Fig. 1: Manufacturer box art.

One four Garmillas space carrier models from the Yamato 2199 series. There are two other similar carriers; the blue "Schderg", and the purple "Lambea", both of which are more or less identical - other than the fighters they carry. There's also the combination battleship/carrier "Darold".

The difference between the carriers are:

• Balgray - green colour; carries DWG-109 Debake air-to-air fighters and DMB-87 Snuka dive bombers
• Lambea - purple colour; carries the DMB-87 Snuka dive bombers
• Schderg - blue colour; carries the FWG-97 Doshira torpedo bombers. The 'earliest' design in the series, and without the angled flight deck.

This is a big kit when complete - almost 16 inches long!

The kit includes:

• The Balgray carrier
• 21x Dabake 1/1000 scale fighters
• 21x Snuka 1/1000 scale dive bombers

Also included is a larger, non-scale version of one of the Dabake fighters to display alongside.

Fig. 2: Example of completed model set. Fig. 3: Example of completed carrier and to-scale fighters.

Close up images of the completed not-to-scale Debake fighter models:

Fig. 4: Example of completed non-scale fighter. Fig. 5: Example of completed non-scale fighter. Fig. 6: Example of completed non-scale fighter.

Fig. 7: Colour chart from mech9.com

• Sourced from: https://www.mech9.com/2024/02/bandai-11000-guipellon-class-balgray.html

The suggested paints for the Space Battleship Yamato 2199 / 2202 series of kits are from Gunze / GSI Creos / Mr Color range, which are hard to source in the UK. In addition, most of the original paint sets are bespoke to the line and are out of production. For the Balgray, the main recommended paints are YC23 and YC24 from set CS888:

Fig. 8: OEM paint set CS888 Fig. 9: OEM colours Fig. 10: OEM colours

It should be obvious by the sheer size of some of the individual parts that this builds to a rather large model!

[5th October, 2025]

Like most of the other Yamato kits, I'm building these without the majority of the fine parts attached and quickly put together to get an idea for how I will paint the model. When I've assembled it I'll then take it apart and prime + paint in sub-assemblies.

Here's the lower deck and hull built, and stand attached:

Middle deck built:

It's an enormous kit - easily 40cm bow to stern. Some ingenuity will be needed to fit it in the display cabinet when finished!

Upper deck partially complete:

All major components added - some very small antenna parts left off in case of accidental damage while sanding/priming. This will next have to come back apart and have all the nub marks and other blemishes sanded ready to be primed. Some of the sub-sections I'll leave connected and just mask off, others I'll need to take apart to paint completely (engines / intakes, etc):

Started on the Dabake fighter… it's actually a touch bigger than I expected, around 11-12cm in length. Nicely detailed:

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