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Hello all! I started this one way back in time (it seems), but I felt that I needed some practice with etchwork, as there is a lot in this detail set from White Ensign, so I put it to one side, and had a go with two Airfix kits, the Type 45 (HMS Diamond) and HMS Illustrious. Well, they both gave me plenty of experience, and detail-out (modellers burn out!). So I blitzed four quick-fire aircraft kits and got rid of the block, and set too again with Dreadnought. I am building this to give to my mum, who's father was a stoker on the Dreadnought in 1915-16. This kit depicts Dreadnought in 1906, so is a bit different to the 1915 fit. White Ensign give alternative parts to make a '15 fit, but I think I am going to build her in the early guise. I may change my mind, as I have already made some modifications to the vertical details (pipes?) on the hull sides as some of them were in different places. Anyway, here is where I am at the moment: I have added some etch to the top of deck housings, and to the 60-odd coaling scuttles, which was fun. You get a lot done but nothing much seems to have been done! The anchor chain races are from the etch too. Dreadnought has 5 main turrets, and Zvezda supply a part to fit under the deck to secure the turrets in place. However, I found that when you fit the turrets, they are a really positive fit and are gripped well without the lower part, so I will fit them later. There is a surprising amount of detail to add to the turrets courtesy of WEM, but there is still scope for adding more, like lots of footstrips (28!), a hatch and a pair of vertical poles per turret. The question is, can I build 5 of these and make them look consistent? I also had fun making the 'eyebrows' for all the scuttles on the side of the hull and superstructure. I stripped some speaker cable and then tightly wrapped the thin copper wire from inside the cable around a small drill bit. This was then slid off the bit, and I used a scalpel pushed down the 'tube' coil to slice the wire, which then left lots of small copper ringlets. These were then chopped in half to create a half-circle, and the attached with thin CA, and the re-CA'd again to seal them on. This was before painting the hull. The hull has been brush painted, but sprayed matt varnish afterwards. The paint and the spray helped seal the in some more. My plan for later is to try and get the masts fitted before a lot of the other detail work, to allow me to get at rigging points. I have been really inspired by Callum (Forlornhope) with his rigging that he has done so wonderfully, and hope to rig Dreadnought to such a standard. I have got some Cage Aerial Speaders from White Ensign too, so I will also see if I can get a representation of that. The quarterdeck is only dropped in place at the moment, but so far the fit of the Zvezda tooling seems really good. I think I am going to really enjoy this one, I still have another (with the Pontos detail-up set) so this is practice for that! Thanks for looking, don't forget, any advice is always welcome. Kind regards everyone, Ray