you think. Timings can be altered if you want.

Cheers,

Warren

[Madhatter]

That's beautiful!! Thanks Warren. Exactly right on both counts

[Madmonk]

Those are the easy bits done Si!!

[Misrule]

awesome! any chance of making the firing it self longer than 0.25 sec? Maybe for 1 sec as on the show they seem to last a long time. I'm hoping Jim will correct me if I'm wrong

1 Sec is about right for the basic blast from the gun turrets, for when they just want to put holes in things. There are plenty of times when they fire for longer, 3-4 seconds, sometimes longer when they are using them to cut ships in half or rake a bigger target, so it does vary a bit. I'd say anywhere between 1-3 seconds is sound

[Madmonk]

Tried the Main Gun programme out on some of the kit parts. The Range Finder has a 1206 SMD LED with 0.2mm enamelled wire. The Gun has a 0603 SMD LED with 0.2mm enamelled wire. The bore of the gun had to be opened out to 2mm to get the LED deep enough in hence the light bleed through the end.

Si, you will have some fun drilling the gun and range finders out to get the wire through, the 30 AWG may be a bit thick!!

Cheers,

Warren

[Madhatter]

That looks awesome Warren! I have a planfpr the barr

[Madhatter]

Bloody phone

As I was saying, I have a plan for the barrels and that is to saw them off near the root and drill forward so I don't loose the nice detail inside the muzzle.

I have some 0.1mm copper wire that arrived from China 2 days ago which I will use but the smds I have already use this enamel coated copper wire, so that should be ok. The 3 barrels smds are 603's and the range finders are 203's (I think - they are uber tiny)

Thanks so much for helping out with this Warren, I really appreciate it

Si

[Madhatter]

I think the following pictures will show you what I meant. I have now done all 9 barrels - which has taken me the better part of 4 hours. Yeah - I work slowly but I haven't lost any detail from the business end of them

Just need to do the range finders and the batteries will be ready to go together.

I'll post a proper update once I'm feeling human again.

[Madmonk]

Sweet!

[Madhatter]

Hi again

Well, after my last post, I thought I had better post something more worth while looking at.

I am still fighting this miserable cold/flu and am feeling pretty darned awful, but I have self-prescribed some building time to help get over this self indulged misery.

The superstructure is now built and ready to go on. I still haven't painted Okita's room but I will get to that soon. I also somehow managed to break a barrel from a gun without knowing it and I have no idea where the broken piece has gone to, so I'll have to try and make one

I spent a lot of time drilling out the guns and at this scale, it's harder than it looks. Also, the ends are rounded, so it makes life interesting when trying to place a drill bit square against the surface

I also did a test of Bandai's rather intelligent method of lighting and I must say, it works rather nicely! Instead of having LED's inside the bridges, it uses clear parts to reflect the light from the bottom of the superstructure. I'll use 2 LED's to give it more intensity

I also carved out a channel for the nav lights to sit in on the winglets that come out in between the first and second bridges. However, I am not sure they will work. This remains to be seen

As you can see, most of this is all straight from the box - there isn't really any need to modify it much at all. Bandai did a fantastic job of rendering the big Y from Anime into model. I will add some bits and bobs here and there but nothing like what I usually do. The hard core purists can breathe a sigh of relieve

'

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to dry fit the front end of the ship together to see how much space I have and then build the light boxes for the observation decks on the sides. I'm also going to see if I can get the engine LED's wired up ready for the boards and get that job done and dusted now.

I'm also contemplating doing a resin cast of the engine nozzle to see if I can make the live action version as well - just to see if I can

Till next time

MH

Edited August 19, 2015 by Madhatter

[Av8fan]

Oh excellent work.

Time to watch episode 18.

Episode 18 has a number of scenes with the longer duration shots from the the turret guns if anyone is interested.