More than three months have passed and the bridge structure is ready.
Here is a long, picture-heavy post to show you what I have achieved.
There is a common problem with almost all injection molded kits: the decks are usually too thick and consequently, the splinter shields, themselves being overly thick are too low from the inside sometimes resembling a low hedge rather than a comparatively thin bulwark out of sheet metal. Limitations of the injection molding technology can be blamed for this phenomenon which is not as apparent in recent kits as in the early days, but it is still there. To remedy this, all splinter shields have been cut off, the decks thinned down (by partly machine milling), their perimeter cut marginally smaller to accept the new splinter shield, cut and folded out of aluminium sheet with a flange bent outward where appropriate. The result being hand-made, is naturally not without minor flaws and one could question if it was worthwhile to deal with it. One thing is for sure: the work outlined above involved much time and effort. I am convinced that this kit is one of the better offerings in this respect so if it was not for my finicky nature I would not have bothered.
Other alterations included cutting openings into the decks for the access ladders, detailing the walls of the superstructure as well as preparing a surprisingly high number of equipment. There is some more explanation related to the numbered detailed in some of the following pictures.
The superstructure has been worked on tier after tier from the fo’c’s’le deck up, beginning with the shelter deck level.
Here is the original kit part:
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And the same after modification:
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All moulded-on details have been pared off from the circumference of barbette ‘B’
1. A new splinter shield was made out of aluminum sheet, complete with reinforcing gussets and top strake
2. The opening in barbette ‘B’ has been made smaller to accept the 3D printed turret
3. All portholes have been drilled deeper, the inside painted black and finished with PE rigols from Artist Hobby
4. An opened-up watertight door with a PE frame can be seen in this blurry portion of the image
The kit’s part of the lower bridge is quite an impressive one-piece affair with some fine details.
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There is always room for improvement, though.
I found a strange flaw which can be easily recognised in the following picture: the vision slits on the upper front part, themselves being too short and high, do not line up: the ones on the starboard side are located lower than the rest.
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Some of the numerous alterations done to the lower bridge are outlined as follows:
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1. A section of railing (WEM ultrafine) was fitted to the back of the signal deck
2. According to original photographs splinter mattresses (WEM) were fitted to the
3. aluminium splinter shield with an outboard flange that replaced the original, plastic one
4. PE mesh fitted to the cut-out face of a bridge vent
5. The aforementioned vision slits of the armoured conning position, were made longer and slimmer and, on the starboard side, brought to the correct height (the blanked-in, original openings can be seen below the new ones)
6. These oblong, went-like structures, clearly identifiable in original photographs might have been unique to Valiant, so I added them
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The shelter deck and lower bridge together:
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