Good afternoon all, I have done a little more work on Hood, mainly the front rangefinder and a start of the foretop, working on the rangefinder has brought up an interesting issue which I have been discussing on the call of shops page and also during private PM's with EJ. The issue regards a handrail around the rangefinder, I first noticed it on Stefan's drawings but then spotted what could be the same in a photo in AOTS, granted no other photo seems to show this, or just isn't as clear so the jury is still out although I may bow to EJ's vast experience and ignore the possibility of a handrail.
I'll begin with the photo that has stirred this up, I've enlarged it a little too far to see clearly, check the photo in AOTS page 27 where it's clearer to judge for yourselves.
here is the model where I have included a handrail, funny enough this part is included in the Trumpeter PE set although theirs goes all the way around, I have modified it to stop under the front supports as drawn by Stefan, It's an easy part to remove when the jury come in.
Putting the rangefinder aside for a while I moved on to the torpedo lookout platform, the platform comes split into two halves that need soldering together once the top and undersides have been built, I have used solder for all of these parts, picture shows the parts before cleaning up.
to ensure that the two parts joined correctly I used a couple of No.60 drills to keep things aligned while soldering. My method is to brush on some Bakers fluid to the undersides being careful not to go near the drills and then solder along the outside seam.
The platform is now attached to the front tripod pole, the instructions don't make clear where this sits (above or below the ring moulded around the pole), so I decided to go below which makes sense or the support wings would foul the ring.
There are two ladders, one front and one back, I have only fitted the back for now as the other goes up above the pole height and might get damaged.
I then made a start on the fore starfish, this picture shows the underside of the starfish ( as before this is two PE sections folded and joined together), looking at the parts I decided it better to glue the plastic top to the tripod as the PE parts all butt up against this.
This close-up picture shows where I started which is the rear section as the brass parts interlock with each other at the rear. Note the nice grooves for the next sections to fit into, this is very accurate and I chose to solder all of these parts rather than glue to give it the strength I feel it requires.
The completed underside with torpedo platform included.
topside with the fighting top just sitting there for a visual.
Next, I will probably complete the top area and then perhaps make a start on painting the main and secondary armaments, I'll feel much happier when those delicate parts are attached to the model and safely under glass.
Pete
The pic is attributed to Burt, but a quick flip though his book did not result in a better version (I don't have a high-res copy either). 
