Photos of more mods to the Italeri kit to backdate to mid-war.
With the help of Al Ross, a few more changes were required to get the Italeri kit closer to the 495 in late '44. Al pointed out that the engine access trunk was the late, wide style and that my boat would have had the narrower one. While I was it, I corrected the hatch deadlight by filing it off and framing it once O made the hole in the hatch.
In looking at the photos I realized the 495 (and others in the series, had a different pedastol for the 40mm than the 596 did. Al sent me a photo of the "Army" mount and I cut down the kit's piece and made one closer to Al's photo. I also removed the railings at the rear of the 40mm platform. Photos of the 490, 491 and 493 show no railings or depression rail so they had to go.
Lastly, I made a new 40mm ammo locker to better match size and shape of the ones in the photos.
I've started a new album because the original was getting pretty big. Here are a series of photos i took today. As you can see, I still need to paint the mufflers and add details like the bull-nose, etc.
http://www.villagephotos.com/pubbrowse.asp?folder_id=1857415