Found a really great price on sets "a" AND "b". $42 A POP SO THOSE HAVE NOW BEEN ADDED TO THE BOX. LIke those cross braces, one could also use thin diameter round Evergreen strips. I am getting to the point of severely disliking PH while working on my Kongo. I guess I am just a bit too thick fingerered for such delicate stuff and I expect trying to do the Akagi underdeck will give me a stroke when I get too it.

Finally made enough progress to warrent a update. The forward section, both port and starboard side tiers are done, along with all of the railings at the front of the hangar. Most of the railings aren't bad. The worst are the two top-most AA gun tiers. Really fidgetty.
Starboard



Port


Fore Quarter

Great to see an update, Dave, and awesome as usual!

Any new updates??

Sorry for the lack of updates. Been working on various details on different areas. All very time consuming but doesn't show a lot of progress. Don't know how Kym and others did it so fast.

I just finish the funnel area, the AA terraces on the back; and started on the cross braces under the rear flight deck.

I'm post some pics tonight.

Small update with lots of little bits and pieces.

Funnel supports and railings



Funnel on


The little ladders from the flight deck


Part of the cross braces under the rear flight deck. Still have to do the one on the sides. They are .015 K &S music wires CAed to the supports



Working on the island




Hoping to finish up the cross braces this week and prime the rear flight deck section. Sort of anxious to see what the wood deck looks like.

Lookin extraordinary. It is coming togther ncely. It ooks a lot easier aftryou got all tht stuff under the flight deck done. Glad for the tip on the cross braces

Great PE work... looks great! Thanks for posting the update, look forward to the rest!

This build continues to be amazing to watch, really top notch work.

I'll tell ya, every time I see a shot of all that PE under the forward flight deck I know if I ever do anything like that when it comes time to spray it gray the artist in me and the modeller in me are going to lock horns in an epic struggle for control of my airbrush trigger finger. It really looks very cool the way it is.

Come to think of it do you actually spray that or brush paint it? PE newbie question... how DO you handle all those PE details when you've already done so much of the paint work around them?

Wonderful work Dave!

Thanks for all the kind comments guys. PE work is maddening sometimes but at least its not 1/700 and having small fingers help. Some Grey Goose to calm the nerves is also a plus

Well, I didn't get to the wooden deck this weekend but all of the cross braces are on except for the last outer pieces by the hanger bulkhead. Can't really measure the length to the hanger bulwark until the deck is glued on.

Got some of the deck side safety netting on as well.

Dan, the deck hasn't been glued on yet so the whole thing will be primed and sprayed separately

You're right though, almost a shame to paint it




It very messy looking from certain angles

Dave, now you have me checking again. Do you have any photo evidence that the safety netting follows the lower framework at the rear of the flightdeck? I wondered myself when adding them and ended up going by the photos of the large model at the Pearl Harbor Museum for reference, thereby mounting them onto the top decks edge.

Hey Kym,

No photographic evidence. All of the reference material that I have, plus the PE instructions, box art, and the pics of the Hasegawa build-up, show the rear netting attached to the bottom deck. Always seem kind of weird as the netting does not extend pass the top deck and therefore will not stop anything from falling over the side.

Here a painting question for you:

Did you primed and paint the top of the flight deck before you attach the wood deck. I thought it may provide a better surface for the adhesive if the deck portion where the wood overlays wasn't painted. Also did you attach the wood deck before varnishing?

Dave,
I left the deck unpainted before adding the wood decking. I didn't want to take the chance that the adhesive might act like superglue and bond to the paint. Have you ever superglued a part to something only to have it come off taking a large portion of paint with it. I just thought it would be best to keep the bond between the wood and plastic only.
I sprayed the first coat of clear lacquer (from a can) very lightly over the fully decaled deck. Once dried, I gave it another very light coat followed by a third. Very lightly because I didn't want the lacquer to react with the decals
Google up some photos of Don's Akagi at the P/H museum, it makes more sense with the net placement.

Great work, Dave! And yes, it's always a shame to paint such beautiful PE work.

Hi Dave

Excellent work indeed - it is taking shape
Keep up and please, keep us posted.


Rui

Thanks guys.

Brian, that's awesome work. It even more impressive when its 1/700. Is the entire flight deck brass? Very clean PE work.

She's coming along slowly. Finishing the deck safety nets on the rear deck tonight and masking the portion that attaches to the wooden deck. Then its painting this weekend. Hopefully I'll have something to post Sunday night.

Alright... got what I wanted to do this weekend. The rear deck is painted, the wood sections attached, and some of the dry-transfers on. Really motivating to get a glimpse of what the final product should look like.

Got it ready for priming. Last look at bare PE and plastic



Great coverage with Duplicolor Primer






Took a while to spray in between the PE and make sure the coverage is even. Getting the insides of the supports was a pain. The search light housings will be installed before the deck is glued. Woulda made it tougher to get even paint coverage for the PE with them on.


No more blinding flash reflections




Now I know why Kym is reluctant to weather the deck. In some ways the planking is even prettier than the PE (and with minimal work) - Thanks to Dade for the Valspar inputs.




Need to get a few more transfers onto the deck than I'll spray clear gloss and do a bit of weathering (believe me, it'll be very, very little).

It'll be back to more mundane parts of the asembly next week.

I am astounded by this Dave!
I have been following this from the start,and find your skills to be superb.
You have an excellent way of presenting the progress of your build which makes me wish I had the same kit and extra's to follow along with you!
She is going to be beautiful when you finish!


Jeff

Looking great, Dave! I'm noticing that old PE devil of the paint not getting inside of some spots-- as you said, notably the main supports, where the brass PE on the inside is still visible through the holes. Will you be doing spot paint shots on these? Looking at the bottoms of them, it looks like you can maybe bend the flaps out to get up in there with your air pressure set very low (and with a tight pattern), then bend them back in.

Or has this assembly been mounted permanently? If so, disregard this as needless musings.

BTW, the deck is looking great!

I wonder what it looks like without all that PE - I'm getting used to this level of detail...very nice work!

My only grief is that they took out the turrets and put a silly deck on top of the ship, but that's not the models fault.

The Hasegawa P/E only allows you one or two chances at folding, after that the joining tabs will break.