I gotta say it again, this sucker is REALLY BIG. I still have several unbuilt Yamato model kits on standby. They will have a hard time living up to this one.

I already raided Vol. 106 (and BOY am I glad I did! I called that one EXACTLY RIGHT.) But now we’re in the final box of four for real.

106 gets us into the permanent stand, which has electronics of its own.

The instructions highlight the engine nozzle, but we’ve already conquered it.

First two pages of instructions have been handled.

Here’s where we’ll begin.

We’ll build both pillars, but only attach one for now.

The second pillar contains the electronic attachment to the ship.

And done. The assembly of those pillars was WAY harder than it had to be. Six screws each, all requiring brute force to get them all the way in. This is getting exhausting. There were times when I thought I might just launch into Andromeda even though I don’t have all the parts yet, but now I know for sure this is not going to happen.

Volume 107. Only three more after this.

Focusing entirely on the stand.

We’ll install the speaker first.

Then we’ll put the last section onto the existing stand and set up the battery compartment. It takes six C cells.

It looks like we’ll finish, but we actually won’t until the next volume.

Speaker parts.

Everything put together. See the row of nubs on top of the pillar at right? Those are the electrical connectors. That’s how power gets into the ship.

Volume 108!

The rest of the stand.

The remaining part is the bottom. It isn’t fully encased yet. It also has rubber feet.

We’ll install another junction box, too. This one is designated “G.”

The last step is to put the underside on and slide batteries in. Then, in a VERY dramatic move, we’ll LIFT the hull off its temp stands…

…and LOWER it onto the permanent one. The picture at bottom left shows where the connectors meet. All they have to do is touch each other. There’s no plugging-in.

There’s a little bumper for the battery compartment to allow it to pop in and out. One thing I’ve realized after all this work, is that versions of this stuff must live inside all the gadgets that surround us every day.

The inside of the stand is finished. Everything is plugged into junction box G. At left is the power-on button. As I put it together, I didn’t see how it could possibly work.

And now the underside is on. This unholy monster…

More than once, I complained about times when they gave me screws that were too long and needed to be muscled in with all the strength I could muster. On many occasions, I tossed them out and used a shorter screw. This right here was Hachette’s final spit in my eye.

SIXTEEN screws. ALL of them too long, ALL of them needing power tools to get them all the way into their sockets. I quite simply had enough of that crap. I cranked them in until they stopped turning and gave it no further effort. Life’s too short. And the thing holds together just fine without the extra labor. So SCREW YOU, Hachette.

Finished stand! It’s 21.5 inches long, 6 inches wide. Luckily, I just happened to have four C cells on hand. No more, no less.

Battery compartment tucked in, power on with one touch of the button. Science, baby.

And LIFT…and LOWER…and there it is.

I really could have used this stand in the first part of the project. It’s SO much steadier than that stick contraption.

Hangar hatch opens, but there’s nothing inside. Would have been cool to see the hangar. But it also would have taken a few more volumes. And I’m ready to be done.

Volume 109 is the final piece of the electronic puzzle.

This is it! The last of the shipbuilding!

The first step is to install the final junction box, designated as F. Then set up two new sets of wires that came with it.

After that, we’ll connect both of the upper decks to box F and put the rocket anchors back on their chains. (They’ve been off since we finished the forward deck.)

The finishing move will be to put the decks onto the hull and snap the wings in place.

At the end of this one, we’ll have a complete Yamato! At last!!

Junction box F is a big, meaty fella. And there’s just one gap left in the hull to accommodate him.

I had to push a lot of cables aside to horse box F into place, but it fit. Then the last stray wires plugged in, which connect box F to boxes B and C. Then the two NEW wires went in. These will take us to the upper decks.

Before the decks go on, let’s take one last view of all the internals. It’s impressive. Here’s the bow…

…the front half of the midship area (box F is the black one)…

…the widest part of the midsection with the densest wiring (the thick red and black wires connect box F to the coupler that connects to the stand)…

…and that horrible aft section where all the fighting took place. That’s everything.

Here’s the forward deck. The colored wires leading to box F are the only physical connection to the interior.

The deck itself just sits on top of the hull, settling between the metal plates. It fits pretty well. No internal collisions as far as I can tell.

Now the same with the gun deck/tower section. The colored wire connects it to box F in the hull.

After some pressing and prodding, the deck is in place. Kind of.

Unlike the forward deck, it’s not a seamless match. There’s a pretty big gap. It feels like there’s some upward pressure keeping it from settling. Can’t say I’m surprised.

The only way to work through this would be to shrink down, climb inside and see what’s bumping into what in there. It’s quite disappointing after so many other things went right. It all stems from the interior compartments. Everything about them feels cobbled together, like a last-minute idea that didn’t get enough R&D time.

But there’s still plenty to be happy about. Like finally being DONE with this beast.

And with no more manhandling, I can finally stick on the little bits that I put aside along the way.

The king now has his crown.

Looking at it in profile, you can see that the bridge tower tips forward just a bit. That’s the pressure of all those fiber optics inside. I can push it down, but it springs right back up. Lights are cool, but distortion is not.

The rocket anchors are back on their chains. Hachette actually DID put new, more solid clips into Volume 109, but the problem is that they are like paper clips. If I ever need to remove the front deck, I’ll have to take the anchors off the chains again. And miniature paper clips will be REALLY hard to open up. So I’m sticking with the originals, even though they bent when I crimped them. At least I know I can open them up. So…thanks for thinking of this, Hachette, but it’s still not practical.

Next, put all twelve torpedo tube covers back on. They’re just metal “flakes,” about as thick as a fingernail. They’re number L1-L6 and R1-R6 for Left and Right, so it’s easy to know where they go. Magnets hold them on, but it doesn’t take much to knock them off. And there are no backups if one gets lost, so…yeah.

Here are all the fighters. The Tiger from the early volume and the three subscriber gifts. None of them will fit into the catapults. That would have been a nice surprise, but nope. Now they’re just loose ends. And damn, that Cosmo Tiger 1 is HUGE. I don’t know where they stored that thing.

Okay, here we go! FINAL BOX! Subscribers got Volume 110 bundled with the first three Andromeda volumes. But we’re not going there today.

What exactly is in Volume 110?

It’s the remote controller that runs the whole show, that’s what.

Naturally, this needs assembly, too. But it’s pretty easy.

Four pages of instructions and we’re done.

Then two pages on its features. It’s a lot of text, but everything’s pretty self-evident.

Here’s the big-ass circuit board that goes inside.

Check out the inscription. I know what day it was made.

Circuit board installed and plugged into the battery pack. Two knobs attached.

Buttons loosely set into the faceplate. At first I thought I had to cut them off their runners, but they stay on instead. Great. Less work.

Faceplate attached, four AAA batteries installed, ready for action.

Finish line. 18 days, start to finish.

And here it is in its final position, in the center of my living room. And ALL THE LIGHTS AND GIMMICKS WORK!!! (Though Luna couldn’t be less interested.)

Isn’t she pretty? The engine lights up, the WMG fires, pulse lasers turn in tandem, shock cannons work great.

The classic camera angle is right there, perfection. And incidentally, there’s room on this table for Andromeda. They’ll be passing right by each other, of course.

The speaker works well, too. A bit tinny, but louder than I expected. The sound effects are synced with action. An external port to a bigger speaker would have been nice, but I’ll take it.

Jeebus Cripes, that was a lot of work.

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