Small update. I'm in the "fill, sand, fill, re-prime, sand, drink, fill, sand, fill, fill, drink more, sand, re-prime, drink, give up and watch YouTube history videos" phase.
I've labeled each are with shapes.
We'll start with the bowtato.
Green Circle: This is where the horrible, sunken anchor chains were located. It's now been smoothed over with multiple laters of putty and Mr. Surfacer. I don't need the deck 100% smooth on account that it's going to be covered up with a paper deck, thanks to Jim Baumann. (And thank you, Jim!)
Red Circle: You can see that there's still a LOT of smoothing and sanding. You can also see the multitude of small air holes from the absolutely atrocious quality of the kit. Note that the larger holes on the lower hull are guide points for the torpedo net booms and shel. I also need to clean up around the hawse, if not replace it completely once the hull's actually decent.
Sterntato? Same issues. Again, I'm less concerned about how pretty the deck is, so long as it's level enough not to show under a paper deck.
Red Circle:Notice the glorious pitting on this barbette. I'm going to try to seal/sand with some Mr Surfacer 500 or some Perfect Plastic Putty. The two portholes on the aft superstrucutre are some of the few I left drilled. They're of the appropriate height and location. The biggest issue here? Look at how wonderfully cast that bulkhead is behind the barbette. Yes, it'll be mostly hidden. I'm still going to do some correction. I swear this kit was scupled with a wet finger and excessive whiskey.
....and now for the fun part. Midships looks like Kurama engaged with some 3" and 4" pop guns or suffered severe rusting issues. Ugh. See circles.
Blue Circle: Better angle on the wonderful barbette. FML
Green Circle: Note that a lot of these deck blobs suck at being anything but a pain. I'm likely going to ragesand these, and almost all other such details, off the ship. They suck. I can do better. The only thing that could make this worse is some good resin outfit deciding to troll me and announce a decent Kurama. I think I'd literally set this thing on fire with my hatred alone.
Red Circle: These were once solid cylinders that are supposed to be vents. The posted finished ship above has them done right. I'm going to fix them. With science. Or madness. Or whiskey. I don't know yet.
I'm not sure when I'll again with progress given that the photos will simply be repeats of the above steps. I'm getting to the point where I'm wondering if the effort is worth the additional sharpness in the hull. There are still some low- to intermediate-hanging fruit, so I'll trudge ahead.
Pieter: Thank you. I've gone back and forth with cutting them off. They're about the only detail I still have on board from my previous reconstruction. I'm just been stubborn.
Small update. I'm in the "fill, sand, fill, re-prime, sand, drink, fill, sand, fill, fill, drink more, sand, re-prime, drink, give up and watch YouTube history videos" phase.
I've labeled each are with shapes.
We'll start with the bowtato.
[b]Green Circle:[/b] This is where the horrible, sunken anchor chains were located. It's now been smoothed over with multiple laters of putty and Mr. Surfacer. I don't need the deck 100% smooth on account that it's going to be covered up with a paper deck, thanks to Jim Baumann. (And thank you, Jim!)
[b]Red Circle:[/b] You can see that there's still a LOT of smoothing and sanding. You can also see the multitude of small air holes from the absolutely atrocious quality of the kit. Note that the larger holes on the lower hull are guide points for the torpedo net booms and shel. I also need to clean up around the hawse, if not replace it completely once the hull's actually decent.
[attachment=2]Bowtato.jpeg[/attachment]
Sterntato? Same issues. Again, I'm less concerned about how pretty the deck is, so long as it's level enough not to show under a paper deck.
[b]Red Circle:[/b]Notice the glorious pitting on this barbette. I'm going to try to seal/sand with some Mr Surfacer 500 or some Perfect Plastic Putty. The two portholes on the aft superstrucutre are some of the few I left drilled. They're of the appropriate height and location. The biggest issue here? Look at how wonderfully cast that bulkhead is behind the barbette. Yes, it'll be mostly hidden. I'm still going to do some correction. I swear this kit was scupled with a wet finger and excessive whiskey.
[attachment=1]Sterntato.jpeg[/attachment]
....and now for the fun part. Midships looks like Kurama engaged with some 3" and 4" pop guns or suffered severe rusting issues. Ugh. See circles.
[b]Blue Circle:[/b] Better angle on the wonderful barbette. FML
[b]Green Circle:[/b] Note that a lot of these deck blobs suck at being anything but a pain. I'm likely going to ragesand these, and almost all other such details, off the ship. They suck. I can do better. The only thing that could make this worse is some good resin outfit deciding to troll me and announce a decent Kurama. I think I'd literally set this thing on fire with my hatred alone.
[b]Red Circle:[/b] These were once solid cylinders that are supposed to be vents. The posted finished ship above has them done right. I'm going to fix them. With science. Or madness. Or whiskey. I don't know yet.
[attachment=0]Swiss Cheese.jpeg[/attachment]
I'm not sure when I'll again with progress given that the photos will simply be repeats of the above steps. I'm getting to the point where I'm wondering if the effort is worth the additional sharpness in the hull. There are still some low- to intermediate-hanging fruit, so I'll trudge ahead.
Pieter: Thank you. I've gone back and forth with cutting them off. They're about the only detail I still have on board from my previous reconstruction. I'm just been stubborn.