Rear Gun Platform:This sub assembly proved interesting, which was down to me going beyond what the kit intended.
The rear 4 inch gun:Four parts in cast metal plus a resin casting. Very little flash cleaning required. Having found a nice detail plan of this QF gun I thought I’d add some extra detail such as the training mechanism. Brass wire, platicard, and some tiny washers. Also added mounting base in lithoplate so I could add the many nuts around the mounting flange. Cutting holes in litho a challenge. I used a hollow punch.
2 inch dia rear gun platformGun platform.Was to be a plastic circle on a vacuum formed base, with square section deck pattern. Having found a similar era TBD platform on the Martime Museum site I tried to recreate the detail structure from that. Plastistruct channels shaved right down and “I” beam supports underneath (not really visible above). Die cast ladder sections fitted with wire reinforcing as ladder bottoms will not be attached due to my steering gear access hatch ending before the ladder.
Stanchions:I had opted to exchange the original etched sheets of lengths of complete rail sections for individual 2 & 3 hole 11mm RN type. During this part I began to regret my ambitiousness, but persevered. I had bought a nice 12W miniature soldering iron for the job, but before the solder melted the brass wire became like HD springs pulling it all out of shape – just as the heat started to melt the plastic deck I had so carefully drilled.
Try again ! This time I fitted the stanchions, super-glued them in, then threaded the wire, finally applying more super glue to the wire joints. Vastly better and more controllable, the rail sets are remarkably strong when finished. Two hole are for areas that on the original fold down when cleared for action, three hole elsewhere.
Only another 200 stanchions on this ship. It’s all a learning curve.
Bridge next, including the interior.