Here's what I've done in the last few days:
More fittings and parts added to the already very crowded aft deck. The tall columns are stove chimneys (presumably for heating - the galley chimney is larger), the even taller object forward of the gun platform is a lamp. Another lamp will need to be added to the ensign staff (made from brass wire)
Rails have also been added to the aft 6-pounder gun platform. I made these - along with those for the bridge platform - out of Evergreen styrene, after several unsuccessful attempts with brass and copper wire. Unlike the main deck railings, they are solid metal rails rather than stanchions + chains, so I couldn't use the excellent Dean's Marine PE stanchions (see below).
The lifeboat davits are also formed from brass wire, with copper eyebolts, and styrene deck fittings. Two boats were carried - a dinghy and a cutter - along with two Berthon collapsible boats - the latter will be scratchbuilt, the non-collapsible boats will be adapted from spare kit parts.
More additions amidships including the Downton pump, compass platform rails, and whistle + steam pipe on the forward funnel. The rectangular objects on the deck are rests for mooring fenders and collapsible boats.
As previously mentioned, I gave up trying to make the bridge rails from metal wire (the stanchions were OK, but trying to get the copper wire rails to stay in place was very tricky) and used styrene instead, which is much easier to glue and has more structural strength when glued. I did manage to make the searchlight platform rails from metal, however.
As you might have noticed, the bridge chart table met with an accident whilst installing the railing stanchions, it will be glued back in place later once the rails have been painted!
Next, the railings:
These are Dean's Marine 1/96 photo-etched brass railing stanchions. At about £7-8 per fret these are pretty good value, certainly compared to individual turned brass stanchions. They're etched from fairly thick brass sheet, which makes them easy to work with and not too flat-looking on the finished model.
I'm leaving the main deck railings until all of the other deck fittings are complete, in place, and painted; however I wanted to try out these stanchions to see what they looked like on the model, so I decided to add the rails to the turtleback first.
The actual rails are made from very fine brass wire. These are meant to be solid metal rails, I may use finer tinned copper wire to represent the chain railings on the main deck.
More photos in a few days hopefully - I've now started work on painting the new additions (along with the mast and torpedo tubes, unpainted in the above photos) and am also working on the ship's boats.
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- I should have some photos within a week or two, though I need to finish painting the crew figures first...
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