The main deck and fittings

After a long break, we are updating again, and starting with the fitting of the flight deck.

The picture shows the flight deck in place and being held down with some serious weight while the adhesive sets up.

Here we see some work on the lathe.

A replacement barrel for the 4.5in main gun was required; here we see one being turned from aluminium bar stock.

This picture is showing the start on the forward breakwater.

Construction methods between builders vary wildly - this is how the author goes about the job!

Here we see the fordeck with some of the major components ready for fitting.

This picture shows a closeup of the fore deck, showing fairleads and bollards and the 1.5mm angled deck-combing.

So after a long break (thank-you Coronavirus) we are back!

An overhead shot of the bows with the main components placed, but not fixed.

This shot of the bows (port side) shows the stanchions in place, ready to accept the railings.

This second shot shows the stanchions in place on the port side and stanchions on the starboard side complete with railings.

Here we see the bow section, with the railings complete, and the deck section painted and ready to receive the fittings.

This picture shows the author's method of transfering the plane to a piece of material, ready for cutting out.

The pieces in question are the supports for the gangway.

Moving further astern, we come to the midships section showing completed railings and other fittings, and decks painted ready for the superstructure modules.

Here we see a section of the flight deck railings, ready for the netting to be applied.

While it is possible to buy flight deck netting in etched brass, the author prefers a more three dimentional approach which requires this to be home-made,

Making the flight deck railings is made quite straightforward by first constructing a jig.

The picture shows a jig constructed using the vertical milling machine and about 15 minutes' worth of time.

Here we see the completed flight deck, ready for the helicopter to be installed.

This will not take place until the rest of the model is finished.

Back to the bows and to installing the hazard markings.

Hazard markings are self-adhesive tape simply placed around the edges of templates produced from the main plans.

Here we see the completed bows.