General Model Ship Painting Question

[Blackcloud6]

Hello:

I am a very experienced model builder, building tanks and aircraft. I want to start building WWI and WWII ships but cannot get my head wrapped around how to piant them. How do you airbrush the decks and then the the vertical structures if they are different colors?

Thankx in advance.

BC6

[Foeth]

Ship modeling and airbrushing is an excercise in masking and planning. I try to keep as many decks separate for painting before assemly, but if you're good at masking you can build the entire model (more or less) and then airbrush it.

[largeallan]

one problem i suffer from is that fine line where the decks meet the superstructure....I can never seem to keep deck paint off the bulkheads or vice-versa....ok, its not SO bad that the average viewer would notice it too much, but I notice it.....and it keeps gnawing at me!!!

[Elvis965]

BC6,

I'm with EJ on this one. It's all about the masking and touching up any bleed throughs. I like to paint the darker color first (usually the superstructure), then the deck. I think it's easier to touch up the light color with the darker color.

Good luck with your ships!

Large,

You sound as bad as me!

I was complaining to the GF that you could see where I touched up the mahogany on my Lex's flight deck after I painted the yellow stripes. She said "I don't see anything". To which I replied:

"Yeah, but look....if you pick it up and turn it like this so the light from the window hits it at the right angle, you can see it."

And the response to which I had no reply was:

"And you're planning on letting people do that, are you?"

Bob

[Richard Durham]

BC6, I only started building ships about 1 year ago after building armor and airplanes for years. I try to paint each layer/deck level of the ship entirely as I build the ship and stack up the various levels. In building armor and airplanes, I never painted anything with a brush, but instead used an air brush and paint masking. When I started building ships, it was clear to me that I would have to do a fair amount of hand painting for touching up around small deck items.

Before painting my first ship, I tried hand painting with several types of paints and found that most solvent based paints (Tamiya, MM Enamels, Humbrol, Gunze, etc.) tend to eat into the previous paint layer and cause a bumpy paint finish when multiple coats are required. Testors MM Acryl is especially good for hand painting as it will not dissolve the previous paint layer when applying a second or third coat, so it became my choice for painting ships. Vallejo paints are not solvent based, but their pigmentation level appears to be low and I could not get good coverage (after thinning for brush painting) with anything short of about 6 coats.

To paint the main deck (before I add any superstructure or turrets or anything that attaches to the main deck), I mask off what I can and spray everything else left the main deck color. I then hand paint the rest of the stuff (hatches, anchor chain, cleats, etc) that should not be left in the deck color. MM Acryl works very well for this method. On some ship models, because of the large amount of deck detail (Tamiya�s 1/700 Iowa kit for example), I spray paint the entire deck with the superstructure color and then hand paint the deck area with the deck color�MM Acryl is the about the only paint that will work for this method.

I have a good method for making paint masks but will not go into it now as this is already too long. HTH, Rich

[mike mccabe]

There are a lot of variables, the scale, size of ship, complexity of the shape, and above all your own preference. Things to bear in mind are - if you want to paint sub-assemblies and then fit them together, you have to be sure that there will be no gaps, otherwise you may well ruin your careful paint job with filler and sanding. I prefer to do as much of the structural work as I can first, then paint, then fit delicate pe parts later. Others prefer to fit most of the etch during the build and there are advantages to this, but it's down to personal preference.

I'm afraid there is no hard and fast rule, and you will find out the best way for yourself through trial and error. As Foeth says, planning ahead is a very big part of building ship models.

Mike

[Steve Miller]

I always assemble most of the ship save for the guns and small fittings. Next I airbrush the ship in the hull color, then i hand brush the deck colors. Then i go over my brush mistakes with the hull colors a couple times. A good coat of clear matte and dullcote totally eliminates the brushstroke lines for me.

[roy allen]

one way to get around small gap joints if your painting in sub assembly, is to use a small and i mean small amounts of white glue just on the edge of the parts that come into contact with the one below. If you have painted, lets say a deck then the gap between this and the bulkhead can sometimes be seen. If you use the white glue, when dry its clear and allows light to penetrate it, we humans think were so clever but our eyes are not the best that nature has to offer so you get an optical illusion and the gap disapears. would reccomend that you try this on a test piece or old model before hand. Any excess glue can be removed with a cocktail stick that has had one end flattened slightly, i just chew the end myself hope this helps.
Dont forget we'll be waiting for your pics

Roy

[chang2103]

hi i just recently started my 1/350 yamato and this is the first time i attempted to spray paint a ship of any scale. and i dont have to tell you how badly i failed. anyways, i used masking tape on the waterline area of the ship but the paint still went through[guess i didnt use enough tape] how do i get rid of the paint thats not supposed to be there?

[Timmy C]

For just little bit of paint, try dipping a cotton swab or tissue in paint thinner, and just rub it a little along the unwanted area.

[chang2103]

will any thinner do? or can i use the tamiya thinner?