Here are some other TTT Images.
Some close ups of a model battleship – check out the piping along the bottom from front to back. I assume this is to spray some sort of soap mixture to make the foam wake that you see in the film.
Also check out the Kaga and model subs. There were no scenes of the subs leaving Japan so maybe some more lost footage for the 50th anniversary edition.
The carrier mock-up is amazing. It appears that the elevator is functional. Would have been something to see that side by side with the full size mock-up of the Nagato.
I always wondered if they used this same mock up for the TOHO movie “I bombed Pearl Harbor”? It also looked like they filmed take off’s during the day – so perhaps they intended to show the second wave taking off and that ended up on the cutting room floor due to time? I read where they had to cut a lot of film out to even get the length they did. Still a long movie and the theater release actually had an intermission. Just think of all that extra footage that might be archived somewhere.
I was 6 years old when the movie came out and pestered my dad to take me. He finally relented and we went to a drive in movie. We had a station wagon and me and my brother laid on top of the car on a blanket. I remember how excited I was to see this film, as I was a nut for anything with wings.
The only thing I remember is my dad waking me up. I think I saw the first 20 minutes and was sooooo disappointed when I woke up – only to see the credits rolling and the ships in flames. My dad assumed me and my brother were loving every minute of it and in fact we slept through 90% of it.