Kit Review

Straight build

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - Size comparison with a cigarette pack. How do I put it — it's not super big, but not small e

Size comparison with a cigarette pack.
How do I put it — it's not super big, but not small either. Just a nice, comfortable size.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The bow section. The Wave Motion Gun area is done in clear parts, and the anchor detail is p

The bow section.
The Wave Motion Gun area is done in clear parts, and the anchor detail is pretty nice.

The upper bow deck and front gun barrel section.

The bridge section.

Side view.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The highlight of the Space Battleship Yamato is definitely those densely packed side turrets

The highlight of the Space Battleship Yamato is definitely those densely packed side turrets.

Rear of the bridge section.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The detail on the bridge and surrounding areas is satisfying. (1/3)

The detail on the bridge and surrounding areas is satisfying.

Rear gun barrel section.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - Hull underside detail. (1/4)

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - Hull underside detail. (2/4)

Hull underside detail.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The propulsion section. The center part is a clear part. (1/3)

The propulsion section. The center part is a clear part.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The assembly method involves fitting an internal frame inside the hull, so even though it's

The assembly method involves fitting an internal frame inside the hull, so even though it's snap-fit, it's quite sturdy.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - There's a gimmick where the gun barrels are individually linked so they move in sequence whe

There's a gimmick where the gun barrels are individually linked so they move in sequence when you rotate the main turret.

Using the screw-type locking mechanism as shown above..

When you rotate the main turret, the outer barrels rise up one by one, slowly.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - And when you rotate it a full 90 degrees as shown, all three barrels rise up and align toget

And when you rotate it a full 90 degrees as shown, all three barrels rise up and align together.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The two smaller cannons at the front and rear don't have the linked gimmick — you just move

The two smaller cannons at the front and rear don't have the linked gimmick — you just move each of the three barrels individually.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - Some of the side gun barrels can rotate, but unlike the 1/350, you can't adjust the elevatio

Some of the side gun barrels can rotate, but
unlike the 1/350, you can't adjust the elevation angle.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - All gun barrels rotated to a 90-degree position. In technical terms, this is called a broads

All gun barrels rotated to a 90-degree position.
In technical terms, this is called a broadside.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - Some of the gun emplacements can be assembled in either a round or square configuration — yo

Some of the gun emplacements can be assembled in either a round or square configuration — your choice.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The dedicated display stand. The nameplate is a metal sticker, just like the 1/350. You can

The dedicated display stand. The nameplate is a metal sticker, just like the 1/350.
You can line up a total of 6 fighter jets on the stand, but they don't hold in place at all — it's more like just balancing them on top.
If you want to display them in formation, I'd recommend gluing them down.

Detail shots of the included Black Tiger, Cosmo Zero, and Cosmo Tiger II.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - The biggest disappointment with this stand is that things just don't stay put;; It's not lik

The biggest disappointment with this stand is that things just don't stay put;;
It's not like they clip in securely — you're basically just resting them on top, so the slightest nudge and they wobble and tip over like that.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - For some parts, you can choose to assemble them using either the clear parts or the red mold

For some parts, you can choose to assemble them using either the clear parts or the red molded parts.

The auxiliary nozzles on the lower stern can be swapped out for clear versions.

The clear version looks a bit better, I think..

Some of the lower hull structures can be swapped out for clear parts.

Hmm.. yeah, the clear version definitely looks better.

One complete set of main turret parts ends up as leftover parts.

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato - Alongside the 1/350 PG(?) Space Battleship Yamato. You'd think the scale difference wouldn't

Alongside the 1/350 PG(?) Space Battleship Yamato.
You'd think the scale difference wouldn't be that big, but in person the difference in sheer volume is quite significant.
The 1/350 looks absolutely massive..
And conversely, the 1/500 comes across as a neat, just-right size.

A renewed 1/500 Space Battleship Yamato was released to coincide with the live-action film. Whether the product was developed specifically in connection with the film isn't entirely clear, but the timing was certainly close. It's a bit of a surprise to see a sudden renewal at the 1/500 scale, though it's generally assumed this was planned alongside the Yamato anime renewal that was being developed at the same time as the live-action film. (Apparently the anime renewal project has since fallen through.. ;)

Ultimately, this kit is the latest version of the old 1/500, and it's been completely reborn at a modern quality level that's incomparable to the original release. For a warship kit, the color separation is remarkably well done, and it's 100% snap-fit — you can build it perfectly without any glue. The detail and molding are suitably refined and clean, as you'd expect from a modern release, and there are even bonus features like the linked gun barrel gimmick on the main turrets.

This kit inevitably gets compared to the 1/350 Space Battleship Yamato that came out in January 2007. First off, the difference in volume between the 1/500 and 1/350 scales is substantial. The 1/350 is genuinely big and hefty — it really gives you that "large-scale model" feeling — whereas the 1/500 is a comfortable, neither-too-big-nor-too-small size. On the other hand, the level of detail isn't all that different between the 1/350 and 1/500, and the 1/500 is actually easier to handle since it's more convenient to store and display. Especially when you look at the enormous price gap of ¥45,000 versus ¥6,800, it's hard to even compare value for money.

And honestly, the 1/350 always had a bit of a toy-like feel to it because of all the electronic gimmicks — but this 1/500 is unmistakably a scale model kit. It's actually more refined than the 1/350, and it really shows what a Bandai-style ship model can be. Above all, I was genuinely surprised that a ship model of this quality could be assembled without any glue — that's a first for me. Sure, in absolute terms the detail level is slightly softer than dedicated traditional scale model ship kits, but for a snap-fit spaceship kit, it's more than precise enough. And in terms of ease of assembly, it's in a completely different league from traditional scale models.

The one disappointing point is that the fit on the stand is a bit iffy — the slightest touch and it wobbles. A little more attention to the securing mechanism would've been nice. On top of that, the 6 fighter jets don't hold in place at all, which makes displaying them as-is pretty tricky.

In the end, this new 1/500 Space Battleship Yamato is a massive upgrade over the old 1/500 — there's really no comparison. I was a little worried it might come out at a mediocre quality level, but honestly... it feels like building an MG, and the build time seems about the same too. (And so does the price, for that matter..) It's a fun kit for painters, but even a straight build looks really impressive, so it's a must-have for any Space Battleship Yamato fan. And even if you're not particularly into Yamato, if you want to experience that clean, satisfying Bandai build quality in a different kind of kit, this one's well worth recommending.

Honestly, the Space Battleship Yamato kit feels less like a product defined by its quality or design concept, and more like something that relies on "nostalgia" — as they say, the target audience is people in their 40s who have fond memories of Yamato (-_-). I'm no exception — I had a real romanticized attachment to Yamato as a kid (back then it had all sorts of Korean names..;), and building a Yamato kit with this level of detail and sculpting quality was something of a dream for me. Sure, there's the 1/350 which is a beast in its own right (?), but I always wanted something more like a proper scale model kit like this one.

You could get into debates about the militaristic concept of salvaging a WWII-era battleship and sending it into space, and all that — but I think the childhood wonder of a battleship flying through space was a purely innocent feeling. Tracing the internal cross-section diagrams of Yamato from Kongkong Comics, clumsily building a spaceship out of paper crafts, playing with that oddly toy-like Space Battleship Yamato that came with a motor and wheels — those memories hold just as big a place in my childhood as Gundam does. I imagine the difference in how people feel about Yamato, depending on whether or not they have those kinds of memories, is pretty significant.

Anyway, personally, this feels like the kit that fulfilled my childhood dream even more than the 1/350 did. I'm honestly not sure whether this lineup will continue to expand, but I really hope they at least release the Andromeda someday :-)

1/500 Space Battleship Yamato | 2010. 12 | ¥6,800

AIThis page was translated by Claude Sonnet.