Thanks Spiros (@fiveten) and John (@johnb).

Easy detailing only in relation to what is still to come. There is a radar dish that needs to be made entirely from PE parts which looks especially daunting. I know it's just one step at a time.

Biggest challenges for me when doing this work are two items. The smallness of these parts makes them exceptionally subject to an inadvertent nudge when gluing them down (and with CA glue, this can often be a problem).

And I have yet to find a pair of tweezers that can reliably hold on to small parts, with the result often being the part goes flying and has to be retrieved from the floor somewhere.

So far I've been able to find the parts, but yesterday, one of those circular parts fell off my work surface and it took me a half an hour to locate it. I looked all over the carpet, moving things out of the way, using a flashlight at an angle to try and show the part, running my hand lightly over areas I thought it might be.

No such luck. Finally, I took one last look at one of the trays I have under my standup work surface and it was lying in there. 🙂

Yes, once all hope was lost, the part simply popped up, my friend @clipper!

Thanks John (@johnb), Spiros (@fiveten), and George (@gblair).

I plugging away at the PE for the Hangar structure. Like the earlier work , this involves balancing assembling, installation, masking, and painting in specific orders in order to minimize potential damage and make masking easier.

This structure has a lot of PE parts, some of which I have added and others which are still to be added. This later group includes a complex radar antenna and several handrails.

If I were still a young boy, doing all this would be easier. I would just put it together and then paint all of it with a spray can. But no such luck nowadays! 🙂

The poor instructions with the PE set bit me again in that there were some areas where I needed to remove plastic but there was no indication of this. Fortunately, I noticed it before it became too difficult.

There is a mast that gets attached to this building as well. I am trying to decide if I want to install it now or later. Installing now would mean I could paint it when I paint the rest of the structure. But it also means I will have this tall, spindly, fragile thing sticking up for the remainder of the build. I'll probably wait until later. I may also make the mast from brass rod, however, I need to check and see how much of a taper there is on the mast. It may not be practical to duplicate the taper.

Another thing I am starting to think about is the weathering. I am not exactly sure how I am going to do this. The photos show a pretty weathered ship after the Guadalcanal battles (which is the time period I am modeling) and I am considering using those PE fractal templates in addition to freehand highlights and washes.

Thanks John (@johnb).

It's mostly thin CA glue since I can wick it into areas fairly cleanly. I've used thicker CA in a few areas where it was easier to apply or where the glue joint was not as good. For an applicator, I am using a Flexi File CA Applicator for the thin CA. It basically looks like a sewing needle that has been cut off in the middle of the hole end of the needle. I use a pin for for the thick CA.

It really is quite different from building model airplanes isn't it George (@gblair). I am finding the project fun, but challenging. I do find myself wanting to get back to an airplane build. The T Bolt is sort of in that direction, but it is still quite different from what I am used to.

I'm not going to let myself get too bent out of shape about things on this ship. I will give it a good try, but ultimately, it is just a model and I want to keep it fun, not stressful.

Well I have been busy working on my other boat (the real one) as well as doing a few chores around the house but I have gotten the next painting of the San Francisco nearly accomplished. This is the Hangar section of the superstructure. There are a few small ladders and other details to still add as well as the railings. I had this masked up for several days and I wanted to get the paint on and the masking off so I wouldn't risk damaging anything.

I am not sure how I am going to paint the railings and the ladders since the areas they will be in will be close to the deck which will be a different blue than the blue I am going to use for the railings and ladders.The PE o this thing is really fragile and I've already bent a couple of things and had to straighten them out. Luckily, nothing broken yet.

I am also having a small section of the flight deck veneer popping loose which I tried to press down and reset its bond. But it keeps popping loose again so I think I am going to drill some very small holes in the bubbles and inject a small amount of CA glue into the cavity and hopefully it will stay down. It's not a large area, just a little bigger than the diameter of a pencil, but it is noticeable.

Some very nice progress, Carl @clipper
Differences in the blue are definitely visible.
Pretty sure you will get the flight deck fixed with some small cavities.