Hi Dave, and of course, whoever might find this useful for weathering:
pic #1:Well, as you had seen on previous photos, the first thing I used is so called pre-shading. Seemingly random lines airbrushed with over-thinned black paint. I tried to make sure that center of most lines were about 8 mm away, because roughly that's how far apart the weld-joints between stories/ levels are in this scale. The vertical lines , I think, can end up anywhere you like.
pic#2-3: I used STRAIGHT pieces of cardboard strips, and all sorts of shapes, and adhesive putty (such as Blue Tack) for spacers, for applying the colour of the ship. The point here is not to end up with firm lines, so using this adhesive, keep some distance between the model and the cardboard. How much? That's up to you, as how "blurred " you want your paneling to be.
I use Humbrol colours which are oil based, and for this type of weathering, and fine spraying, this is the limit for this brand.(the main colour I used for the ship is: 128)
It worked out better to have the ship UP-SIDE-DOWN for painting, so consider this when you read "UP" or "BOTTOM", and such..... . Starting from the waterline DOWN I sprayed thinned out 128, applying more grey towards the waterline, leaving more of the black pre-shading to show thru towards the BOTTOM. Once the first 8mm were painted , I moved DOWN another 8mm, and so forth, until I reached the flight-deck. ENSURE that these lines are PARALEL to the waterline not relation to each other, because they need to be tapered. This is only an issue where the hull has curves, like the bow.
To break up the monotone gray, once in a while spray some random shades of grey in random spots and sizes. DON'T be shy! You will be covering them up later with the base colour, and you'll be able to control how much of these different greys you want to show thru.
pic #4: Adding the vertical lines. I cut out 13-14 mm wide rectangular strips out of cardboard pieces. MAKE SURE they are VERTICAL, and spray the vertical sides with the colour of the ship. Use different amounts of colour so that your lines are not all the same throughout this huge hull. Stagger them even.
Now, I don't have pictures of this step, but it is important to add shades that are lighter than the base colour. I repeated the steps described with the 8mm strips, but this time I started from the flight-deck end, and placed my strip to -what would be the bottom of the panels , if the ship was right side up- and lightly sprayed light gray on there. This way once the ship is turned back onto it's bottom, you'll end up with darker shades on top of your panels from the pre-shading that's showing thru , and lighter ones on the bottom, giving the side of the ship a more 3-dimensional, "oil-canned" effect.
I hope I haven't confused the Jesus out of anyone yet. Luckily, it is all straight forward from here. Just adding vertical lines, "runs", using different tricks, and various shades of grey, as well as some rust.
You'll need your airbrush again. And some steady hands. Place masking tape anywhere you like (or wherever photos suggest). But always place them, so that your runs will start down from one of those horizontal lines 8mm apart.( In some cases quite huge areas get discoloured on ships.) Using thinned-out paint, try to move your airbrush STRAIGHT down and gradually away from the model. If you screw up (like I did a few times) just cover it up with the base colour, and try again. This technique is good for the bigger runs.
pic # 5-9: Aaaand for the finishing touches: Use different lenghts of masking tape for this, and don't forget to stagger them, put them all over the place and wet the area towards the waterline. Since I use oil based paint, I use varsol for this. You have to work pretty fast. Keeping the area wet will buy you more time. (if you are using varsol, don't just let the edge of the effected area dry on it's own, because varsol tends to leave shiny lines where it slowly evaporated. Once you are done with an area, blow on it. That dries it too fast for it to leave marks. I know it sounds weird, but it's an easy trick to do, and works.) And on something as big as a Nimitz, you got nothing but space to practice
okay, so you got your masking tapes placed all over the place, you have the surface wet with thinner of some sort. Put blobs of let's say black on the tape. Using a flat brush, smear the paint onto the hull, going for a fading effect towards the waterline. The lenght and width of these lines should vary greatly, the idea here is to break up the big, boring grey surface.
I used one colour at a time. Once the black was done and the desired effect was achieved, I used the same technique with a different shade of grey, and finally the rust.
Now I would like to guess the number of people who didn't quit reading after the 3rd line...: 5?!
Happy modeling, and for those of you who gotten this far in reading: don't worry if it's your first time, because this was mine too. Seriously, I think, I just lucked out. Good luck to you too
Cheers : Laci
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FAQ
great mastery 
How'd you get the actual Nimitz to sit on that paint can? JK. Excellent work my friend. That is an amazing build coming together. I really like how you weathered the hull and the panel effect it has. It is esthetically pleasing to the eyes. I'm taking notes man! Great job!
