Well, let's take a look. Here's the kit contents:
The usual split hull, a neat little display base (the one made to look like timbers in a dry dock), two chinook helos molded in clear, and a small P/E fret. here's the color plan:
I began as always with the hull, and that's when the problem started. The upper and lower hulls did not fit well - I had to put sprue spreaders inside the hull to get a somewhat decent fit, but even then there was a nasty step between them:
I went through two sanding sticks to even things out, and then I replaced detail lost in the sanding with styrene strip. Here is the lower hull painted:
Here is the hull and main deck assembled and painted:
The stern of the ship has an open area that SHOULD have a deck and some details, but there is nothing included in the kit. Honestly, you really can't tell:
With the hull mostly done I began building the upper works. If you build this kit do yourself a big favor - when you assemble the upper deck / bridge use slow setting model glue, assemble it on the main deck already mounted to the hull, and push, prod, and coax the walls into place. I tried building it on my table, which is level, but the deck has a slight bow to it - when I tried to get it to fit it sprung up on one end! Luckily the glue was not set so on the deck it went, held down to set. Whew! Good thing I didn't use CA! Here's the main pieces (that's a LONG join to glue!)
Here it is dry fit on the deck:
Well, that's it for tonight. Construction will continue so stay tuned! Thanks for lookin' and happy modeling!
Mark
