1/600 Ship building

[Raider13i]

I have finished construction of my first 2 ships HMS Hood and HMS Vicotorious from the Vintage classics range.

From this I have a few questions to the more experienced ship builders on here what paint colour best matches the hull colour of the Victorious as I feel the recommended colour is to light?

Any tips for line painting on the hulls I have tried lining the hull with masking tape to give me a straight line however I have failed to achieve this.

Any pointers on how to get the deck to stay level in the hull once you start placing the superstructure and upper deck works on to the ship?

The builds where enjoyable just trying to learn to improve my modelling skills.

 

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[Sailorman]

OK.... will try to answer your questions.  Let's start with the first one.....painting straight lines.  You do this by applying masking tape along the slightly raised line on the hull which indicates where the black "boot-Topping" should be.  You then run another strip of tape a few millimetres below it.  You can then paint between the tape. It doesn't matter if you paint over the edges of the tape because once you've finished painting you remove the tape and hey presto you have a perfect straight line.  Make sure you keep the distance between the two strips of tape equal all the way as otherwise the line won't be even along the length of the hull.  You'll notice I used normal sticky take on the Aircraft Carrier deck .....but it's far better to buy some low tack masking tape from a model shop. That way you don't risk spoiling your paintwork.

In order to glue the deck to the hull you will need to apply glue along the length of the hull and as soon as you place the deck in the correct position you use short strips of masking tape to hold it down.  You stick a bit of tape to the deck and then run it down the side of the hull pulling on it as you do so. This will pull the deck down tight against the hull.

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[Sailorman]

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[Sailorman]

If you have any further questions just ask away.

Oh....by the way, I tend to use Humbrol Number 64 for the hull but really this will depend on which part of the world the ship was serving as the shades of grey were lighter for the Mediterranean and darker in the North Sea / Atlantic.

[KiwiKev]

I've just brought some ultra fine masking tape from the local model shop, and its better than trying to get sellotape to bend to your will along curved hulls. I tend to try and dry brush many light coats near the edge of the tape, flooding it with heavy applications almost invariably ends up with seepage under the tape which looks awful. This takes patience if you have a very thin runny paint.

The deck placement issue with many Airfix models is a problem. I'm going to try gluing some extra supporting lugs inside the hull of my next attempt, to get a more positive fit. I remember HMS Repulse being fairly diabolical, and recently did HMS Hood, with similar problems.

[peebeep]

I tend to try and dry brush many light coats near the edge of the tape, flooding it with heavy applications almost invariably ends up with seepage under the tape which looks awful.

 

 

When using masking, to avoid paint bleed first off ensure the edge of the tape is well burnished down (I'm sure you do this), then against the edge of the tape paint either the underlying colour or clear varnish. This will seal the tape and you shouldn't have any problems with paint bleed.

[KiwiKev]

I tend to try and dry brush many light coats near the edge of the tape, flooding it with heavy applications almost invariably ends up with seepage under the tape which looks awful.

When using masking, to avoid paint bleed first off ensure the edge of the tape is well burnished down (I'm sure you do this), then against the edge of the tape paint either the underlying colour or clear varnish. This will seal the tape and you shouldn't have any problems with paint bleed.