{"id":33720,"date":"2023-02-06T17:17:17","date_gmt":"2023-02-07T01:17:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/?p=33720"},"modified":"2023-02-14T22:52:43","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T06:52:43","slug":"740a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/740a\/","title":{"rendered":"Building the 1\/350 Hachette Andromeda<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"2302icon\"<\/p>\n

What was it like to build the largest commercially-available model ever made for the Yamato<\/em> saga? A 20-pound behemoth measuring over 50 inches long when completed? Go step by step through all 60 volumes and see it come together one piece at a time.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

by Tim Eldred<\/em><\/p>\n

Fans who signed on for Hachette’s 1\/350 Yamato<\/em> “Diecast Gimmick Model” in January 2019 knew they making a big commitment. In order to build it, they would have to buy 110 weekly volumes to get all the parts. Some assembled it one week at a time. Others (like me) waited until they had them all on hand. It was a massive undertaking that led to a challenging but magnificent end result. As it went on, it was natural to wonder what might come next.<\/p>\n

That question was answered in December 2020 (on Christmas Day, in fact) as Yamato<\/em> started counting down its last ten volumes. The next model would be a 1\/350 Andromeda<\/em>. You can still see the first promo video here<\/a> and visit Hachette’s Andromeda<\/em> web page here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As everyone contemplated that, the implications were significant; at that scale, it would stretch to an enormous 50-inch long behemoth, the largest Space Battleship Yamato<\/em> model you could ever buy. With all its bells and whistles, the 1\/350 Yamato<\/em> needed 110 volumes. So what would this monster require?<\/p>\n


\nLeft: store-bought edition of all 60 volumes. Right: instruction booklets.<\/em><\/p>\n

That’s where the game changed a bit. Despite its massive size, it would actually be a shorter commitment with 60 volumes. The reason was that, unlike Yamato<\/em>, it wouldn’t be motorized. Guns and other features wouldn’t move with the press of a button. Given how complex and expensive the Yamato<\/em> model was, this wasn’t a bad thing. Instead, in keeping with its onscreen appearance, it would have a LOT more lighting to turn it into a different kind of showpiece.<\/p>\n

As the mecha designer for Yamato<\/em> 2202, Junichiro Tamamori had the job of revamping Andromeda<\/em> for a new audience and he consulted heavily with Hachette on the model. He also personally engineered the lighting scheme for multiple variations to give it added “play value.” (Read an interview about the project here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Rather than starting the weekly volumes with a number 1, Hachette continued the numbering from Yamato<\/em>. So Andromeda<\/em> Volume 1 was released as “Diecast Gimmick Model 111.” This was a much simpler approach than launching an all-new series, since Yamato<\/em> was already a presence in stores and nobody had to sign up for a different product.<\/p>\n

That made it especially easy for subscribers, who were presumably a large percentage of the customer base. If you were already receiving Yamato<\/em> by mail, you didn’t have to do anything if you wanted to roll into Andromeda<\/em>. Your deliveries would simply continue after volume 110.<\/p>\n


\nHere’s the subscriber edition, delivered in 15 sets of four. Cosmo was standing by, ready to help whenever I needed an extra paw.<\/em><\/p>\n

The first volume arrived March 10, 2021 and kept going from there. If you bought it in a store, you’d get a new one every week in its own packaging. If you subscribed, you got your volumes in batches of four without individual packaging to save on production cost and waste material. As before, the slickly-produced instruction manuals often included Yamato 2202<\/em> content that turned them into a series encyclopedia. This included design materials that went beyond what could be found elsewhere, and in a larger format. It transitioned into 2205<\/em> content when the time was right.<\/p>\n

In Covid world, being a subscriber was ideal since it kept you safe at home. The downside was that the pandemic eventually had an impact on the manufacturing side. Supply chain problems between China and Japan caused a slowdown at the start of 2022, forcing the series to go bi-weekly from January through April. But it picked up again after that and slid across the finish line on June 22.<\/p>\n


\nBox styles for the store-bought version. These four images recycled continuously.<\/em><\/p>\n


\nCovers for the instruction booklets. Same as the boxes, four cycling photos.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, the 1\/350 Hyuga<\/em> was announced in April and rolled in to take over from Andromeda<\/em> with volume 171. But that’s another story.<\/p>\n

After I finished building the 1\/350 Yamato<\/em> in early 2022 (chronicled here<\/a> and here<\/a>) part of me wanted to launch right into Andromeda<\/em> and keep going. But the sane part of me said to take a break. Building Yamato<\/em> was a real rollercoaster, alternating between obsession and torture. And anyway, not all the Andromeda<\/em> volumes were in hand yet. It was important to let other modelers finish first and report on their experience in order to avoid pitfalls (a vital factor in sanity preservation).<\/p>\n


\nAll the parts at a glance. Maybe this is what it looked like in the Time Fault Factory.<\/em><\/p>\n

But, about a year later, I decided the time had finally come. Click on the links below to see how it all went!<\/p>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Part 1: Volumes 1-10<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Part 2: Volumes 11-20<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Part 3: Volumes 21-30<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
Part 4: Volumes 31-40<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Part 5: Volumes 41-50<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
Part 6: Volumes 51-58<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n

<\/br><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Part 7: Last volumes\/wrapup<\/a><\/div>\n

<\/br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yamato-2202-merchandising"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33720"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33722,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33720\/revisions\/33722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ourstarblazers.com\/vault\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}