Building The Fujimi 1/350 IJN Kongo, Part 2

Part 10: Sweating The Big Stuff…

The hull has been epoxied to the base-- remember the hollow tubes I put inside the hull for the dowels to fit into? Those tubes get filled with epoxy and then the ship slides onto the dowels. The little bit of "play" in the tubes allows the epoxy to go down and around the dowels to lock the ship in. It can be held upside down and won't budge (although I don't tempt fate by doing it much). Here's the epoxy in the forward tube with dowel.

And then the big stuff started to go on. Here's a quick shot with the flight deck, side platforms, funnels, superstructure base and level, and midships items attached. Some filler can be seen here and there.

The flight deck and another correction to the instructions. The photo etch piece for the control house is shown upside down. It is supposed to be flipped over so that the the side windows are up against the roof instead of the floor.

Here is the flight deck attached with transport rails, turntables, and correct side up house.

Moving forward, we see the platforms for the search lights (empty for now), boat cradles, directors, and the beginnings of the bridge and superstructure. Note the fragile PE pulleys...

Part 11: Final Assembly of The Bridge…

Starting from the previous step and going up...

As the next level goes on, remember to add the enclosure...

A small PE cagework is added here, as is the "cap":

The top most deck and works are dry fit here. This is because it would interfere with my process of putting the "glass" in the top windows, so the DF antenna structure (and top deck, etc.) has to wait until that process is complete.

Completion so far, including the turrets. A note about the included metal barrels: These were excellent pieces that slid into the blast bags with no problems. Truly wonderful pieces. The plastic barrels are very good, but if you score a kit with the metal barrels included, use them!