Here is the dry fit using Tamiya tape - my only concern (bear in mind I haven't finished clean up) is the fit between the deck the the hull structure - I think a bit of clamping will be required to make it snug which in turn will squeeze the cement - this may mean a change of plan as I was hoping to fit the wooden deck 'off the ship'.
For a sense of modelling perspective here is Mikasa next to the 1/350 Tirpitz - perhaps manufacturing 1/200 pre-dreadnoughts would be a good marketing ploy for those who do not have room to build/store WW2 1/200's
Gun barrels glued and primed. The tea candle is used for storage of CA. Note the hand painting of the Mr Primer did not work for me and in the end I had to remove blew the Mr Metal Primer through an airbrush at 50% MCLT and 50% Mr Metal Primer
1) Portholes
All portholes were drilled out with a 1.5 mm drill and Tamiya pinvise. I note Slog will be relieving his portholes for realism and I did consider this and then put it in the too hard basket. Apologies for some reason MSW is doing strange things to the photos it put this one upside down (I will repair when I work out what is going on)
2) Ladder Steps/Step Irons (Pontos)
Step Irons are provided in the Pontos set, for some strange reason they only provide step irons for the bow and stern and miss the middle steps entirely. First Pontos require us to remove the existing detail and then affix some templates to align the holes. Holes are then drilled with 0.4 dia drill bit.
3) 6 Inch Guns
Pontos provide metal barrels for the 6" casemates which are beautifully turned. Existing ILK barrels are removed, the remainder of the casemate is drilled out with a 1 mm dia holes and the barrel attached using CA. The guns are then primed with Mr Metal Primer-R
