S-boat 55

Always good that new stuff comes out but this surely falls into the category of "just why?" So many other acrual commissioned ships out there to do,

What a beaut and the boats not bad either, that's wonderful news, congratulations to you and your family,

That looks like they've replaced the majority of kit! I'm sure you'll do fine with it, I once looked at doing uss Arizona with the eduard set which similarly replaces large areas,

Must say I'm a touch envious of that framing, I'm coming tk quite enjoy PE, (he says foolishly), it just looks fab

She really is coming up a beaut, I need to get me a Japanese ship or two,

I've got to stop pulling up chairs but this one will be interesting for sure

That's a massive improvement on the kit parts, the whole structure seems a model in its own right

Oh that's not good to hear at all,

Ah you saying that I remember discussion about this earlier in the thread, I've looked for gators can't find it anywhere, I've had hit and miss results with ca, I've seen others talk about using evo stick as well which I guess is pva based,

I must confess I very nearly knocked her off her the desk the other day not paying attention swapping back to 'office' from hobby bench

You've folded it very cleanly but to me what stands out is how you've attached it with out any mess and goop, is it CA you use?

2 hours! - 2 hours to do this, I mean its an improvement for sure, but two hours, Recycled - i.e. chopped up hand rail used as struts, the engine on top the wing should really be on a better looking structure than the plastic 'pin' but i cant face it, plus wouldn't really know what to do, Thanks for looking in, Sam

That's an old kit of royal sovereign, it's one my father had or still has if he's been able to hide it in the loft! The R class really do deserve a revisit by the injection mould companies in 1:350 this time

Decided now to just work area by area and finish bits off, divided the model into 5 areas and figured why not start and the end and do the stern first, so a couple of short stints at the bench have brought me rapidly forward. Started trying to form the top rail cover as mentioned earlier in the thread, with some limited success, it doesn't fully hold the shape but enough to later fix in place and not distort (hopefully). The railing is nicked from my Repulse kit as i plan to get eh upgrade for her anyway so its technically spare anyway. I picked up a pair of Xuron PE cutters - my life are they good! to cut and shape the rails was a 1/3 of the time having the PE bender and cutters, I can see why people recommend them. I discovered that where HB would have you put the crane doesn't allow it to rotate, not technically its a fixed part anyway but it wouldn't look right so removed the raised fitting for it and drilled a hole, fixed a chopped up bit of the kits barrels and used that as a pin to allow it to rotate as well, The crane is too heavy though and so leans and i had to fix it in place anyway, gave the hanger door a wash and fitted some more railing in place and here is where she is at, Apologies the photo is really dark for some reason, just the top rail, plane and final touch up to go and then this bit is finished, Where to people stand on decal flags? do they tend to look good or poor? are pe ones any better? Thanks Sam

Generally very good, haven't had many issues with the kit, found some of the column/supports that go under the forward superstructure a touch short but that could have been my mistake. A few minor issues with the kit PE which is pretty extensive really, My build thread is; I belive there is a dedicated upgrade set for her now but I decided against it as between with that on top of the aftermarket barrells and aa guns I'd be trebling what I paid for the kit plus at the time had never tried photo etch properly so wasn't sure if I'd get on with it or not, Flyhawks generally good? I've got their set for hood and will likely use their for Richelieu and also Repulse when I get to it Sam

Very nice example you've made there. She's a great looking ship, I'm just in the closing stages of her little sister Dunkerque, so I'm tempted to do Richelieu as well,

Hi Jeff, You're too good...spot on..its Littorio,

So small update, a second one coming today as well - well kind of Did some work on her 'crown' which is one of her standout features, there are issues with how the 4 'pointy bits' are represented, they're technically supposed to be like an I Beam in section rather than an inverted U section but they look good to me and are surprisingly rigid for thin etch brass, the top tow range finders are still dry fit as there's a bit more to do to bring out the detail and i'll do that at the same time as the rest of that sort of thing One of the things that im proudest of oddly is the small steps leading down into the bridge from the top of the s/structure, i did them ages ago bit i just find it very satisfying that you can just see them through the bridge windows, Lastly I've been trying to sort the boats out, getting a decent colour is proving frustrating, they need toning right down as they are borderline florescent at the moment, if that doesn't work, I'll cheat and cover them, She's kind of hit a point where its a case of do something and wait for it to dry and do something and wait for it to set largely because i've tried to be clever and sequence things together and not quite hit the mark, so you may have noticed some potential tinkering with something behind her in one or two photos......I'll see if you can guess what it is, thanks Sam

I've not built it but this review seems to speak favourably about it,

David, Found it....here's the link https://www.foyles.co.uk/witem/history-politics/british-battleships-19191945,r-a-burt-9781848321304 Can't help but think they got the price wrong but either way, Sam

Where on earth did you find it at that price, cheapest I've found is four times that,

Iceman beat me to it

If I may be as bold to suggest having a look at access to the search light positions, the ladder/steps up currently lead to a wall, shouldn't they be some kind of hatch or something? Edit...I checked the AOTS book and it shows a 'door' on each side to the front and hatch at the top of the steps at the rear,

Like fish and chips, she's looking rather tasty it must be said

Hmmm not sure I want to be faffing trying to correct a hull on a first carrier build I'd they're as complicated as people say, thanks for the heads up,