Chris Schonberger's 1:600 scale Airfix QE2 progress photos

Dry fit.

Bow anchor chains fitted.

Scan of the foredeck piece in progress. 32 links-per-inch chains added, glued from underneath.

Bow thruster covers.

Aft divisions removed from openings.

Foredeck glued into place. I extended the crane arm supports and added detail. Following Onno's great model I added the missing crane cabs - windows are painted using a black permanent marker. I also chopped the cargo hatch cover to closer resemble the original and added the missing raft covers. I filled the gaps between the foredeck parts and hull with Bondo Spot Putty, sanded and covered with thinned down Model master flat white as a primer for airbrushing. Mushroom vents, doors and covered portholes added.

Airfix kit part #'s 13 and 21 (aft screens of boat deck and sports deck) I removed vertical divisions and replaced them using Evergreen strips. The kit parts have one division too few each.

Airfix kit part #'s 4 and 5. I added bulkheads. "Half moon" part (Deck 3) is filed smaller to place it a bit lower; I removed the bollards of the Deck 2 part (larger one) to replace them by more accurate scratchbuilt versions.

Mast and funnel with added detail and improvements.

Deck-3 and deck-2 parts in place. The 13 inner support poles on each side are made of Evergreen #120 (M-1) .5mm x .5mm strips.

Dryfitting the aft decks. The joint between the upper deck and boat deck needs attention.

Fixes and added detail on quarter deck and upper deck parts. Doors and windows are made of Evergreen # 103 strips. The tiny dots are lamps.