What to do if your wife comes out of the kitchen complaining about it? Shorten her chain! Al

HI Julian!

Yes, the navsource.org photoset on the Arizona shows that a rather simple (good news for detailers!) set of "gripes" was used to strap the boats down. I'm sure that examination of the pre-war photos in Stilwell's book will also reveal such details. :-[

--Karl

Thank you Karl,
First lines are rigged, as you stated not too big a deal to fit.

Cheers,
Julian

September 25th update:
Pipe rails etc.












All for now
Cheers,

October 2nd update: the launches are being lashed down and railings and accomodation ladders are being fitted. I have also started putting up some rigging using EZ-line which is rather hard to see in the photos. I have also sprayed the remaining crewmembers so that they can be fitted soon. Not a lot of progress but I got off course doing an airbrush review:









cheers,
Julian

Looking good! One comment "for next time;" the deck edge railings were chain, so they didn't bend to follow corners. They would, actually, hang out over open air in some places. You can see an example of this in the chain behind the "LIFE" logo in this photo:
http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?imgurl=a0df3993f76c1b29

She is looking fantastis Julien. I love it......Cheers Mark

Nice work, the railing really takes this build to the next level.

Cheers/Jan

Thanks for the "thumbs up" Tracy, I appreciate this very much. Thanks for the info and photo. Too late to change things now but very interesting to know. Looks like a dangerous place to lean against the railing and have a smoke at night
Cheers,
Julian

Thank you very much Mark, glad you like the lady
Cheers,
Julian

Thanks Jan, still not a squeaky clean attachment but a big improvement on my Tirpitz build of about two years ago where I use copious amounts of Gator Glue to attach the railings. Practice makes perfect, I am not there yet but it's an upward learning curve so I am happy with it
Cheers,
Julian

Hello Julian, She sure is impressive, and you're really doing a terrific job. Al

Hi Al, thank you very much. Working on the gangways at the moment, they look nice in 1/200th. How is the MAS progressing?
cheers,
Julian

Hi Julian, the MAS is coming along quite nicely. I've got to invest in a photo etch bending tool, like the Hold & Fold, before I can finish it. I think that the bases for the ammo box racks would be next to impossible to fold without one. Al

I bought the hold & fold 5 speed from JB models in Vienna. Excellent tool, once you have used it you will find it hard to do without.
cheers,
Julian

The '5 Speed' is the one I had decided on. Just waiting to amass enough ducats to be able to purchase one. Al

Julian, a question, when you built your MAS did you have some unused photo-etch parts? There are four small parts (PH#6) that I can't locate anywhere in the instructions. Italeri supplies two plastic parts #6, one is installed in step 22 near the stern. The other one is never mentioned. It just magically appears in the photo for step 36, in front of the starboard hydrophone rail!!! Al

Not sure on that Al, (scratches head and screws up forehead = thinking ), I'll dig up the instructions this afternoon and see if anything rings a bell
Cheers,
Julian

I have the instructions in front of me Al. Can't really work out what parts you mean. Can you give a page/part number?
Julian

Hi Julian, Thanks for the reply. The parts I'm talking about are four small photo-etch pieces, numbered 6 on the fret. I couldn't find any mention of them on any page of the instructions, even though I searched for them several times, cover to cover. The two plastic parts I mentioned (numbered 6F) are some kind of small round vent, or cap. One is used near the stern in step #22, on page 13.The other one is never mentioned in the instructions. But if you look closely at the top photo for step # 36, on page 20, you will see it near the top of the hydrophone just in front of the slide rail. There is a small circle with a hole, molded on the deck in that spot, and I wondered about it, but the instructions never told you what would go there. Then I noticed it in that photo. I have seen a couple of on-line builds that have an empty hole where that part should be. Al

Ok, the 4 PE parts I can't place and I don't remember fitting them either. The mushroom vent does appear rather magically in step 36 of the instruction sheet and isn't mentioned at all by Italeri
Funny how soon you forget the steps of a build though, had to some serious head scratching here
Julian

Thanks for checking Julian, I thought maybe I was missing something in the instructions concerning those four photo-etch parts. Either they are not needed after all, or Italeri forgot why they were. Al

October 9th update:
Railings, gangways and crew members being fitted:



Both port and starboard gangways are fitted. Very, very close to calling this build done now
I ran into the Gallery Models "USS Wasp LHD-1" in 1/350th scale for 135 Euros and couldn't really withstand the temptation so I splurged on it
I am pretty much sure that will be my next ship build but need to do some research first
While doing that I think it is time for something completely different:

It has been in my stash for years and I read somewhere that it is just about unbuildable due to old molds, flash and warped pieces. Well, , that's a challenge isn't it
cheers,
Julian

Oeps, sorry, scratch this.

Fantastic Job Julien. Looking forward to seeing what you are going to build next........Cheers Mark