Greetings all.
I have been confounded by the instructions for the deck replacement (and, now I think of it, the turret panels) on the Flyhawk detail set for the 1/350 Mogami floatplane cruiser. The instructions seem rather unclear as to whether to place the deck over the extant one, whether to file down some or all of the raised details prior to installing the PE, or to abandon the plastic deck entirely and only use the PE.
Argument for the first is that there are ample cutouts in the PE for the various protrusions (Bollards, capstans etc) for the PE to just fit over them. Argument against, the deck is thicker/the turrets are bigger etc.
Argument for the second, it makes the decks thinner, and it seems a number of components such as deck ladder hatches can be replaced by more PE. Argument against, it seems unclear as to which items should be removed (Though the floatplane rails seem a good candidate, to lower the height of the panel)
Argument for the third: It solves some of the earlier problems, at least insofar as any 'protrusions' can be dispensed with, and makes the deck nice and thin. I'm looking particularly at the rear deck, here, which is open below the flight deck. Reinforcing struts do come as part of the PE, but on the other hand, the PE also seems to come with holes so that it can slot over the pillars. Then again, the instructions also seem to make cryptic reference to "1mm" and "2mm" pieces of plastic, which I presume is the rod, but does not state the length. If, indeed, these seem to indicate creating entirely new pillars, then I'm looking at a very thin, fragile flight deck.
Has anyone tacked this before, or can anyone provide some useful clues on how to handle this? I'm not new to PE, but I am new to PE decks.
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