The Ship Model Forum

I was able to get one of the cranes together. I expected it to be a bit complicated, and I wasn't disappointed. Folding the crane was harder than expected. Flyhawk has a penchant for incorporating super helpful bend creases in 95% of the places they are needed. Also note to Flyhawk: putting a bend seam through a half millimeter wide beam is not super helpful. But anyway I got it together, but it did end up very slightly warped. Flyhawk instructions call for adding a plastic winch looking thing on the crane arm near the base. The original plastic crane lattice had a spot to place this piece, but the PE piece does not, at least not at the proper position and angle. The photo in Flyhawk's instructions have it slapped half-heartedly on top of the arm. Looking at other builds, it seems like most people just omit that piece, which is what I did.

As far as lining everything else up, here was my method:

1) Glue one main pulley/cable assembly on to the plastic base to give a reference for where to position the main crane 'arm' (or boom? Not sure the official term)
2) Glue on crane at desired angle
3) Glue on second main pulley/cable
4) Use the end hook and pulley to try and set the angle secondary boom. I had to tweak the length and angle of the this piece to get it so the hook was properly vertical.
5) Ruin the pulleys from step 1 in the process of fumbling around on step 4, so rip those off and replace them from the spare PE sheet
6) Glue on the hook and pully assembly.
7) Lock the assembly in a guarded vault where it can never be bumped, disturbed or damaged until the the rest of the ship is finished.

I still have to do crane number 2...

Trying to tackle the turret top railings and... it's not going well. The lack of a continuous lower edge is killing me for getting ca glue to bond. Any tips on this step would be hugely appreciated.

Could try using PVA/white glue instead, and dipping the stanchions in it so the glue forms a little blob and then placing the run on the turret.

_________________
De quoi s'agit-il?

Timmy, I've tried PVA and white glue for other things and consistently had very poor results. Weak holding power and a tendency to creep after setting in place. And despite the allegedly longer working time they loose 95% of whatever strength they had after the first adjustment. What brand are you using?

Just the regular Elmers glue. Heck, it's even the weaker "School glue" version! Just need to nudge the railing to the vertical every few seconds during the initial critical stages of drying until it doesn't tip over anymore. Get a pin or needle to apply another drop of glue to the attachment point if needed. Can even add superglue on top of the PVA - the two work together quite nicely since superglue hardens in the presence of moisture.

_________________
De quoi s'agit-il?

I found that sometimes it is the thinnest tiny drop and one time adhesion works superb. But break that - gets bad. Unless you have a slow drying CA glue.

Id make sure the surface that you try to attach to and the railing itself is clean off paint. That would work I think.

Also, use loupe / magnifying glass - it really helps. Unless you really do already.

_________________
- @Shipific on IG
my gallery

My issue, as with most PE is that I can almost never get it placed quite right and I need to adjust. And the turret railings are particularly unforgiving in that respect. And if you biff it a couple times you end up with a glob of glue at the tip of the post that is very difficult to remove without completely pulling the railing off. My other issue was the glue bead not quite getting on the tip of the rail, I struggle to get that consistently.

As far as paint, I did paint the turret before hand because it seemed like masking after adding the rails would be nearly impossible (remember this version also has the blast shields for the UP launchers). I tried to keep at least the edges free of paint but in the end didn't really succeed. For what it's worth it is not the paint that is pulling away when the rails don't stick.

For visual aid I am currently using the finest non-perscription reading glasses CVS can provide. But honestly they are not enough, and I am probably going to get a loupe. Wearing a headlamp (the rock climbing type) has been helpful.

Despite the lack of updates I have been working, slowly... I did want to update everyone on an exciting development regarding the elusive aircraft catapult cradle - the WEM 1/700 KGV photo etch set has it! I will update when I find out if it actually fits!

Also, the cranes.

So, regarding the fire control radars I had been dreading: I made a few attempts and... fail. Many PE parts have been a struggle but these are beyond my limit. However, a new option has appeared: Micro Master now offers the 5.25" and pom pom directors in 1/700. I immediately said "yes please". And they are amazing, although "easier to work with" is definitely relative. I can't over emphasize how amazing the detail is on these parts. One minor annoyance, however is the cotton packing, which leaves dozens of fibers to pick out of the parts (as you can see in the pictures).

Another caveat to these parts: The fit vs the Flyhawk kit is not perfect. The pom pom directors do not quite fit in the tubs. I had to cut away what looks like a tiny seat to get them to squeeze in. This part was especially difficult due to 1) There is almost no safe place to hold the part while working it and 2) My tears at having to maul such a gorgeous part made it hard to see what I was doing. Also, the aft 5.25" directors interfere a tiny bit with the railings on the platform. I had to remove them, I will see if I can tweak the position. Otherwise I will probably just omit those rails.

Railings are dumb and I hate them. And yet here I am.

Added the aircraft (with launch cradle), starboard crane and the aft 5.25" directors (3D printed from Micro Master)