Hi all, thanks as always for your interest.
Firstly PMD what a lovely job you are making - I'm most envious of those decks.
I was giving the cabin sides and coaming some thought for when I get back on it and have more or less decided that I shall plank the main deck whether the original 'Ford' boats were or not . This will help seal the cabin/deck join and give some support to the coaming sides which after all does not have a particularly strong joint against a side swipe!
I really like the idea of using plasticard for the glazing surround too. I was going to do what I did on the original Swordsman model that I made and that was to use model railway line, set on edge with the groove between base and rail running around the cutout, the base on the outside. It was effective, gave a very scale 'satin chrome' finish and the glazing could be snapped in place on the inner groove. However with the 'silver' paints now available a very realistic metallic finish can be put on Plasticard - have you heard of the 'Alclad 2' paints? - so this is something I will investigate further.
Regarding the windscreen it's going to be a big piece of 'Perspex' which is going to need heating to get round those bends on the outsides without cracking. I don't know if it's still available but at one time you could get 60 thou thick (acetate) sheet from the average model shop which may be a suitable alternative. Though a moderate amount of heat will assist matters greatly this will take a cold bending to a certain degree without shattering like acrylic but even better would be if you could get an off cut of 2mm 'Makrolon' This is very strong but will cold bend with a bit of effort and is virtually shatter proof. I think the big problem with this part
is going to be in the fixing but I can see quite some virtue in the method you describe for the front of the screen but the sides?
Can't believe the stand made an impression??!!! Means to an end was the thinking behind it. I remembered the last one, just having foam strips on the 'vees' for proection gradually wore the finish off the hull. Hopefully this will prove a little better
The back should hold out Andy but the knees??? now they're something else!!!
Regards - Ramon