USS New York - USS Photo Etch...

Main deck placed onto hull halves. Fit not too bad. Did require a lot of filler around the edges to remove gaps. 

First real go at a lot of photo etch. Have learnt a lot during this build on using PE 

The most photo etch I have ever used. Learning heaps as I go 

Test fit of cranes and funnel. They will be painted separately and added on at the end 

Four hours of work involved with the folding of the two crane towers. Getting them square was actually quite difficult 

Trumpeters instructions on some of the fittings have been interesting. Recommend that real photo's are used to narrow down some storage bays exact locations. 

Test fit of the cranes. 

Turrets test fitted. Catapult rail on centre turret was entertaining to get into position. Instructions were very vague on fitting of the railings to the catapult area. The actual catapult rail is slightly off centre on the turret and is slanted. However, the instructions do not show this. Checking photos was required to work out the actual fitment 

Primer on. Happy with the detail that has come out. Will have to work on the seam joining the hull halves.  

This is the jig that I have made to work on it. (the idea was borrowed from a fellow builder who completed the USS Texas). There is dowel in the top of each side which goes through the turret holes to keep it stable and stop it moving around/falling.
This has allowed a lot of work to be done with sanding in the next two photo's 

Once the primer was on. Found that the join seam on the two hull halves was not flush.
Required a lot of sanding to get back to smooth, where I was happy with it. 

Missed some seams, moulding lines that needed further sanding. The jig also allowed me to sand around railings and area's where I had glue overflow.