Fellow Modelers,
Here are some more progress photos.
1st Image: Although the kit is really impressive in its details and engineering, the low point (for me) has to be the offset mold line down the middle of many of its parts. This is caused by the two factory patterns halves not matching up perfectly when the melted plastic is injected. The result is shown in the photo. The muffler on the left has not been cleaned up and has an ugly mold line that has to be cut/sanded away. The muffler on the right had been cleaned up and is ready for painting. Unfortunately, many parts suffer from this problem. It causes some tedious headaches, but nothing too major.
i646.photobucket.com/.../012-10_zps3a848347.jpg
2nd Image: The raised structure that goes on the engine hatch is shown assembled and ready for painting.
i646.photobucket.com/.../013-7_zpsa0886ad6.jpg
3rd Image: The basic chart room assembly is shown. The connection point between the top and side parts has been filled with superglue and sanded/polished to look like a single piece.
i646.photobucket.com/.../014-11_zpsba325c29.jpg
4th Image: I noticed the chart room sides bowed in when they were glued in place. To correct this, a 1/4” X 1/4” styrene piece was added to “push” the sides back out. This was required to make the fit between the chart room assembly and main deck was as good as possible.
i646.photobucket.com/.../015-10_zps999c92f2.jpg
5th Image: One of the few modifications I did make to the kit was cutting a rectangle piece of .015” styrene to represent the steel cover plate on the left, inner cockpit wall. The kit provides a small photo etch part for this, but it is way too small. A second, small styrene piece was added to the left wall to cover an injection pin mark. The still present injection pin mark at the bottom of the wall will be covered by another kit part, added later.
i646.photobucket.com/.../016-10_zpse1486b69.jpg
6th Image: The basic day cabin assembly is shown.
i646.photobucket.com/.../017-9_zpsf393270b.jpg
7th Image: Another modification was adding the “missing” styrene rain lip above the day cabin rear window.
i646.photobucket.com/.../018-9_zpsf69a5988.jpg
8th Image: Sanding out the seam lines of the four torpedo tubes was exhausting and time consuming. However, the parts did mate up very well. I used superglue on the inside and Tenax-7R glue on the outside.
i646.photobucket.com/.../019-10_zpsda6e53c0.jpg
9th Image: The four torpedo tubes sanded/polished to perfection (as close as I can get anyway). Man, I was really happy when these were finished. Whew!
i646.photobucket.com/.../020-10_zpsd167a343.jpg
10th Image: The kit gives you parts that represent torpedo tube warhead covers, and parts representing the actual warheads with storage straps (shown on the left). I wanted to use the warhead option, but without the straps. The part on the left is the “before” appearance, and the part on the right is the “after” appearance. I still have to locate holes at the front, center of each part and add stubs to represent the warhead contacts.
i646.photobucket.com/.../021-9_zps49dea960.jpg
11th and 12th Image: These images show one of the torpedo tubes being test fitted to its mounts. The torpedo warhead has also been temporarily put in place. The kit’s torpedo tube detail is impressive.
i646.photobucket.com/.../022-9_zps9685f95d.jpg
i646.photobucket.com/.../023-8_zps32bc56d4.jpg
13th and 14th Image: Two of the .50 caliber machine guns are shown here, before and after being cleaned up. Once again the mold line is very noticeable. What I want to point out is that after the mold line is removed and the cooling sleeve holes are deepened, the part looks really good (in my opinion). I do not know if I will add scratch built flash suppressors to the ends of the barrels, but I have to say I am happy with the way they look right now.
i646.photobucket.com/.../025-8_zps873935b9.jpg
i646.photobucket.com/.../024-5_zpsb5077c4e.jpg
Until Next Time...
Phillip1