Well, technically I had started drilling and boring out the side drain holes, but late last night and this evening I officially got my start for the Dive campaign. I managed to get the areas for those lower rear pieces of the Modelbrass set cut out on the hull and glued the replacement brass in. It did not go as easily as i had thought, but in the end, well lets just say the pieces are in and I used gel superglue to fill in some burrs fixing them in. Up close with my magniying gogles on it is not too impressive but it don't look to bad to the unenhanced eyeball. Tomorrow I'll start cutting out the sections for the front drain holes. I've got a 6 day weekend coming up courtesy of New years holidays and inventory time at the plant

Steve,

I used some evergreen strip around the new panels to help clean up the cuts.

Steve

Cut out and replaced the front pieces today. It went much easier and looks much better than the rear sections. Recommend anyone trying this option to first cut out the front as it is easier and you can get a little experience and confidence before tackling those ea sections. The surface in the front is muuch less curveed. ext step will be to put some sheet styrene pieces in to sort of simulate a pressue hull.....mainly so all these openings don't give the kit a see through look. Probably spray interior with some semi-gloss black to also cut down on see through look. This is a fun kit. I'll bet it's a ball just OOB, this brass stuff makes it a bit challenging. I think I'll do my 400 scale version of the same one I'm going to do just to do a size comparison . :-)


EDIT
I got an idea and as Salt 6 did the modelbrass PE set it's directed mainly at him. I was thinking about partially sanding down the plastic deck pieces and putting the brass ones on top. This will still leave a a depth effect provide support for the brass and aleviate the need for cutting out the hatches and fabricating sheet styrene to break up the see through look from top to bottom. Still plan to put in some baffle pieces at the lower end to cover the see through look at both ends. Just painted interior black so I've got a day or so to decide,