I completed the structure that supports the boats (Admirals Pinnaces and row boats) amidships, extending the rear arms until they completely surrounded the upper deck around the catapult, glued the PE parts and glued the structure in place.
This is my third try with the boat racks structure on each side of the airplane catapult, I think that I got it right this time. The drawings shown in Kagero´s booklets, show the complete structure of the racks, BUT after looking at pictures like 1000 times, I think that, with the exception of the foremost rack, the two rear ones have the "leg" (the vertical part of the rack) inserted into the walls supporting the upper deck, and thus, the "legs" are hiden, just the horizontal arm is visible. I issued two complete fore racks, and four "partial" racks, like the ones below.
This is the position of the complete fore rack, where the "leg" is evident. Notice that the outermost edge of the "leg" coincides with the side wall of the upper deck. The two rear racks will have their "legs" structure hidden into the side wall (kind of difficult to explain, will be clear when I achieve the final result)
I continued working on the catapult, too. The one issued in the kit is not correct, the platform where the catapult operator and mechanics stand during operation, is completely abscent, controls as well. Eduard provides the PE catapult but nothing else (why not a perforated metal platform, Eduard?). Issued the platform with thin styrene strip (I needed perforated PE to be completely accurate, but could not find it). Big improvement, but could be better.
I got the Admirals Pinnaces from Shapeways, nice little thingies, we´ll see how they look after primer.
And started assembling the Arado 196 hydroplane, the smallest airplane I have ever assembled (painted some 1/700 when I was a teenager). I want to simulate the "pirate" scheme that they used on the Ar196 before the Rio de la Plata Battle, when they overpainted the German markings and painted "french-alike" rudder and underwing markings. In this scale, I hope something is noticeable.
Marco