Assembling the Zero Bubble Model Design 1/120 PAPA Kit

[JHapprich]

Hi. Resuming assembly after a neglectable interruption...

starbord bow needed some attention due to slight warping...

[JHapprich]

Greetings! I quickly resumed working on the hull as i want to have the model finally completed by the end of the year. I installed the indexing lips and the locking bolt. The planes were aligned, however after checking my plans, i figured on my kit some adjustments are necessary. The deck in front of the upper rudder needed correction, too. The stern cones to the propellers showed warping, so they needed filling and sanding. However, i am thinking about cutting them off and adding newly produced, perfectly round cones that would be blended into the hull, because i am a bit stuck at this point as of now.

[JHapprich]

After installation, i found the hull edges were not alignet flat with the indexing lips attached to the lower hull only, so i partially removed them and added lips to the upper hull to counter the warping. That effect would only appear on a "cold" hull and completely disappear when exposed to heat. However i was not brave enough to use a heat gun...

[JHapprich]

To lock the hull halves, i installed a piece of aluminum tubing in the forward indexing lip on the lower hull. A threaded brass bar was that glued down into the bow on the upper hull. A cylinder head M3 bolt would fit into the tube tightly to secure both hull halves. The load only stresses the indexing lips while the bolt only prevents the hull halves from sliding open.

[JHapprich]

Test fitting the planes. As mentioned, they will need further adjustments to match the original.

[JHapprich]

As can be seen, i made a flat desk/jig to ease checking symmetrie. Changes to the sternward deck were made and the cones were off both horizontally and their cross-sections. Now, they are aligned yet ovoid, and further grinding will most likely cause perforations.we'll see...
sternward deck transition will follow.