Finally got myself up to painting the hull!
So first some hull red. I started with Tamiyas hull red as base. I then masked at the plate joins with masking tape and sprayed flat red.
After this some good ol overspray to give the hull more of a red color.
After masking the boot top bottom some black base was sprayed. After this XF-19 as base gray while letting some black show through.
On the other side I started with the oil canning already. Lightened the XF-19 with some white and masked the horizontal lines first.
I did it in a couple of about 10 to 15 cm long sections. After that about 360 vertical lines were masked and sprayed.
After looking through the photos of the real ship the oil canning effect seem to concentrate on the bow and the stern while the mid ship is not that noticeable. So the mid ship recieved the most overspray then gradually less towards the stern. The bow is still untreated to show how it looks after just masking and painting.
Also most of the decks were painted and wooden decks in place. They went alright even though the order in the build wasn't the best.
I had to stretch the deck to get them to go under some PE details on the side walls etc. I brushed the decks with water before applying the deck.
This will help to get them into position and to get it to glue in better! This is from a old pontos deck instructions, yet nowadays they never mention about it. So use a lot of water when attaching them and your good to go and it won't come off!
And I totally approve! That armored box is looking great!
This is some incredible and inspirational work! 
