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Hi All. I have been a member here for a few years, but this is my first time posting. This is also the first ship model I have built as I usually build aircraft, and occasionally armour, cars, sci-fi, etc. I actually started this model nearly three years ago, but I have had a number of breaks from the project during that time, so I am only now on the home straight. I thought some of you might be interested in the build process, so I will try and document what I have done so far over the next few days or weeks and will update it going forward. Apologies if there are a few steps missing, I have not been very consistent with pictures of the build, but I will show you as much as I can. I also have some questions about various details which I am trying to work out. This was originally supposed to be a relatively simple build, using the Tamiya Prince of Wales kit and the Pontos KGV upgrade set. However, due to a lack of detail in the Tamiya kit and a few inaccuracies in the Pontos kit, this project has somewhat spiralled out of control and become much more complex. Because I was not happy with my original painting of the hull, I ended up buying a second POW kit, and in addition to the Pontos set, I have also used Eduard photo etch as well as detail sets from North Star models, WEM, Micro Master and various others. I have also ended up doing quite a lot of scratch building to try and get what I hope is a reasonably accurate model. I decided to depict her in early 1942. The reasons for this were that I didn’t want to do a complex camouflage scheme for my first ship model. I also wanted to include the catapult and Walrus. The catapult was removed in February 1944; however the ship was given a camouflage scheme following the collision with HMS Punjabi in May 1942 and kept this until late 1944. I also prefer the look of the pom-poms to the UP launchers, which were removed in December 1941. This is the best, and pretty much only picture that I have been able to find of the ship during this period and has been my main inspiration for the build. Despite what the text on the picture says, this is in fact KGV, not the Duke of York, although I believe the date is correct. As far as references are concerned, I have the following books, one of which in particular turned out to be less than useful, and hundreds of photos and other information found online, mostly from the IWM. While waiting for the kit to arrive, I made a start on the base. This was a solid piece of oak from an old bookshelf, larger than the model and with a routered edge to allow for a Perspex case. I also added cut-outs under each end to make it easier to lift For the pedestals I used some brass handrail fittings, but cut down to around 4cm high. Next, onto the build Peter