Thanks John (@johnb) and George(@gblair). I am not sure if the smaller PE will need to be annealed, probably not. Bending the brass doesn't seem to be an issue. But trying to get those larger curved pieces to lie flat without creases showing up in the metal is far easier if the metal is annealed.

The hangar structure has a lot more brass on it than I've used so far. Some of it will have to be glued into place before attaching the structure to the hull. This particular structure has seams at the deck edge that need to be filled before painting, so I have to get this attached and seams filled before painting. That means that some brass work also has to be done. What I am not sure yet is if I should brush on the metal etch primer I have or rely upon something like Mr Surfacer to handle that. My feeling is that the metal etch primer is the better choice for adhesion. I hesitate to spray that through any airbrush so it will have to be brushed on.

I'm continuing the process of pre-building the hull before painting. The hangar structure is a fairly complicated piece of kit, part of which needs to be blended into the hull. The PE covering that structure needs to be seam filled at the edges of that PE. There is some smaller details that should be on before I paint and others that need to go on before I get too far into the construction or they will be difficult to install later or installing them will risk messing up the painted surfaces. At the same time, there is enough handling of the hull going on and still to come that I want to avoid adding items that are easily damaged or broken off.

So balancing all of this is making for somewhat slow going. On top of that, there is glue drying time, additional sanding of seams and you can see where I am going with this. I also want to test paint the veneer scraps before installing and painting them in case the wood has a different texture that needs to be addressed.

I have been having a bit of trouble with fit of some of the parts, necessitating the use of a clamp to get it held in place while the glue sets up. It is cool adding the PE pieces because it adds to the look of the model even though not yet painted. It will be interesting to see all of this with paint on it.

The forward deck superstructure will be installed after paint because it is even more complicated than the hangar super structure and other than at the deck edge (maybe) it won't need any blending into the hull.

Thanks Spiros (@fiveten).

I relearned a lesson today about putties which I've known and which for some dumb reason, I overlooked while filling in gaps on the PE of the Hangar structure. That lesson is that Vallejo plastic putties are fine for seams where you can wipe away the excess without much risk of removing it from the seam you are trying to fill, for example wing roots. What it is c**p at is being left to sand. Sanding and Vallejo "Rubber" putties do not mix. Traditional putties (that are sandable) are the way to go in this situation, namely where you might have to blend to parts together.

The only reason I did this that I can think of is that the Vallejo putty has a nice thin consistency which lends itself well to getting into thin seams. My Tamiya putty is a bit older and somewhat thicker. What I should have done was thinned the Tamiya putty slightly with Lacquer Thinner to get it to be more liquid.

Note to self, stop and think before doing something stupid that makes your work less fun and more difficult!

Hi Alfred (@alfred), the PE parts appear to be somewhat under stress on the sheet before removing them from the sheet. When I cut them loose, they take on a curved shape. There is cling film on both sides of the PE, but I take care to not stress the parts when I remove the film from the sheet. Maybe the process Flyhawk is using involved some sort of heating and this affects the brass during the etching process. I'm not really sure, but annealing them allows me to reliably get the curve out.

Looks like we will never get a putty for all jobs, my friend @clipper!

Some serious progress done, Carl @clipper
Lots of learnings in this session.

Wow, Carl (@clipper), lots of different materials leads to lots of experiments. I am glad mine has a metal deck only. Looking forward to your photos.