Weekly Log #9
Thanks Larry and Jeff! I'm only just getting started, hope I can keep my mojo up or at least see this one to the bitter end.
I didn't get much done this week, was too busy exploring the strange alien planet of Utah...
... and pondering the mysteries of the ancient ones:
Took the whole family on a whirlwind camping tour of the 4 corners region and we had a blast. We're really lucky to live within a half-day's drive of some
really cool places on the planet!
Back to business... since I'm doing a weekly progress log there's bound to be some ugly stuff on the log and this is one of those weeks. I'm generally following the kit instructions to keep myself organized; that means I'm still stuck on step #3. Unfortunately my Bissy is
a wee bit more complicated than Trumpeter envisioned, making step #3 a hell of a box to get X'ed out:
Got the hull, so next is getting the main level of the superstructure knocked out. This means tons of modifications/upgrades which will probably keep me busy for a while.
I'm focusing on the forward half of the superstructure for now and getting it prepped before I absolutely plaster it with PE. I also needed to modify the spray shields near the 3 large vents below the bridge as the upper shields hadn't been added yet for the time frame I'm building Bissy. Finally, I needed to wipe away some seams and integrate some crucial PE bits into the main superstructure before I moved forward.
Here's that mess I promised:
On the back end, I added a large PE plate that adds additional detail to the deck outside the forward seaplane hangars. I don't want it to look like a PE "sticker" was just slapped on so I'm taking additional steps to integrate it better like inletting the PE into the deck at the same level as the plastic and puttying the edges:
I made my alterations to the spray shields; I intend to blend this mess into 1 seamless superstructure area:
I had hoped to be able to paint and install the PE "wooden" grates on the deck in this area separately but I also wanted to integrate the little rectangular crew (watch?) boxes into the superstructure like the real ship instead of just sticking them on behind the thick plastic baffles like the kit instructs so I'm just gonna have to mask/paint the grates
in situ to make it all work.
Finally I had to think ahead to the wooden deck area; the Scaledecks deck seems to be intended to be laid down with the next higher level of superstructure sat directly on top of the overlapping wood but that wouldn't work here. So, I got my trapezoid superstructure piece sanded/squared up and used it as a guide to cut the deck to size before I glued the superstructure sections together permanently:
Now I can glue the deck down at my leisure after I'm done with the superstructure so it doesn't get all marred up while I do all this "dirty work".
Work goes on!