"Hello, all! Here's the latest pics of the USS Barney project:
Click on Image for FULL-RESAll the major superstructure surgeries are complete, and came out quite nicely, given that I did it all pretty much by Mk.I eyeball. The hardest part was the extension of the midships deckhouse aft. What I did there was simply cut a strip of the appropriate width, the cut it to length and bend it downwards at the upper deck edges:
Click on Image for FULL-RESFitting it around the #3 stack was a bit more of a challenge than I'd expected, as should be evident from the amount of good ol' Squadron Green that's visible. Fortunately it sands down quite smooth and should have no serious problems.
The 20mm tubs came out well, as you can see from the above pic and this one:
Click on Image for FULL-RESThe challenge now is going to be making the 20mm cannons proper, but I have an idea that I'm going to try when I get back to the bench this weekend: I've got a couple of 1/700 3" guns from an old Hasegawa Essex kit, and I think they will be adaptable into a 1/600 20mm. The 20mms from the Essex kit may also serve without any real work at all as acceptable .50s on the tower aft, which is the only remaining piece I have to fab for the project. That will get its own article in the next update. Till then -
Mike(y)"(
-Ed.)
