Continuing work, never had 4 sheets of PE before, kinda daunting, but at least this is super-thin brass.
I'm a little disappointed in Trumpeter's QA/QC, this is my 1st ever kit from them so it may not be universal at all. But it seems the two halves of the hull are different lengths, and part of the deck was "melted" or somehow damaged.
This is what I mean about the hull halves. You can see the step there on the bow. The biggest part is maybe a mm, rest is less, but still disappointing. I could bend the parts slightly to make them mate up, so the overall length might be okay. But if so that means they are warped.
You might be wondering..."if you could bend them slightly to mate the halves why did you not do so?" This picture shows why. If the two halves of the hull were perfectly aligned, then the deck did not fit at all. You can see here it is still not perfect. But I think the deck being really close is more important than the hull, I think I can grind the hull to an acceptable profile much easier.
Here's another example. The above water part (sorry for my ignorance of ship terminology) of the stern is mated pretty well, but even with that part lined up there are parts of the keel that do not align at all, including the hole for the rudder. Still a reasonably easy fix, maybe I'm spoiled by other manufacturers or just kits of higher-end and cost.
You might have seen it in the 2nd pic, but this is a close-up of the melted bit I mentioned, that part of the deck is raised above the rest by at least 2mm. I do not look forward to adding putty after grinding he raised part down and having to scribe the wood lines again. Maybe I'll get one of those wooden deck aftermarket kits.
