Weekly log #5
Didn't have a lot of time to play with Bismarck this week but I'm still going...
I try to think ahead as I'm building and avoid complications when I can... good thing I did as a couple of new issues came up.
I decided to do some pre-fitting with the wooden deck veneer; turns out it doesn't fit so well and is maybe a millimeter or 2 too short, leaving a gap behind the wildcats and behind the open anchor hawse-thingies. There were also a few raised plastic "bumps" for deck fittings that didn't quite line up with the deck veneer holes; I just cut them off and will replace what I need to with tiny blocks of plastic strip and/or Pontos photoetch.
It would also seem that I sanded too much of the hull itself away while working on my porthole replacements, making the waterway "gutters" too narrow on one side.
All and all, everything on the bow is cattywampus... kinda frustrating but at least I discovered it now and not after I'd spent hours doing PE and paint.
Had to do some adjustment to the extreme bow to get a good fit; there was gap between the wood and "metal" on the forward end:
Here you can see my waterway mess... it was at this moment that I realized I had $#*!ed up.
Gonna have to add scraps of wood deck to fill those gaps behind the wildcat bases... would have been easier to just extend them with plastic strip but there is another wood piece that sits on the anchor runways with it's own fitment issues.
I had previously cut these rectangular bases out of the deck so I could get a better fit and help avoid the "sticker" look wooden decks can sometimes get; it fit perfectly in the Pontos deck but not so much with the scaledecks deck. None of this a huge problem but it's a bit disappointing how much extra work I've got considering how much that scaledecks piece cost me.
BTW, if you use scaledecks stuff, don't get it wet! Did a test on scrap just to see and this is what it looks like after it gets wet and you try to wipe it off:
The ink used is water soluble and comes right off. Gonna have to be extra careful when gluing the thing down!
I'm still impressed with the look of the deck though... looks great, especially up close.
Until next time!