It has been a long time since I have posted any work here or even actually done any work on a kit. I seem to have hit a drought when it came to motivation over the last year or so. A new Harley Sportster may or may not have contributed to it 
. I have vowed to get it in gear and finish this kit and and knock a few more unfinished kits that are in varying stages of construction. Now let me throw out this disclaimer, I am by no means a ship expert. I am sure I will use terms to reference parts of a ship that will make the sailors here cringe and for that I apologize in advance! 
Feel free to edumacate me!
I started this kit almost exactly on December 7, 2014. In the box it looks like a very nice kit. The premium edition comes with a full fret of etch for the railings and various bits as well as turned brass barrels for the main guns. I found the kit etch to be a tad thick for my likings so I decided to use Tom's Modelworks etch. This set is very fine and recreates most all of the details needed for sure.
I had taken more pictures of the base building process but unfortunately they have been misplaced. It was a really interesting process that I will be glad to share if anyone is interested. It leaves the ship completely removable from the base at any time! Anywho, started out with what looks like some kind of kingswood, cut to size, edges routed and holes measured and drilled for the posts. This was a VERY hard wood!
Work began on construction which focused on the hull and prop shafts. The hull is two part waterline hull. The prop shaft guides(?) had monstrous holes molded in the hull that waaaay oversized. These were filled and sanded smooth with the guides CA'd on top of the fill.
Then the deck, superstructure, turrets and the rest was built. Used the kit barrels which looked really good to my eyes. Also began applying the Tom's photoetch. A couple of things that I know are inaccurate but I couldn't be bothered to correct were the gun shields set back from the edge of the upper deck and the 5" guns that were molded with some type of turret. I think from the book I have that those are just exposed without any type of turret or cover?
Afterwards she was primed and here is where the fun began. The seam between the upper hull and the lower hull was filled before primer but the contours where really hard to see. Once the primer went on, man was it bad!
This resulted in much more sanding and much more filling. In the end, it turned out pretty good but not perfect.
Next it was time to pop my proverbial cherry with a wooden deck. The deck I used was from the Wood Hunter series. These are very nice looking razor thin self adhesive wood decks that I think look great. It came with a small fret of etch for a couple of ladders and some very fine anchor chain. I was extremely nervous about applying the deck and getting it right on the first time. I have to say, there wasn't a single place where the laser cut deck did not match the molded on details on the kit deck. Perfect fit.
Which brings the kit to its current state. Apply the various railings in this scale has definitely been a test of my patience and probably the biggest reason this kit has sat unfinished in my display cabinet for the better part of this past year.
And so there it is. There is just a couple of more railings left to install as well as the life boats and the two aircraft on the catapults. I have bought some the finest EZ Line available and this will be my first time using it for rigging. I am hoping that its not too far out of scale for 1/700th, we will see. Any input or feedback will be greatly appreciated!!