June 16 2009 | Building the big stanchions on the Massena

I was sort of not very looking forward building those tubes because of the places where there are those round support around. So i got the idea of putting some tape that you make packets with on my mat, and then cutting a fine line and rolling it around the plasticard! Well it worked quite well

June 17 2009 | The big stanchions finished

Of course I had thinned down the tip of those using sandpaper. then to hide the joints of the rolled tape, I basically glued the vertical supports that are getting on the hull.

June 17 2009 | The down portholes

^{back on the portholes. First the easy ones, the ones without the chains.}

Just needed a few Grandt Line bolts and a bit of fine plasticard to build the support. The small brass hinges are folded using my X-Acto, those were first designed on my photoetch sheet

June 18 2009 | The down portholes #2

Here are the lower part of those portholes, nothing new here..

June 18 2009 | Fixing those portholes

Wow, hard thing to do! First the whole must be paralell on both sense, and then I had to add some extra metal on the outside, well pics are telling: looking great, but could have been looking better

June 19 2009 | The chained portholes

Now, comes the real deal, the chained portholes.. the downside part of them runned okay mostly. the problem is that the heat from my solder tended to melt the superglued coated hinges and other details, which revealed really annoying when I started to do the upper parts.

So i tied them with my tool and managed to welf the chains by holding them from above and using gravity so that the tip of the chain could just jointhe right place

June 19 2009 | The big stuff the upper portholes

3 hours to do those 5.. hell hell hell :)

Some are looking better than others in that in some thI used too much solder.

June 25 2009 | Archer transferts

Guys that know me know that I am not into spending into ready made things in dioramas.

however, those Archer rivets are pretty good: tiny bits of resin glued on some decals.. Quite convenient to apply large bits of rivets. Here are some I applied by the rounded support for the crane. I also habe been putting some in the inside of the portholesA