Hello Hank,
I bought 15 boxes like that at least, at around 4 euros each, 36 compartments ago. Very practical.
For the stripes I sanded a little, but I leave some because some places are difficult to sand, too bad. It disappears a little once painted.
For the railing, it remains delicate, especially with the pieces of supports, I removed it now once glued on the deck, with my Dremel and a small conical pink sanding stone turning at 16000 rpm, it takes a little bit of fingering to not damage anything! But it works very well with practice.
Advances in painting with the LifeColor panoply.
I will not say again all the bad things I think about this brand of acrylic paint... The only advantage is the range.
So the hull is painted in US Navy 5-S Sea blue and the superstructures in 5-H Haze grey.





We can see that the Tugboat Nokomis was not yet painted in 5-O, while Hoga was. This confirms a transition period of mesure Ship-2,





The Hoga is probably painted in 5-O, hull and superstructure the same day.
The Nokomis is painted in the same way when the Hornet returns from the Coral Sea, you can see it on this picture.
Hornet CV-8 and Nokomis.
At Pearl Harbor, May 26, 1942, just after the Battle of the Coral Sea and just before the Battle of Midway. The harbor tug Nokomis (YT-142) is underway alongside her.

The USS Yorktown (CV-5 arrives at Pearl Harbor after the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 27, 1942, with her crew parading in white on the flight deck. After repairs, she departed on May 30 to participate in the Battle of Midway. The tug Hoga (YT-146) is in the center foreground.

USS Arizona (BB-39), and Hoga presumably, can be recognized by her mast.
