Building this for a friend. After I prepped the parts and did a dry assembly the lack of 5" Gun Barrels started to bother me since there are 3 Turrets on each side and the two holes in each really draw the eye.
So, out came the pin vice, .80 bit, .012 brass wire, wire cutter, flat side tweezers, Gel CA, Zip Kicker and Micro Brushes. I've done this before and it's easy – just tedious! The wire cutter really helps since it has a stop and you can set the length of cut.
The cut wire is picked up with the tweezers and one end is placed in a small puddle of CA and then in the corresponding hole. I hit it immediately with Zip Kicker from a Micro Brush.
It dries instantly but I wait a few minutes before I go in and scrape / sand off any excess CA.
Brass doesn't like paint so I 'pre-prime' the barrels by brushing on a thin coat of Mr. Surfacer 1500 before I shoot the primer.
The 'gray' area in the photo is Alves Epoxy Sculpt; there is a noticeable gap between this part and the top superstructure. I filled the area and then placed the top part on to flatten out the Epoxy and check the fit. Once dry I sanded down the edges. The Alves Sculpt can be worked and smoothed with water while it cures and it has almost no tack so parts can be pressed into it without worrying about adhesion.
I think this will make a nice difference to the overall look of the model when finished.
Regards,
J. P. Kelly
Part of my mountain of lead but it doesn't have the hole you covered and the 5 inch mounts have material between the barrels. I've never, ever, seen a GHQ model with holes in the turrets where the barrels go and I have far too many of them.
