Beautiful, my friend. I'd rather, though, skip entirely the waterline darker red color you've used and have a plain transition between boot topping and above surface hull.
Actually is a black line and not a dark red, but thats a minor detail; you mean to simply change from red to gray at the waterline without anything in between link (like Novice merchant ships)? it could be an idea, but i think it works better with hulls with a darker grey shade then mine; i have tried and i get the impression that the whole underwater part of the hull is superimposted over the rest of the ships, it does not blend well for my taste (while on Novice ships it quite often does, maye it's also a matter of skill).
Meanwhile, i'm still working and i initially tought to not post it, but then i realized it could be a nice way to show how much different was Takao's bridge after the 1938 refit when compared to the original one.
quite a massive difference don't you think? the reduced bridge looks almost bland and undetailed when compared to the massive and impossibly complex earlier one (and, at least for my taste, the
greenhouse bridge is the better looking one; who cares about top weight!
)