Yamato
Yamato Battleship
- Scale: 1:192
- Release: 2005
- Limited Edition: 25
- Model Size: 54”L x 9”W x 11”H
- Base Type: Black Walnut
- Base/Case Size: 58”L x 12”Wx 13.5”H
- Availability: Sold Out
Yamato
Yamato, lead ship of a class of two 65,000-ton battleships, was built at Kure, Japan. She and her sister, Musashi were by far the largest battleships ever built, even exceeding in size and gun caliber (though not in weight) the U.S. Navy’s abortive Montana class. Their nine 460mm main battery guns, which fired 1460kg armor piercing shells, were the largest battleship guns ever to go to sea, and the two ships’ scale of armor protection was unsurpassed.
Commissioned in December 1941, just over a week after the start of the Pacific war, Yamato served as flagship of Combined Fleet commander Isoroku Yamamoto during the critical battles of 1942. During the following year, she spent most of her time at Truk, as part of a mobile naval force defending Japan’s Central Pacific bases. Torpedoed by USS Skate (SS-305) in December 1943, Yamato was under repair until April 1944, during which time her anti-aircraft battery was considerably increased. She then took part in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June and the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October. During the latter action, she was attacked several times by U.S. Navy aircraft, and fired her big guns in an engagement with U.S. escort carriers and destroyers off the island of Samar.
Yamato received comparatively light damage during the Leyte Gulf battle, and was sent home in November 1944. Fitted with additional anti-aircraft machine guns, she was based in Japan during the winter of 1944-45. Attacked by U.S. Navy carrier planes in March 1945, during raids on the Japanese home islands, she was again only lightly damaged. The following month, she was assigned to take part in the suicidal “Ten-Go” Operation, a combined air and sea effort to destroy American naval forces supporting the invasion of Okinawa. On April 7, 1945, while still some 200 miles north of Okinawa, Yamato was attacked by a massive force of U.S. carrier planes and sunk.
After the war, the great battleship became an object of intense fascination in Japan, as well as in foreign countries. Yamato’s remains were located and examined in 1985 and again examined, more precisely, in 1999. She lies in two main parts in some 1,000 feet of water. Her bow portion, severed from the rest of the ship in the vicinity of the second main battery turret, is upright. The mid-ship and stern section is upside down nearby, with a large hole in the lower starboard side close to the after magazines.
About the Model…
Fine Art Models had been researching this ship for over a decade, assembling as many facts as possible, but had so little reliable information to use as reference – when they had a lucky break and were able to obtain, through a handful of key resources, the most current and reliable Japanese information on the ship to date. Fine Art Models has produced this limited edition, Yamato ship model in a scale of 1:192 with exacting detail, including anti-aircraft guns with lathe-turned brass tapered barrels and a bore.
Each Yamato model is built by a team of eight (8) of the most skilled craftsmen in the world, with more than 700 man-hours just to assemble. Computers were used to generate exact scale drawings from the original plans. All of the materials used to construct the ship meet and/or exceed museum quality standards including a space age, high definition hull and deck and a photo-etched brass superstructure. In addition, all of the paint used is custom-made and impervious to ultra-violet light. As with all Fine Art Models, this Yamato scale model comes complete with a Black Walnut base and leaded glass display case.
