There has not been a lot of time for bench work due to real life but I have been plugging away. The 3 superstructures are mini kits in themselves. Next are the 15.5cm secondary turrets. Also started work on the 3 main batteries of 46 cm (18.1 in) in calibre. I can see why people choose to buy aftermarket brass barrels.
It all starts with this. Tamiya classic (early 70’s) kit of the IJN Battleship Yamato in 1/350 scale. The members of IPMS London gifted this to me as a challenge build as I am always screwing up the name of the battleship with Admiral Yamamoto. This one was partially started with the hull being painted and the sprues sorted The instructions also had colour call outs written on them. Big ship kits like this particuarly older ones will often prompt the builder to add all sorts of phone etch after market and other accesscories. In this case given my love of photo etch and the nature of the build I am only going to get a wood deck which was purchased from Ali-express. The detail is quite amazing. Next time – we start assembly.
A competition was held to decide Canada’s next air superiority and interceptor to replace the CF-105. 2 aircraft made the final selection process. The F-15 and F-18. In the end, the F-15 was selected primarily because of its longer range, useful for patrolling vast areas of the far north. As part of the deal, the Pratt and Whitney engines were replaced with Canadian-made Orenda G200 Iroquois 3 engines which delivered 15% more lbf while being 10% lighter. The kit is a 1/72 Hasegawa F-15J. Hasegawa does some interesting design choices for the assembly of the kit, the canopy and engine nozzles were quite annoying. In the end, I had replacement nozzles printed by fellow IPMS London club member Ron and they look a lot better and fit in with the narration of Canadian engines for the CF-15. Decals are a mix of Above and Below decals and the IPMS Canada…