I guess the sparce number of pictures fooled me. My progress has been really slow. The semester here at the law school has preoccupied the great wealth of my time, as has the job search. But the hull and tower painted, with sea vents, limber holes and so on duly carved out. A small complication has arisen, insofar as the barrel piece for the deck gun has disappeared. I wrote a letter, in the German, to Revell of Germany requesting a replacement. All things considered, I think it will be finished before the end of the semester. As for my desire to achievemuseum quality, I guess it really comes down to definitions. I do not think my ship will be on the same plateau as the u-boat on fineartmodels.com. The revell kit just does not lend itself to such high aspirations. The tower is a tad large, and I did not feel like messing with the plastic surgery, that may or may nor proive successful. More generally, there are so many do-dads on the deck and in the tower that I just do not know how to build from scratch. But I think it will be a respectable model that will warrant admiration, as it clearly separates itself ftom the toy-like quality the kit, to some extent, suffers from if built just out of the box.
Finally, I will assert that those arguing ought to have bought the Nichimo kit must have been wrong, just because 1:200 scale is so much smaller, and because the sub at 1:125 makes the super-detailing so delicate as it is.

Warm Regards,

Einsamer Wolf