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Okay, next sci-fi build and I'm sticking with Space Battleship Yamato. Although, not canon. This build was inspired by this image taken from Lighthouse. Though I will stress, inspired and not exact. The idea behind the construction, is that after the Earth-Garmillas War, Earth was in desperate need of ships to outfit its depleted defenses. And with the rise of the Gatlantis threat and the defense pact signed between Earth and Garmillas, the idea was floated to buy old hulls from the Garmillas and outfit them with Terran technology. Namely, command and control, guns and engines. All Earth needed was the hulls. As a test of the feasibility of the idea, one hull was bought, that of a decommissioned Gaiderol class dreadnought, and it was towed from Garmillas to Earth. And so, construction began on the Haruna, named after the Kongo-class battleship BBS-552 that was lost at the First Battle of Mars. The first bit was removing some of the Garmillas tech that was remaining on the hull and make way for systems far more familiar to the human technicians and the crews who would use them. Some pieces of a Gundam kit, sourced from my deep spares bin. Part of the original superstructure was removed and new construction put in its place. The command deck from a damaged Murasame class cruisers was sourced to replace the old bridge. And since Earth leaders saw no need for the 'eyes,' these were removed and sensor bulges put in their places. A new wave motion engine was built to fill the stern. And with plumbing being vastly different a lot of unused space in the hull was cleared up for hangar space. Not much, but enough for some utility craft. The new hangar opening. Test fit of the new superstructure. The lower bow fin was removed and replaced. (This from an old Andromeda kit, though it has been reshaped.) And atop the bow. These are from some old jet fighter kit. With both, I wanted to give a more human look to the shape, such as with the Andromeda and the Borodino class ships. The strakes on the upper stern were removed and replaced with simple styrene strip, and the new engine received a cone. I prefer a simpler base than the kit provides, so I glued shut the opening and drilled for a brass rod. And since she was now using Terran guns - I needed some! And as timing would have it, the kits from HLJ have not come in yet and the only guns I had were on my already built Kirishima... I also took some guns from a Mursame and a torpedo destroyer. Though I have decided to not use those from the destroyer. The resin was applied and some copies came out! It's white resin and so is washed out a bit, but it looks good in real life! Of course, then I had to seal the original mounting holes and make smaller ones for the brass rod. With that done, a primer coat was laid. Painting is next. She's going to be a mix of 2199 and 2202 colors. Overall, she'll be red over white like the Kirishima but they'll also be a gray vertical stripe amidships and with the UNCN logo that will be sourced from one of the three Yuunagi kits that I ordered from HLJ. And yes, she's not alone there. Theship at the top of the pic is a Haizelard class dreadnought with two little destroyers in the box. Those, and a Destoria class heavy cruiser, will have their own thread. Back to work tomorrow, so painting will have to fit into my days off. More updates soon!