HMS Belfast construction and painting

I started this kit off with a lot of small modifications which were required due to the PE set i will be using. I read through the instructioins and found where some deck holes would need filling to create a clean slate for the PE details to be glued to. This was done using sheets of plasticard of varying thickness, and cutting small rectangles to be glued flush with the deck. Barely any filler was used so as to preserve any deck details. The decks are dryfitted with the hull and the full as assembled. The hull needed several spots filling, as well as sink holes from molding. The basic deck colours and hull red were painted using tamiya acrylics. 

Deck details were picked out using a small brush and varioations of the deck tan colour using greys and dark yellow. This should have really been done much smaller but the brush strokes were desined by the existing surface details. 

For the camo I used thin flexible tape for masking. I found this tape worked really well at creating a nice crisp edge and it bled in only a few spots. I have started to assemble the other decks as these will need a lot of cleaning up. This is my second go at this kit and it seems that these parts can be a bit funky. In this kit some wall parts were poorly missmolded. Black CA was used to fill gaps where surface detail was going to be removed anyway. The PA kit includes details like doors and ladders, which will help revamp these walls. 

Here I had received the parts required to build a base for the model. I had ordered a small wooden base and a set of 2 brass pedestals. Once the relevant mounting parts had been glued to the inside of the hull, the deck could be glued down. I then addressed the colour match between the deck and hull edge with an airbrush and hand painting. 

The front section of grey deck was re airbrushed to unify it with the hull walls. 

These are the parts which the kit supplies to make the 4 inch gun turrets. I fancied upgrading them as they sit central on the ship and could add a little more realism. 

These were improved using a Dremel to hollow out the inside. I also filed an angled surface on the outside face which wasn't moulded. 

The improved bridge up to date with the PE canopy and tower frame.  

For the turrets I used green stuff to sculpt blast bags into the gaps between the gun and shield. After painting tthe angled surface which was filed earlier is much more apparent. 

Been a while since the last update, the project has moved into the more nitty-gritty details and with that comes a bit more effort on project structure. Most of the railinngs have been painted fitted. As tehy are emovable, I have also asslembled the cranes. The photo etch folds nicely into shape, and I have carved the kit plastic to be hollow to resemble the real thing more closely. Fine wire was used to emulate cables, but rigging elastice would have probably been more suitable. Ill have to buy some for the final rigging, 

The dual 20mm Oerlikon parts: I think 5 of these are required, The kit parts are cleaned and barrels are removed and replaced with PE. Here I only folded and twisted the sights, but I think you are supposed to fold the barrels up as well. I wasnt too bothered with this as either way it wont look great, but it will do. 

The single 20mm Oerlikons: 8 of these are required. I glued these to small strips of styrene rod as a handle. They look quite good with clean, sharp detail. Hopefully this holds up through painting. 

The 8 Barrel pom poms: 2 of these are required. Fun to build but very fiddly. Also easy for teh glue to end up flooding details here. Very satisfying to have all 8 barrels line up neatly in 2 rows. 

The funnel rivetting came out quite nice, it is a little more subtle than in these photos. My wonky rivetting shows up quite badly though. 

Cranes and Oerlikons in position, the cranes need a bit of detail painting tp make them pop, and maybe also I will pick out some colours on the oerlikons later. 

A waterlin emodel of this would have looked quite dramatic! im not sure how I want to model future ships as I likethe idea of a full model of the ship but then you lose context.