by David Griffith » Fri Jun 17, 2005 3:24 am
Two ideas.
Firstly take 2 scalpel blades and tape them together side by side to give a sort of parallel cutter. You can then use this to cut a very narrow strip of masking tape as wide as a scalpel blade is thick, probably about 0.3mm. Paint along the waterline in white first of all, or just use white primer if that is your choice. Apply the strip of masking tape at the correct line, then paint the topsides colour and the underbody up to each side of the masking tape, or with some fairly simple masking to protect whichever goes on first. This should work quite easily in 1/350, but would be too wide for 1/700.
On my 1/700 Potemkin (see gallery) I painted the topsides and then the underbody. Then as it was a waterline kit I was able to hold the ship down onto a flat surface and use a pin, with the head cut off and the resulting blunt end pushed into a small block of wood, to scribe through the paint at exactly the right height to reveal the colour of the underlying resin as a very thin line. The resin is light grey, but I defy anyone to tell the difference in this scale. If you think of a woodworker's marking gauge, you'll get the idea. Just bend the pin so that the point, which can be slightly snipped to make it cut better, is 1 or 2mm above the flat surface that the ship is held down on. This method will only work for waterline models, of course.
Regards,
David Griffith
Two ideas.
Firstly take 2 scalpel blades and tape them together side by side to give a sort of parallel cutter. You can then use this to cut a very narrow strip of masking tape as wide as a scalpel blade is thick, probably about 0.3mm. Paint along the waterline in white first of all, or just use white primer if that is your choice. Apply the strip of masking tape at the correct line, then paint the topsides colour and the underbody up to each side of the masking tape, or with some fairly simple masking to protect whichever goes on first. This should work quite easily in 1/350, but would be too wide for 1/700.
On my 1/700 Potemkin (see gallery) I painted the topsides and then the underbody. Then as it was a waterline kit I was able to hold the ship down onto a flat surface and use a pin, with the head cut off and the resulting blunt end pushed into a small block of wood, to scribe through the paint at exactly the right height to reveal the colour of the underlying resin as a very thin line. The resin is light grey, but I defy anyone to tell the difference in this scale. If you think of a woodworker's marking gauge, you'll get the idea. Just bend the pin so that the point, which can be slightly snipped to make it cut better, is 1 or 2mm above the flat surface that the ship is held down on. This method will only work for waterline models, of course.
Regards,
David Griffith