The truth is , unless you have been doing this for a lot of years , there is no easy way , Or is there ? Well . I got to thinking the other day about another chapter in my book and something came to mind from Waaaaay Back in time .
I was building a sail Chesapeake Bay oyster boat ( Skipjack ) . I remembered something in the instructions that has stuck with me all these years . I had the boat sitting in it's building stand , all nice and level and needed to mark the waterline for painting . I did what was recommended and made a stand that held the boat steady for the bow . and let the keel rest on the table - top . I checked it for level .
I then took some balsa blocks and LEGO and built a stand that would allow me to sweep from bow to stern and across the transom area with a pencil . The bow stand had to be sturdy enough to hold the boat level , port to starboard too .
It was . Now , all these years later If I am doing a full hull ship model , regardless of scale , I get out my rig and do the Waterline and Boot stripe too . You can make them out of anything and you can even buy one specially made in metal . Micro-Mark sells them and so does a lot of other places .
I am not saying everyone can free-hand these lines , but I still do .You can also tape the lines and paint away ! Just making sure you remove the tape after the Boot stripe application or you'll have a hard rough line there . There is one more thing here that applies to a ship under the water .The color of screws (propellers ) As most of you know the screws are a bronzish color .Not Brass and not silver. Just a happy in between . Testors square bottle - Brass . Dump a third for mixing room . Add One Drop of Copper and Two drops of Chrome silver . Shake the stuffing out of it . Oh , and don't do this without the cap being on tight ! Or , you and your " T " shirt will be some real funny looking colored patterns .Your work-space too !
When you get this all done , you will have a " Beautiful Bottom ", Not yours , the boat , silly ! You can use Modelmaster Rust for most hulls toned with a little flat white . Unless you want that Museum perfect look . To age the screws add more silver paint . I have started doing a lot of my speed-boats like my avatar with Beret green/ Light -Bright Olive and also Oriole light Blue/ Haze grey . they look unique and liners and ferries look great with the Green and then a Gold Boot stripe ! Tanker - Builder