Hi Everyone,
Here's my next installment.
I built one of the Tom’s K-gun depth charge racks and the kit part for a comparison. As you will see I didn't spend anytime to make the kit part look good because they are not going to be used. Just imagine how much time it would take to fix six of them and the two rool off racks as well. Drdoom1337 asked how it is to work with the large scale PE. Well, all I can say is that these parts are very delicate.
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I think the PE you guys use on the small scale ships is much harder to work with due to the size and my hats off to you. I personally don’t like to work under a magnifying glass very often. The two large rectangles are shelves, the tabs are very small and the frame of the shelf becomes distorted if you look at it cross-eyed.
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The instruction say to bend the tabs to aid in construction. I had to hold the frames with a pair of smooth jaw pliers and make sure only the tab was sticking out while bending the tab or the edge of the shelf was bent as well.
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This is how the K-gun from the kit looks, it needs some work but they are usable.
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After building this first rack I have decided that I prefer to paint it and place the depth charges in the rack from the bottom then install the shelves last. I think it would be more difficult trying to add the depth charges afterward, but that’s just my opinion. The instructions show that the racks for port and starboard are made by carefully bending them so you end up with right and left hand racks. The small frame is an end piece and it became distorted as you can see just from cutting it from the PE of depth charge frame as can be seen in the pictures. Luckily Tom’s PE set has an extra one of these depth charge racks and there are some extras of some of the other small parts to give you a second chance. Although the bigger parts are a one shot deal, get it right the first time or buy another set.