As I get more into this build, and I read what others are doing, I realize more and more that this is going to be a much longer term build than my normal aircraft builds. This is doubly true because of my unfamiliarity with these types of models and with ship technical details.

Yesterday, I spent quite a bit of time trying to determine which port holes should remain on the hull sides. It's quite obvious from drawings that the ship's portholes gradually were closed off during various overhaul visits. From what I can see in the photos I have, some of the bow portholes should be filled in. I may be off here by a few because after I filled them in, I found a photo which has a vague impression of a few extra. However, I am going to leave mine as I have already filled them in.

I am also gradually removing molded in detail after determining how it will be replaced with the PE parts in my detail set. The gun tub splinter shields that are molded in the kit on the deck are far too thick. Removing them was impossible without causing some damage to the molded deck. However, I had already planned on using a wood veneer for the decks anyway, so the damage was not an issue, except for something I had not considered.

Namely, the PE parts are much thinner than the molded splinter shields. The wood veneer deck has cut outs for the molded in kit parts. These cutouts are far wider than the thickness of the PE parts, resulting in a sizable gap. I am not sure what I can do about this yet.

One option I considered was trying to patch in plain rectangular deck sections into these areas, but I don't have any extra to do this. I don't know if I could find something like this, but one idea was to purchase a second deck veneer and cut it up as needed.

I am also replacing the propeller guards at the rear with PE parts and needed a reference photo to aid in their placement later in the project.

Finally, I purchased a new tool to address a need this kit has brought to the forefront. Since there is a lot of PE parts that need to be formed, I wanted to anneal the brass to make that easier. From past experience, I know that trying to do this with an open flame (either a candle, lighter, or small torch) is risky and often results in melted parts. However, I found out that an electric hot plate can be used for the same purpose and the risk is nearly eliminated. So this is my new tool for that use.

Progressing nicely, Carl @clipper. Lots of new challenges indeed, this new hot plate will surely be handy for the PE parts.

Thanks Spiros (@fiveten), John (@johnb), and Alfred (@alfred). Building a ship has been on my bucket list for several years. I originally purchased a Tamiya 1/350 USS Fletcher destroyer and I still want to build that someday, but last year I thought I might like to have something a little more impressive on my display shelf, so I bought this kit.

Today, I wanted to see if I could find a solution for the gap on the deck planking around the splinter shields. I think I found something that will work. Bear with me while I describe this. As I mentioned previously, I am using the wood veneer which is approximately 5 thousandths of an inch thick. I had first thought I might be able to patch in some blank planking from the veneer sheet, but there wasn't enough material to do that.

Then last night, I remembered that I can scribe on thin plastic using my vinyl cutter. So today, I did a test run with a quick and dirty cut file using a blade depth of 1 on 5 thousandths plastic styrene and it worked!

So I did the artwork for a section of the decking, laying out the planks in the same pattern and dimensions as the veneer and then ran the styrene through the scribing process using this new artwork. It looks like it will work out fine since the entire deck will be painted anyway. The plan is to cut out a rectangular section of the planking where the splinter shields lie and then replace it with the styrene plastic. Then the splinter shields will be glued on top of the styrene.

Some really creative thinking here, Carl (@clipper). I have never used a pre-made wooden deck, but it looks like it might cause more problems that it solves. I don't think my APD had any wood decks, so I may dodge that bullet. I like your new annealer.

Hi Carl (@clipper): I am surprised the styrene in the cutter worked, but it really does offer some interesting opportunities.

That turned out wonderful, Carl @clipper
A well thought idea which seems to be the perfect solution.

Your temporary stand looks excellent, my friend @clipper! The brass pedestals as well! Nice to see the attaching method, I was not aware of it.