1:450 IJN Battleship Yamato Operation Ten-Go 1945 w/U.S. carrier-based aircraft

Operation Ten-Go: one way and no return

On April 7, 1945 the largest battleship anyone has ever built set out on a voyage from which no return was reckoned with. She had fuel only one way; the aim was to run aground off Okinawa and turn into an unsinkable gun battery. The American aircraft carriers picked up the formation before it came close to the island and within two hours sent several hundred machines against it. Torpedo hits on one side listed the ship so far that she capsized and exploded; the column of smoke was said to be visible for tens of kilometers. It is precisely this scene that the package captures, because it adds the attacking side to the ship.

The contents of the box

The set joins the main vessel in 1:450 scale with moldings of American carrier aircraft. The hull comes in divided blocks, the superstructure, the gun turrets and the funnel as separate groups; the aircraft are small one-piece or two-piece castings meant to be arranged above the water or on a base. They are rounded out by a decal sheet with waterline markings and aircraft national insignia.

What the delivery does not cover

A compressor, a nozzle and a degreaser are not included, and nor is any shade of paint. Stands for the aircraft above the water are usually made by builders from clear wire of their own. Neither a wooden deck nor photo-etched railings are in this box. It is worth noting that 1:450 is a compromise with this ship: the model stays a sensible size for an ordinary shelf, but the small gun barrels and the boat cranes come close to the limit beyond which molded plastic no longer carries the detail. Anyone who wants to go further looks for the same vessel in a larger rendition.