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Backstory. Years and years ago, for my birthday I got the best present ever. It was the Tamiya model referenced above, but wonder of wonders, it had a tiny little gearbox, that spun all 4 props from a tiny little brushed motor. As I recall, it actually pushed it around fairly well... but that model is lost to time and the ravages of a teenage boy with access to gasoline and fireworks. Fast forward to today, when I realized that I'm a responsible adult and can buy trinkets from my childhood. A few minutes on the interneck and I found not one, but several offerings. Sadly, all were the Yamato, and not the Musashi. Except for one... but to get it, I had to buy 4 1/350th scale Tamiya ships. I'm actually only going to build two.. hint hint. Musahi and her sister, and Tirpitz and her sister as well. So.... since I'm waiting for my test pond to start looking more like a pond and less like a cup of cocoa frosted with green sugar, let's dive in...
Tamiya has great box art, don't they?
The guy I bought the kits from was straight foward about them not being factory sealed, but he did guarantee that they would have no missing parts. Someone had started the Musashi, just a little painting and such. I'll skip over my prepping the hull and painting the waterline, and the crappy job I did painting the decks. I'm not really worried about making it suprer scale.. it's gonna be a runner, and tiny details have a way of breaking off and such while transporting. I'll use all the pieces, but I"m not going to use any photo-etch or such. And I"m not going to worry to terribly much about my painting not being great... it's going to be a runner, and you'll hopefully see it mostly off in the distance, just like the U.S. Navy saw her....
To start. Bolt the gearbox in, and the motor. I did this so I could install the struts and ensure that everything was lined up. Going to use the kit struts, and not sleeve them, if it appears to be a problem down the road I'll take care of it. Prop shafts are only held in with rubber tubing, so they're easy enough to remove. Plus, the stuffing boxes have a hole for easy greasin', win win.
The included props seem to be OK, nothing special, so I'll use them and the included prop shafts. I thought about making brass stuffing boxes, but unfortunately the shafts are some funky metric size, and finding brass tubing to fit them has proven unfruitfull. So I'll just use the plastic boxes in the kit, and keep them full of grease. I don't recall that being a problem on the first one, but that was a lot of years ago. I drilled the holes for the kit rudders, and already we need some improvement. Yes, I did drill a hole in the wrong place.. off to a great start. The stock on the main rudder isn't long enough to clear the waterline. Plus it's just plastic, not exactaly confidence inspiring. Hmm. what to do.
Aaaah! I have a piece of brass sheet and some rod.. plus solder and flux. Hey.. even a micro torch. I've got an idea...
Let's oversize it just a bit, as this thing is going to need all the help I can give it, especially when I get it ballasted down to the waterline...
Will ya look at that.. my snips were right where they were supposed to be. Easy peasy. I'll just make a slot in the rudder to fit the stock and solder it all up...
There we go. Nothing to it. I should have made a better jig. as the stock actually isn't centered on the rudder proper. I'll probably be the only one who knows, or notices.. and I'm pretty sure it's not going to affect the handling too adversley. Now, a little work with the file to clean things up, and on to the next... the rudder sleve. The plastic hull is now drilled just a little too large to be comfy with that stock, and I'd really rather it was just a little higher to clear the waterline...
There we go. That's a little too high, but I have cutoff wheels. There is another issue, the Mushashi has a sunked deck on the fantail for plane handling, I might have to cut the rudder stock and sleeve a little shorter than I really want to clear it. If necessary, I'll adjust the waterline a bit..
A little bit of clearance filing and we'll be ****ting in the tall cotton. Hmm. what about that aux rudder? Leave it fixed? It is a really small ship, after all....
What, and say I should have for the next 20 years? Nope. In for a penny, in for a pound. But now, it's time to go to dinner. HOpefully I'll get a few minutes to work on it after... and then early to bed. The US Navy starts early in the morning around here....
Lookit all them little props. I Need to do some research and find out if I need to shorten the prop shafts.. I'm not sure if the props ran right up next to the struts, but I'd think so. That's a big ass chunk of metal to have hanging off a prop shaft in the water...
I'll spare you most of the fiddley plastic gluing details.. there are lots and lots of them. Unfortunately, the forward rudder post comes up right where the hangar doors are.. would have been nice if it was a half inch further forward.. Ah well. Ce la Vie...
Tamiya has great box art, don't they?
The guy I bought the kits from was straight foward about them not being factory sealed, but he did guarantee that they would have no missing parts. Someone had started the Musashi, just a little painting and such. I'll skip over my prepping the hull and painting the waterline, and the crappy job I did painting the decks. I'm not really worried about making it suprer scale.. it's gonna be a runner, and tiny details have a way of breaking off and such while transporting. I'll use all the pieces, but I"m not going to use any photo-etch or such. And I"m not going to worry to terribly much about my painting not being great... it's going to be a runner, and you'll hopefully see it mostly off in the distance, just like the U.S. Navy saw her....
To start. Bolt the gearbox in, and the motor. I did this so I could install the struts and ensure that everything was lined up. Going to use the kit struts, and not sleeve them, if it appears to be a problem down the road I'll take care of it. Prop shafts are only held in with rubber tubing, so they're easy enough to remove. Plus, the stuffing boxes have a hole for easy greasin', win win.
The included props seem to be OK, nothing special, so I'll use them and the included prop shafts. I thought about making brass stuffing boxes, but unfortunately the shafts are some funky metric size, and finding brass tubing to fit them has proven unfruitfull. So I'll just use the plastic boxes in the kit, and keep them full of grease. I don't recall that being a problem on the first one, but that was a lot of years ago. I drilled the holes for the kit rudders, and already we need some improvement. Yes, I did drill a hole in the wrong place.. off to a great start. The stock on the main rudder isn't long enough to clear the waterline. Plus it's just plastic, not exactaly confidence inspiring. Hmm. what to do.
Aaaah! I have a piece of brass sheet and some rod.. plus solder and flux. Hey.. even a micro torch. I've got an idea...
Let's oversize it just a bit, as this thing is going to need all the help I can give it, especially when I get it ballasted down to the waterline...
Will ya look at that.. my snips were right where they were supposed to be. Easy peasy. I'll just make a slot in the rudder to fit the stock and solder it all up...
There we go. Nothing to it. I should have made a better jig. as the stock actually isn't centered on the rudder proper. I'll probably be the only one who knows, or notices.. and I'm pretty sure it's not going to affect the handling too adversley. Now, a little work with the file to clean things up, and on to the next... the rudder sleve. The plastic hull is now drilled just a little too large to be comfy with that stock, and I'd really rather it was just a little higher to clear the waterline...
There we go. That's a little too high, but I have cutoff wheels. There is another issue, the Mushashi has a sunked deck on the fantail for plane handling, I might have to cut the rudder stock and sleeve a little shorter than I really want to clear it. If necessary, I'll adjust the waterline a bit..
A little bit of clearance filing and we'll be ****ting in the tall cotton. Hmm. what about that aux rudder? Leave it fixed? It is a really small ship, after all....
What, and say I should have for the next 20 years? Nope. In for a penny, in for a pound. But now, it's time to go to dinner. HOpefully I'll get a few minutes to work on it after... and then early to bed. The US Navy starts early in the morning around here....
Lookit all them little props. I Need to do some research and find out if I need to shorten the prop shafts.. I'm not sure if the props ran right up next to the struts, but I'd think so. That's a big ass chunk of metal to have hanging off a prop shaft in the water...
I'll spare you most of the fiddley plastic gluing details.. there are lots and lots of them. Unfortunately, the forward rudder post comes up right where the hangar doors are.. would have been nice if it was a half inch further forward.. Ah well. Ce la Vie...
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