ERK

While making some guns I decided to make up the Two rear 15inch guns, the kit units are really nice but made even better with the Pontos barrels and some PE, after painting I gave them a slight dry brush to bring out their details - on the edges etc. Also note the tubs on the rear deck. Erk.

Evening all, next on the build was the construction and paint of the Four 4In Anti Aircraft guns, these sat under the over hangs of the Boat/Pom Pom deck and were served by ammo in the lockers near by, they were the kit parts with the Pontos Brass barrels that were fitted to te breaches. Erk.

The Old Girl was stubbern to the very end - she did not want to be scrapped - hence why she struggled with the tugs taking her to the scrappers. Erk.

Evening all, so more updates - next to be built was the Two cranes, they invoved quite a bit of the PE arms/cables etc. Erk.

Next step was to work on the Four Pom Poms base and main section from the kit but with the rest made up from the Pontos PE, once assembled they were painted then placed around the boat deck. Erk.

And to show the PE frets I pre painted some of the parts first ( I had to get some replacements as some where damaged) Erk.

Hi all, bit more ongoing progress on my tiny hood - I am currenly working on the Weatherdeck fitting all the tiny fittings like the mushroom vents and the Two motors. Erk.

Always worth a "Second Wind" - go for it I will follow with interest. Erk.

Next stage on the boat deck was tofit the railings then paintb them followed by building and fitting some boats - these were the kit boats plus the Pontos PE. Erk.

Thank you all for following, next on the build was the Funnel and the Spotlight platforms and some PE ladders, I also created some protection shields that were wrapped around the platforms - they were then painted. Erk. .

Thank you kindly, still plenty more updates to come. Erk.

Next stage was to start on the hangar block - this starts with the lower outer shell, then the Inner section was added before adding the roof with some PE supports being added underneath. Oh and making some of the Tubs adding the ammo bins and doors. Erk.

Fantastic well done. Erk.

Crazy Good - Outstanding. Erk.

Most welcome. Erk.

During the process of fitting the wood deck around the rear block - I left the block un glued and just dry fitted, then I dry fitted the rear deck then prior to gluing down I fitted the rear wood deck, I aged the wood decking a bit with a few washes. Erk.

Continuing on - my next stage was to assemble the rear block that contained the gunnery direction finders and rear mast, its a nice little build assembly - Erk.

And very delicate, I foregot how small 1/700 scale was/is. Erk.

Next of was discovering that the hull side square pipes needed to be cut shorter - peoblem with doing so and sanding flush - it ruined some of my paintwork, so a re paint of both sides was needed - Erk.

So after attaching the rear walkway, it was time to fit the decks, I started with the bow section - this joins to the mid ship section (all on One level) the bow includes moulded anchor chains that in fairness are slightly over scale - bit I went with them, but the first job was to fit the first (bow) section of deck - this was just a cut out peel off back type and went down well after I sanded and scrapped some of the raised moulded dec detail, this carried on to the midships area, one alteration I did was around the 5Inch placements the floor here was Semtex (a dark Grey) so I trimed the decking to this point and cut some paper to fit that was then pained with several coats of Dark Grey. After I fitted the Aircraft runway strip - a lovely PE assembly - this had its cover fitted as no sea planes where onboard in her later life. More to follow - Erk.

For anyone who gets this kit - watch out for the Two pieces that are shown in the pics above - they are the the side bulkheads but in the model are about 2mm wide and no real way of getting a secure bond at the one end hence why it looks like it has dropped - when its on the hull its not too bad as I can push it all down to lign up. Erk.

Evening all, bit more progress on my hood, I painted inside the lower deck under the boat deck using a fine brush, then the PE instructions call for Four ladders going down from the boat deck, "My word the PE is tiny" but fankfully beinf thinner - more easy to cut away from the fret, so after using my normal bending trick - tweezers to hold flat and knife to bend, then a bit of CA using some wire placed on the edge of the ladder cut out, and placed. Erk.

Thank you kindly, the kit can be made excellently out of the box - but the pontos update kit does make a difference to lift the kit from very good to excellent, quite a few more posts yet to post. Erk.

I then made up a base from wood and painted the Two stands - these were screwed to the bottom of the hull. Erk.

Next on my build was to fit the rear walkway - this was a Three part assembly made up of a PE wrap around section a floor and a roof supported on a couple legs, after it was painted the hull colour. Pic was shot a little further on into my build - hence the other bits on it. Erk.