The edge of the foredeck has a radiused edge for most of its length, with a ramp cutout below the Sunburn missile tubes, and a flattened corner above the anchor locations. The kit has a slightly curved edge but it lacks definition, so I used a steel radius gauge of 2 mm as a scraper to gently reshape it, as shown above. This is not really a good way to use radius gauges! However the plastic is quite soft and cuts easily. Be careful not to dig the gauge into the deck or sides of the hull. If you do, fill the scratches with filler and smooth down when it is dry. Keep checking your reference pictures to capture the correct effect.

Looking further forward, the deck edge above the anchor is cut away with a sharp edge and again the kit hull is very vague about this feature. This time, I added filler to build up enough material so the correct contours can be created. Working equally on both sides, it is important to keep the hull symmetrical. Abrasive paper, riffler files and a curved craft knife blade are the best tools for this reshaping work. I refer to my photographs and compared the model with them as the reshaping progresses.  More filler is added as required and smoothed it down when it is set.

The hull has some problems with its contours, especially near the sonar dome. These alter the shape of the waterline, and the only way to correct this is is to replace the bulge. The plastic is too thin to simply reshape, so the whole area (indicated red line above)  is cut away and replaced with a block of carvable material. I have used a medium density foam modelling board, but a piece of close-grained wood could be used. Make sure the join is solid, thick cyano glue is very good for this job.

When the glue has set firmly, the block is reshaped to match the contours of the rest of the bow. The best tools to use will depend on the block material. I used a heavy, sharp craft knife to whittle away the bulk of the waste material, then a curved ( No 10) blade in my scalpel handle for fine trimming. Finally reducing grades of abrasive paper. Any remaining ripples are carefully smoothed away. Feeling the surface with your fingers will locate any areas that need more work. The block material is then sealed with a thin skim of filler and sanded to match the finish of the hull. A coat of plastic primer paint will highlight any remaining flaws, they can be filled with a small smear of filler.

The anchor blisters need a lot of cleaning up, so filler is applied around the area to form the flared edges so prominent on this type of ship. Here a scrap piece of plastic card is used to shape the filler into the ‘floor’ of the recess, and it will be pulled off the filler when it has set to a ‘cheese’ state. At this time the filler is much easier to carve than when fully set, but you have to be quick; polyester fillers set solid in a few minutes! Once fully hard, rifflers, scalpel blades and abrasive papers are used to form the final shape. Careful study of some photos of the real ship are very handy at this point.

A bit more cleaning up to do, but looking better already. One of the major problems with this kit is the bow area is too wide overall, but to fix this would effectively mean a complete new bow, forward of the missile tubes; it might be quicker to make a complete new hull! For this model, I have decided to continue using the kit hull.