Hi Hallis.
I'm working the same kit as well. Here are some of my observations.
Hallis wrote:
in my building i've noticed that the details are fairly bad and even on som eof the sprues the molds don't appear to have been set straight and there are offsets in the pieces.
Yep. I got two "partial" kits off ye olde evil bay and both of them had this problem. And when you get to building the masts with their platforms and fighting tops, and you go to level things out, file down the high sides on all the support bracing. The first time I tried to use the parts as is without really correcting the error and it caused fit problems with the platform pieces and the tow support legs of the tripod. I took the same parts from the other kit and filed down the high side of the support braces and things fit much better.
And you will probably have to either drill out the mounting holes in the gun deck for the main mast's support legs or trim down the mounting pegs on the legs themselves because of the misshapen molding.
Hallis wrote:
I've also noted that I really need to work on my use of paint when hand brushing. I've run into instances where the paint seems to get sticky while i brush it on and not really coating well, going on more gloopy. think I just need to thin them out. (I'm using the standard Model Master enamels). And I think I need to mostly ditch hand brushing and get setup with an airbrush kit for flatter coverage.
Did you wash the kit parts in warm soapy water to remove the mold release agent before you began the build? I use dishwashing soap and old nylon gun cleaning brush. I've found over the years that this step helps tremendously with Model Master paints.
Hope this helps and have fun with the build
Mark B.