This is another item benefitting tremendously from the last 5x years' delay - during which the severe, twin-handicap of insufficient reference pics and lack of drawings, has by now been eliminated by the ever-growing submissions posted to the Web.

In addition, a new kit-release has provided a far better foundation on which to build the master:


Click on Image for FULL RESThe Mirage 1:400 Single-3incher (darker/grayer plastic) comes with their Montgomery, and IJN P-102 (ex-Stewart) - and probably all their flush-deck/4-stacker DD kits. Although having a bit of a cigar-like taper - which should be fairly easy to take out - note its excellent agreement, in both barrel length and thickness at the tip, versus some 550-scale plans for the (WWII-version) RN 4-inch High-Angle gun (top).

This is precisely as was calculated in advance: a 400-scale 3-inch bore should, at 1:550 scale to a 4.1-incher. (E.g.: [550/400] x3 = 4.1). That's just a 2.5% mismatch (oversized).

In any case - the Proof in the Pudding: virtually no difference at the tip is detectable against the above drawing: this gun is- and will enable a master far closer than the prior one (bottom, lighter plastic), adapted, as it was, from (and probably already itself undersized for) the Airfix 1:600 Hood.

In addition, the gun carriage already needed widening - to almost double its width - anyway, per my lone original reference pic. Now, doing so around this new, accurately-sized gun will be a joy to perform.

So, stand by for some progress on this little gem, at long last…


Cheers,

- Matty