Thanks heaps Jan.

I am sure the shoulder will be fine.

Cheers
Warren

Looking very good Warren,

Are there no spares for the 20mm on the fret? the Set for the Duke was quite generous, no spare barrels mind.

The bridge is looking good as well.

Hope all goes well with the scan on the shoulder.

Cheers

Si

that Oerlikon production line looks the 'business' Warren!

Maybe you are correct Sir. I will have to see if there are any spares at the end.

Cheers
Warren

Luckily not the 60+ like the USS North Carolina!

A very fast update. A few stages in the bridge superstructure..





And a very finely etched radio aerial..



Cheers
Warren

Fantastic looking bridge Warren!! Love the detail on the radar as well! Good stuff!!

Thanks Todd.

Hi Warren,

Be interested to know, as I have a nasty habit of dropping small parts, that disappear through some wormhole in time and space.

The bridge tower is looking really good, as is the radar. Do like the Pontos radars, they look, and go together well.

Keep up the good work,

Cheers

Si.

Hi Simon

Pontos have got their masts and aerials pretty well licked.

Thanks again
Warren

Hi Warren,

as everybody said - great job!! The bridge structure looks really good, I do like the camouflage, the colors look very nice - don't want to say 'realistic' since I've never seen any 507C/507B-scheme for real...
Very nice work on the tine parts, antennas, radars, and the six Oerlikons really look fine!!

Cheers,
Jan

Thanks Jan!

Well the bridge is now in place and the 20mm have popped up like mushrooms after a summer shower..





You were right Simon. I had one extra Oerlikon.

I have also painted lots of stuff on the PE frets and started on the starfish platform for the foremast.. oh and I glued the starfish platform platform to my fingers with extra thin CA..

Cheers
Warren

Very nice Warren,

She does look good with the bridge and turrets in place.

Cheers

Si

Thanks Simon.

I found the only way I could use the Pontos instructions was to blow them up 600% on my computer then crop the images and print out the parts of the sheet I need at that time. I got the USS New York set the other day and it looks like they have improved their instructions a lot. Still not as nice and clear as Eduard though.

Cheers
Warren

Good tip Warren,

Nearly went cross-eyed building Dreadnought! Will try that when I get round to this puppy in my stash.

Their instructions have got much better, 6 pages in the Duke of York set, and 12 in the Bismarck. (1/350th) Having great fun with that at the moment.

Cheers

Si

Hmmm.. why did I have to login all of a sudden?

Anyway, time for a weekend update..

First up, building up the starfish platform and fore mast..









The debonder got some use today as the Pontos instructions are so bad I actually missed how that railing was supposed to go on. I had to remove it, cut it into bits and re-install it. Firemast before painting..



.. and after..



..and the base in position..



And then the completed main mast..



Neither of those masts will be going anywhere near the model until the very end which is my way of trying to avoid Warren's law.. 'Sticky-uppy and sticky outty bits get broken off'.

And the boat deck is starting to take shape..



That's it for now.

Cheers
Warren

Masts look excellent Warren.

appreciate all the heads up on the issues with the instructions.

Cheers

Si

Hi Simon.

I will try and give more as I find them. The Academy instructions are not the best either, They have completely missed attaching the rear of the bridge superstructure piece.

Cheers
Warren

Excellent progress there, Warren!! This mast-/antenna-structure is really impressive und looks quite fragile... I think your law is not only applying to you...

And your little mushrooms look great! Very nice impression on the ship, with details and big guns coming on!

Cheers,
Jan

Very much appreciated Jan.

One thing I will mention, That radar housing on top of the mast was a bit of a pain. I put it together then discovered it wasn't quite right and went to file off some of the edge.. problem is it was so fragile I partially crushed it..

I then bit the bullet and hit the assembly with some heat and turned the CA into ash, flattened out the item again and re-rolled it and it came good. Pontos use good quality brass
luckily.

Cheers Jan and thanks again
Warren

I am building the same kit and going the same route as you with the PONTOS set!

Welcome aboard AJ.

Winter is definitely here! Cold and miserable but I am tucked in the hobby room at home for the last few days after having one of my toes operated on to fix an ingrown toenail. My doctor says he has done hundreds of them but this was the first one on a second toe.. weird eh!

Almost as weird as the way the build has been going for the past few days. Unfortunately this is not one of Pontos's besy PE sets and the Pom-poms are not good due to so-so design of the PE parts and use of original kit parts, and the fact that the instructions have more holes in them than swiss cheese.. mostly due to not showing exactly where pieces go and how the kit parts need to be modified. In fact they don't even mention that they are kit parts! Here is one of the four I built..



Over-engineered (ie too many parts) with some pieces having very very little attachment points. but definitely the worst part being not being shown how to modify the kit parts used in the build. I remember using the WEM pom-poms when I built the Hood and they were mostly resin and came out looking great. Problem is they is stock no where and I don't think WEM have started making them again.

Next up were the two ship's cranes..





This time it was Academys turn to shine for all the bad reasons. Instead of making the crane's jib out of one piece of PE with four bends to produce the box shape they made three sides and then you need to glue the bottom part on.. after up-teen tries I finally got it to stick. Problem is there is very little surface area for the glue to stick to and being stainless steel means that soldering is out.

Then I got part way through the funnel cap before I gave up for the evening.



Much better design.

That's it for now
Cheers
Warren

Nice work Warren,

The Pompoms do not look as good as the later Pontos efforts, but if memeory serves this was their first effort.

Funnel and crane look good too.

Cheers

Si

Coming along nicely Warren

Pom Poms are always a challenge at the best of times, but you've done a great job as always