Tamiya 78030 1/350 Japanese Battleship Yamato Plastic Model Boat Kit

Great kit with lots of detail. Really enjoyed building it

You can never go wrong with Tamiya!!! I built this model about twenty years ago. It survived several moves, but it was time to build her anew. They've added a few things to this version of the kit and improved the display stand. It arrived in perfect shape and all part trees were in packages. This is a decently sized model and offers plenty of opportunities to do some creative detailing. Bear in mind, this is not a beginner kit and should be built by experienced builders. You'll need a lot of red paint, tan, and grey. There are some decals, but you'll rely on your painting skills to complete the kit. I've built their Missouri, New Jersey, Bismark, King George V., Arizona, Enterprise, Ticonderoga, and Arleigh Burke all at 1/350th scale. It makes for an impressive fleet.

Wonderful product. Arrived quickly. Purchasing experience was outstanding. A fine addition to my battleship collection.I completed assembly, including some painting, in 10 hours spread over four days. The kit contains ample parts so if something breaks a replacement is on hand. Be patient: many of the parts are small, especially the anti-aircraft guns. It took special care to install them. All parts have good fit. This was one of the best models that I have built for its accurate fit. It's well worth the money....

Overall great packaging, challenging model, includes helpful instructions to augment the manual.

Very high quality, with MANY parts, some of which are quite small and fragile. Sometimes removing the smaller pieces from the parts frames was very difficult without damaging them. I really appreciate some of the little tricks the kit uses to make sure the parts get aligned properly, without being visible once assembled. Keep in mind, however, that this is a challenging kit, not for anyone under I think about 14, and older than that if modeling is not a big hobby already for them. I used considerable caution and patience to make sure everything was just right, and it took me about 25 hours, not counting paint drying time. It also requires a drill, which I had not really expected (plenty of parts came with holes right out of the box, so why didn't they drill the other holes as well?).The manual is clearly translated directly from Japanese, but is still easy to understand. My one big gripe is that they assume you have Tamiya brand paints (I have Testors). This means it's often unclear what exact shade they're talking about. My big example is no fewer than 4 shades of gray (German gray, Imperial Japanese Navy gray, Japanese Navy gray [yes, those are apparently different], and gun metal gray, not even counting whatever gray the parts originally come in). This is the only real reason I didn't give the model 5 stars.Bottom line, though, this looks great when finished, and Tamiya's attention to detail means they even account for different configurations depending on whether you wish to depict Yamato's final voyage (which I did) or prior to that but after her anti-aircraft upgrade. It does not account for any time prior to the AA upgrade.

Amazing came out perfect, all parts, no breaks and strong material.

Difficult to find/read directions in English, but doable. This will be an awesome display piece atop a bookshelf in my office!

Haven't built it yet, but I've read the book and looked the pieces over. Seems like a good model. With me it's all in the attitude: I like doomed battleships. It's going to be great.Now I have built it. For those that like to paint in great detail, do your research better than I. I bought all spray paints and that is not practical for a lot of the decking areas. This is the first model I have built in over 40 yrs. Back then, all my battleships were eventually doomed by my 16 inch BB gun so painting wasn't important to me then. The instructions are interesting with the history and configuration background that they give. I wonder if a little something didn't get lost in translation with the aircraft. I built mine as per the last voyage; not above deck. I never did figure out how to get those aircraft storage rails to sit on the deck correctly. Everything else fit perfectly.