Handicraft idea example 4
Will it fly? Space Battleship Yamato
Masahiko Kurimoto
Shimanaka, Gifu Prefecture
What materials were used?
Tin plate, thick cardboard, paint, solder, metal glue, motor, etc.
How long did it take (cost, number of days)
Cost: I used mostly things I had at home, so the motor cost 2,000 yen.
Number of days: About 20 days.
What steps did you take?
(1) Creating a design
The shape was difficult, and I was using tin plate, and I thought I couldn’t afford to make a mistake, so I decided to make a design first. I borrowed a book about Yamato from a friend and used that as a reference.
(2) Making the main body
I cut the tin to match the design, and first made the hull and the bottom of the ship. The hull of Yamato, especially the front part, is characterized by its curves, so I had some trouble getting the tin to curve properly. I used a pair of tin snips to cut the tin, and it went quite well.
The tin pieces were soldered together, but the fine details were a bit difficult, so I used metal glue to assemble them.
(3) Making the accessories
My initial plan was to make the whole thing out of tin, but when I started to build it, I realized that it was impossible to make the fine details. So I made the entrance, antenna, and commander’s room out of thick cardboard.
(4) Painting and finishing
Using the anime as a reference, I painted the bottom part red and the top part in the color of a warship. The 1m-long battleship Yamato is complete.
What are the things you need to improve?
At first, I thought about using a remote control, but then I changed my mind and came up with a mechanism to move it by pulling a string, the same principle as a spinning wheel. However, the string got tangled, so I had to abandon the plan halfway through.
As you can see, when I was drawing up the plans, I didn’t realize that there would be all sorts of problems, so I ended up taking much longer than I had planned. You need to be very thorough when you’re at the design stage.
Evaluation & advice
Working hard to make the difficult Yamato, devising various methods. It was originally a ship that appeared in a manga, so it was easy to draw, but it would be difficult to build.