Painting Camo on Ships ?

Weeellll, that depends on the size of the model.
On my Flower I used masking tape (Tamiya) but on something as small as a !/350 Fletcher I think that I would hand paint it. Paint the edges of the colour with a small pointed brush and then fill in the space with a larger soft flat brush.
If the colours are curved then I would use Frisket,available from most artists suppliers,
not Katoomba though, and cut it to the required shape. If the next bit is teaching your Grandmother to suck eggs then ignore it! Start by painting the ship in the lightest colour first then progress to darker colours.
Hope this helps,
Dai

Mostly trial and error. Most of us use airbrushes. Start light and go dark in steps. As for pattern, there are several ways, the easiest would be to enlarge ther cammo scheme on a copier and transfer to frisket low tack paper and mask and paint.

What exactly is frisket ? how does it work ?

I'd like to be able to airbrush as the finish shits on hand painting flat solids, but don't you have a hard time getting the masking around edges and walkways and from one deck level to the next ?

......and yeah, I'm working with 1/350

Frisket is a low tack mask found in most hobby supply stores. As for walk-ways etc. Practice, Some should be done 1st, some last. Each situation is different. Some should be airbrushed and some brushed. Use your best judgement for your situation.

I personally hand brush my ships. In the larger scales I think this looks a bit more realistic, as the ships were hand painted by the sailors (at least my subjects were).

My kids ruined my airbrush a few years ago learning how to paint their models, I am hoping Santa will be kind this year, and if so I'll be trying that on some hulls ...

Bruce

I hand brush paint most of the small stuff (saves on masking). But the hulls just don't look right to me brush painted.