Construction – let’s get into the build
Hull
Construction of the model’s hull was fairly straightforward beginning with the recessed bays that run down the sides of the ship. The most noticeable thing is the ribbing on the sides and tops of these. Try as I might I could not find any evidence for their existence on the real ship. In order to remove these it was necessary to “panel” over them with plastic card and then add details such as paravanes, fire hoses, boat davits, bollards, assorted pipe work, ladders, companionways, and watertight doors etc. from plastic card/strip, after-market P.E. or the spares box.
Most of the hull’s railing are fitted from the inside which is fine until you get to the bow and stern where the thickness of the plastic caused some problems. The insides of these bays had to be painted before fitting to the hull sides as they become pretty inaccessible later. The kits railings were incorrect and replaced by a WEM British version.
As I always present my models as waterline the lower half of the hull has to be removed. I do this by multiple scribing just below the waterline with a sharp blade until it can be parted by gentle manipulation. The only difficulty was that the waterline was not indicated on the model so some careful measuring was needed to mark the cut line.
It was noticed that the scuttles at the bow were very poorly represented and some effort was required to improve this. Numerous fairleads were added from P.E. as none appeared on the model.
After joining the hull sides and adding the cross bracing at an angle to compensate for the missing lower hull it was painted as were the bays with Tamiya Royal Navy Grey TS-81 before adding the interior of the hull. The rest of the hull assembly went well so it was on to the deck!
Deck
Arguably the most important part! First impressions, disappointing. Two huge sink marks at the aft end and one mid way down the deck.
Crudely moulded arrestor wires and no lift position options. All fixed, holes filled, wires removed and deck lift cut out and a backing blank added to the hull below the lift position.
Deck sprayed a darker grey before adding the white centre line. Deck given a coat of Klear before a certain amount of weathering was carried out using pigments along masked lines to replicate panelling.
Various P.E. parts made up the crash barriers and supplemented with some scratch building. Arrester wires replaced using Lycra thread.
Any decals would normally have been applied before the weathering but the kit’s decals I considered incorrect when compared with pictures of the real ship. Some basic research seemed to indicate that the manufacturer had copied exactly a picture of a carrier deck which was part of a fantasy navy that had been created for fun. Beware false information!
The hull was fitted to its base before the deck was positioned. This meant the hull could be secured from the inside first.