The Ship Model Forum

I have to add also with my working models where the shaft is exposed, I don't paint them and leave them as the stainless steel shaft, most scale RC modelers do this as the exposure to the elements for a the shafts on a model would loose their paint easily. To be accurate though they should be painted to match the hull as seen, but definitely not gold! Haha if anything have them stainless steel as the contrast works well.

Some builders and museum models have had the shafts as bright as the propellers, which has led to that as an "ideal" in minds. It's a bad idea in actual practice, but most model company personnel are neither model builders nor knowledgeable about ships, so the practice can get perpetuated through their instructions if they don't know better.

Red, really? I've seen some painting instructions saying to paint them gold!

Thanks, all!

the majority of ships the shaft is coated in anti fouling as the bottom



US DDG



Carrier



Frigate

bottom color usually

Which thread would you like this question to go in?

So, I am have been wondering what colour the prop shafts should be. I have seen them painted a myriad of different things on models, but to my mind anti-fouling red seems to make the most sense. Was the shaft really a shaft and it spun with the prop, or was it really a tube in which the real prop shaft was housed?