I had seen this pic earlier but didn't make out these drop tanks on them, in fact I'm still groping for them after your description. Are they the dark mass behind this kind of stanchioning to the ceiling? And what is the object suspended to the far left? Anyway, thanks for the clarification about the earlier material you posted. I have now closed down the hull anyway, so further detailing will have to happen through the cargo door and elevator openings. For reasons shown further down, I'm happy I didn't elaborate things further already on the inside.
I had to scratch some extra bitts. The kit contains 4 identical ones, the instructions show at least 6. Two more can be found on unused sprues, but these seem out of scale.
Closing down the deck on the glue-covered hangar walls. This didn't work out as smooth as I already suspected it wouldn't, when dry-fitted.
The deck fixing victims lined out on a row. Most of the interior Hellcats, some deck PE and part of a walkway went down the drain. One large PE particle was crumpled due to a wayward Wolfcraft clamp, the smaller type. Nothing that can't be repaired, though.
The Clarctor and 1 Hellcat remain. To look for some parts, I inserted a little mirror in the front elevator shaft.
I suspect a plane wing got stuck on the floor after touching some deck glue. I'll fish it out later with some wire.
Now what's behind all this mayhem, you must wonder?
All is caused by the construction method of the hangar walls anchored to the hull. The walls are straight until bent on the hull, causing distortion along their upper edge. To counter this, the deck has four guidance rails to the underside. These don't go the entire length of the deck, just as far as the walls must be clamped. But the actual distance between the walls is almost 1 cm in excess. They have to be pinched thus, creating such tension that the release reached once you push them behind the extremities of the guidance rails, the shock sent through the model will loosen anything that is too heavy, like the planes. One of them subsequently started to wander, losing its wings.
The rest of the damage are consequences of the closing operation. Some railing was pushed off the blisters while pinching and the front catwalk barbettes also went. These will have to be adapted anyway to fit. The two front plastic walkways between the catwalk and the hull had to be removed, these seem to be misplaced on the instructions. And lastly, the fit of the front elevator girders to the deck is bad, probably because of the tiny hangar wall misalignment mentioned earlier on. This is about half a mm, but enough to warp the girders. It can probably be adressed by removing and filing them shorter.
Moral of the story: first glue the deck, then upgrade the outside of the carrier. Any planes on the inside have to be fixed more taut, maybe with an extra pin through the deck, as the release shock is unavoidable.
Notice at the extreme right a ventilation grate being covered partly by a walkway, this may be a tiny design error in the walkway layout.
Because the Avengers on the deck will be shown in the process of being rearmed, I orderd this:
These are improved Mk.13 airplane torpedoes. The kit shown to the right makes me wonder what brand they had, it's not one I currently own.
I send him photos of the RN armored carriers I come across at US Archives.
