The Ship Model Forum

In this update, most resin parts of the island are replaced. This is done because of the poor detail of windows and doors. The parts have simple geometric forms and can be copied to styrene floors with sheetmetal walls.



The lower part is copied here. 8 portholes were sourced from Essex remnants. Doors are from Dunkerques.



The next floor has large rectangular windows, that are drilled in after bending the metal. I didn't have more French doors so from this part it's Veryfire cruiser doors.



Some damage to the windowstyles will be repaired later. All of this is drilled by hand and then cut with a new scalpel blade.



Compare to the resin parts with what seems like heavy shutters. I did not like the look of that. Why was this not slotted into the resin? Then I would only have replaced the doors.



The second floor is easy and has smaller windows. I avoided damage here.



After some filing the three elements fit under the smoke stack.



I had to cut out the round from the stack in the top floor, as there was no more room under the stack for even a PE plate.







Another objective is scratched from the list. But the next one will be even harder. Stay tuned...

Now it was time to tackle the planking.



I had toyed with the idea to disassemble the unused Dunkerque decks that are in my stash. After counting the planks on one half beam section I got to 100. If the beam of 6.3 mm was divided by 200, a plank width of 0.3mm resulted. Even the generic decks for 1/700 on Scalemates only go to 0.5mm. Wood decks were apparently out of the question.



But there is a way to get to this using metal foil, like I did on earlier BB builds. A series of points at 3mm interval is connected with an engraved line, and then these are separated in 3 strips, and the last step is to try to get two lines in each of these 1mm strips. Not all of these were on par, but the general idea looks like it should. No butt ends were attempted, these look irregular in pattern.



Drawing these lines and paying equal attention to each offset is the hard part.



Two parts are needed, the flight deck length exceeds the metail foil dimension.



While trimming I missed the rear elevator edge. This means there is a seam close to that edge.



The elevator shaft is opened up. I am happy there are no rounds like on US carriers.





After removing some deck edge details, the new surface can be applied on the rear deck and the elevator doors.



The front part has a system of what look like tie-downs. This is copied to the metal deck.



The cutting of this copy causes some canning.



That can be hammered out.



The front deck part is also fixed with CA and the seam is filled. The only thing missing is the deck edge plank running around the flight deck. On the rounded parts this will be evident, but if I would remove 1 mm I would need a plank that can be molded around the deck edge. Maybe I should avoid this like I avoid the butt ends...

Wow! You are ALL in on this build! Very creative solutions

_________________
Martin

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." John Wayne

Ship Model Gallery

Thanks, Martin! Some more changes follow in this update.

I noticed the added foil was loose at the edges. To ensure it to properly adhere to the plastic, I clamped a metal object to it and poured some Zap under the edge.



The starboard edge where the island sits, slightly deviates to the bow. This is according to plans, but the hull doesn't fit to the deck like that. Also, if the island is aligned to that, the stack would not be parallel to the keel.



So I cut it along the hull line and rounded the rear part again.



The tie-down-like things and other removed deck parts were added again. I made the planking foil to tight and I had to add a metal strip to both sides. Some filing was needed to level that strip.



Before fixing the deck, I made sure stuff can't fall in the elevators and disappear. I walled off the open holes with some leftover foil parts that were painted grey, I know there were fire curtains in the hangar. Then the main part of the deck was glued to the hull with some clamping.



The extremities are fixed later on with superfluous styrene glue. The deck was too stubborn to risk CA glue.



The 1935 changes to the ship were not all provided in the kit, so I had to make an important addition to the front deck edge.



In this 1936 picture the changes under the flight deck can be seen.



First the bracing under the girders had to be sawn off. This risky undertaking was almost done when the entire girder was knocked away. It was put back where it belongs and the stumps were filed.





Drilling the holes in the plating could be done with the Proxxon, but I hate to clamp the parts. I could manage it with the Dremel.



The 5 plates were then glued between the posts. There was a working space inside. I don't know if I can add a floor between them, there is a telescopic mast going through.