April 13, 2009

Godfather's 1/1500 Yamato 2520 build-up

Started this kit on a whim, influenced by military ships built by my fellow club members, yet I wanted a sci-fi flavor... so this kit fits the bill nicely.

First, a little background: Yamato 2520 was Yoshinobu Nishizaki attempt at a sequel to Space Battleship Yamato (aka. StarBlazers in the americanized version) set a little over 300 years after Final Yamato. The first episode made its Japanese debut roughly around the 20th anniversary of the original TV series.

In and of itself, Yamato 2520 was a gorgeous production, with key designs and major art influences by futurist Syd Mead. It was a giant leap forward in style and form in the eyes of some, but it may have leapt a little too far for others.

Yamato 2520 was conceived as a series of 7 one-hour, direct-to-video episodes that might have started an entirely new saga, but the production didn't make it past episode 3. The root cause of the premature cancellation is still unknown.

Sprue 1	Sprue 2	Sprue 3

Construction - Day 1

The kit itself appears simple. Even for a 1995 vintage kit, Bandai's slick engineering shows.  I started by joining the 3 main parts of the hull, and adding the red bottom part of the hull. The fit is not the greatest, specially between the 2 larger parts of the hull (gray), but the worst of the seam should be hidden by the additional parts added at the bottom.

The worse seam on the bottom view is on the red part of the hull, which will need some careful sanding to avoid damaging the surrounding detail, and the small crevice that is between the 4 holes (designated for the bottom gun turrets), which will be filled with putty.

I also put together the engine section.  Not much to fix here, except a bit on the top fin.

Back on the main hull, there are some large, ugly seams that are visible from the top, plus a few tricky ones on the launch bays.

These should be easy to putty and sand, plus the addition of the top part of the hull will help (somewhat) to disguise the large gap near the cone of the main weapon.

Bottom launch bays... these are going to be nightmare to putty & sand.  Eeech.

OK, time for a quick dry fit test, minus the bridge & weapon turrets.

Top	Side	Front	Rear & side

There's a possible fit issue between the top & bottom half of the hull, and the red section hangs a bit loose... guess a bit of sheet styrene and a glob of putty might be needed there.

Whelp, that's it for today.

April 15, 2009

Construction - Day 2

Didn't get to the model yesterday... was running on 2 hours of sleep because of work, so it was crash & burn when I got home.

Today I slopped some Tamiya putty on the large seams at the front of the model. 

While that dries, I sanded some of the seams on the bottom part of the hull.

Looking at the gun turrets, was considering drilling holes on the muzzles but turns out the guns are hollow (ie. they have top but no bottom). Guess it's time break out some styrene sheet.

Not much else done today.  Last thing was fine sanding the engine section, which should be ready for paint after a cleaning with some denatured alcohol.

April 16, 2009

Construction - Day 3

Looks like I used too much putty on the seams... guess it's time to start sanding.

A bit better after sanding, but I think I'll scrape some of the excess with a sharp xacto blade and sand some more after.

Also started with the bridge.  More delicate sanding required here, and parts of it will need sheet styrene to cover the large holes on the "wing" parts.

Bridge top	Bridge bottom	One of the bridge "wings"

April 18, 2009

Construction - Day 4

Front looks a bit nicer after puttying & sanding. Needs more work though...

Added styrene sheet to the gun turrets and bridge "wings" to cover up the holes there. More cutting and sanding coming up.

Gun turrets before cleaning	Bridge "wings" before cleaning

April 19, 2009

Construction - Day 5

Finished sanding the gun turrets, main bridge, bridge wings and most of the bottom section. Added a strip of styrene to the gap in the middle of the bottom gun turret section.

Gun turrets after cutting & sanding excess styrene	Bridge top, sanding done	Bridge bottom, sanding done	Bridge "wings" after sanding	Lower hull after sanding	Rear bottom hull after sanding	Gap filled w/strip styrene

Added some Mr. Surfacer 500 using a paintbrush to the seams on the top hull.  Even more sanding coming up...