Thanks, Mr. Church! Today an important step is taken, the ship is launched. But first, all accessories for the lower decks had to be fixed. Amongst those, 8 single 25mm guns that had tiny holes drilled for them in the deck. These can be seen in this picture left of the green deck camo, near the ladder.
This ladder was probably not calculated in the space provided for these guns. It appeared too crammed to put 4 aside. Also, the metal pins would probably not sink to the bottom of the holes. I would have to remove these pins entirely, but they were the hardest part of the gun. So I had to grind them off.
Each of the 8 guns had to be pushed against this stone for 10 seconds to remove the pin. One wrong move and it would be launched in to the room.
But it was worth the effort, now the guns could be spread.
One of the triple gun barrels is still unpainted. I remembered that I lacked two of these, so I chose to omit the pair at the island. These would be easiest to place later on.
Now, the ship is fixed in the diorama with kit.
Because the kit is spread evenly on the edge, the hull has to be lowered carefully to not smear glue on the bow section.
The ship rests in its crevice, with some areas still needing filling.
With extra plaster, I tried to have still some red paint visible, but this is minimal. The Plimsoll marks are still showing though.
The waterline is filled up and the block edges are better adapted to the plastic casing.
I then added a second layer of Ammo Mig Pacific Blue paste. I started a new jar on the port side and this was colored much lighter still. I hope this is due to less exposure and both sides will eventually meet up in darkness. If not, I can add more on the starboard side. I suppose the color palette we see on these pictures will even out this night.