The Ship Model Forum

I go for a dull satin, ie. mainly matt but not fully, so there is a slight sheen on the surface, but still looking mainly flat. I think this best represents viewng the subject from some (scaled) distance away, where even a large matt surface has some light sheen to it. Anything more glossy though would not look good at all.

I generally finish aircraft (1:48th) in satin, as even a matt finish has some level of sheen when viewed from some distance away.

If you plan to enter the model in a competition, I would say that any gloss surfaces on a ship had better be accurate and you may want to bring along photos of the real thing showing the gloss surface, because in general, gloss on a usn warship will result in you losing points.

I agree with Comfortably numb. In pictures, ships can look quite shiny. My hulls are high gloss and select top surfaces are also shiny. It also depends if the models will be in a an ocean diorama or not. If you make things shiny, but find that you don't like how it reveals dust or what have you, you can just dab a little paste wax on those spots to kill the sheen again.

I think another answer is both. I think it looks better if the parts of the ship that are "flat" are finished in flat, and the parts with a little gloss (radomes, etc) are finished with semi. Spraying the whole ship flat (or gloss) doesn't look as good - way too even/universal in my opinion - when the real thing shows variability.

I did it on all of my previous ships, and it looks good. Maybe a matt that's not dead flat, something that reflects just a little bit...

Matt!

Hi guys,

just wondering, do you think it's better to finish the model with a matt or semigloss (satin) finish?

I'm talking in general, but I'm doing modern 1/350 US navy