Doing a gloss coat on ships

As far as doing the whole thing at one- how do you hold it- I always make a temporary base while building.  I never use the kit bases.  I make pedestals I will use on final base.  I make the building base from particle board, and match drill the holes for the pedestals.  I do not glue the pedestals to the building base, but work for a press fit.  That way when I am done I can just remove ship and pedestals from building base and glue the pedestals into the final base.

Now, as far as paint.  It is much harder to get a good gloss finish than a flat finish.  Why do you want a gloss base.  Is this a commercial passenger carrying ship or boat?  If not, naval ships are usually flat or eggshell- so are working boats.  You can start with flat paint and sand the last coat, then put on a gloss final coat.  If the ship has a lot of decals you can use a gloss coat before decaling, followed by a dullcoat, or just gloss the local area where decals go.  Let us know what ship or boat, and we can give more detailed help.

Tks don - its a navy ship so the final is going to be a flat coat.  I was thinking gloss coat for the decals - but i think its just bow numbers....  Ive heard some suggest to do the whole ship in gloss as theyve experienced trouble just doing a particular few spots in gloss for decals then flating it...  So i was curious if i have to do the whole ship in gloss, how does one set it down to dry if the hull is wet?  I was thiking if i do do some detailing, they would work getter on gloss rather than flat coat.  They i would flat coat over that.

Wm

I don't think doing the whole ship- i.e. one side/ rail to bottom is worth the trouble.

The hardest decals are the draft marks. The numbers are easy to mask an area for.

GMorrison

The hardest decals are the draft marks.

I believe this is in relation to his 1/700 Quincy. Pretty sure 1/700 daft marks woul want a microscope

Yep. I think of the one 1/700 I did and didn't give away. My 1st or second one. I look at the liitle decals on the plane and ship, and oh boy.....  Lots of silver. 

Oh. Well for that matter 24" numerals at 1/700 are 0.033 inches tall.

Mrchntmarine

Tks don - its a navy ship so the final is going to be a flat coat.  I was thinking gloss coat for the decals - but i think its just bow numbers....  Ive heard some suggest to do the whole ship in gloss as theyve experienced trouble just doing a particular few spots in gloss for decals then flating it...  So i was curious if i have to do the whole ship in gloss, how does one set it down to dry if the hull is wet?  I was thiking if i do do some detailing, they would work getter on gloss rather than flat coat.  They i would flat coat over that.

 

Wm

 

William,

My suggestion would be to use a gloss coat like Tamiya Gloss X-22 and thin with some Lacquer thinner ( Tamiya #87077). I use a 1 to 1 mix. Either airbrush or use a Red Sable brush and just hit the areas that you will decal, ship #’s aircraft insignia etc.  Since this is a 1/700 ship I’d probably use a brush. I would also pick up some Micro-Sol to get the decals to really adhear to the surface.

After they’re dry use some gloss on the area again and let dry. If there’s no silvering then go ahead and hit the whole ship with a dull/ flat coat to tie everything together.

I only Gloss the entire ship if I’m going to weather her.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Tks bill and Steve. Steve - ok to use the gloss and lacquer thinner over acrylics?  Also, here's the last time I tried the decals on a 1/700 ship: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/20/t/172759.aspx

but  I'd like to think my paining is a little better  now. 

Mrchntmarine

Tks bill and Steve. Steve - ok to use the gloss and lacquer thinner over acrylics?  Also, here's the last time I tried the decals on a 1/700 ship: http://cs.finescale.com/fsm/tools_techniques_and_reference_materials/f/20/t/172759.aspx

but  I'd like to think my paining is a little better  now. 

 

If you’re concerned about the lacquer thinner then just pick up Tamiya TS-13. It’s in a rattle can and you just spray it on the areas you need.

The rule of thumb is to use hot paints and thinners first and cool ones on top. So lacquer thinner  is hot whereas acrylics are cool. That being said, you would only being putting the Gloss on a small area and using not very much at that.

Only need to brush the section you want decal gloss. 

Afterwards, a gloss coat may help smooth out the sheen of decal and other sections and when you apply the final coat of whatever sheen it is consistent.

Personally I wouldn't bother gloss the whole ship, a bit of an overkill just to smooth out the decal. Exception being if you are weathering then it's a natural step after decal so go for it, then seal with flat coat.

GMorrison

Oh. Well for that matter 24" numerals at 1/700 are 0.033 inches tall.

 

Question - All ships should have draft marks, yes.  I think so...  But in looking at the pictures of this Quincy i dont see any anywhere.  Also, there are none in the kit???  

Yes they should but it gets a little fussy at small scale.

thought so.  concur...  Oh, and just noticed the decals they provided for the scout planes are big enough to cover 1/2 a plane each.  I know they would need to be small, but too bad!  There's no way i can use them.  Oh, and the flags are way short - 3/32 by 6/32

docidle

William,

My suggestion would be to use a gloss coat like Tamiya Gloss X-22 and thin with some Lacquer thinner ( Tamiya #87077). I use a 1 to 1 mix. Either airbrush or use a Red Sable brush and just hit the areas that you will decal, ship #’s aircraft insignia etc.  Since this is a 1/700 ship I’d probably use a brush. I would also pick up some Micro-Sol to get the decals to really adhear to the surface.

After they’re dry use some gloss on the area again and let dry. If there’s no silvering then go ahead and hit the whole ship with a dull/ flat coat to tie everything together.

I only Gloss the entire ship if I’m going to weather her.

Hope this helps,

Steve

Hey Steve - question, out of curiousity, why would you thin the gloss and not put it on straight?  Tks Wm

I recently tried Testors new lacquer spray can.  I have used to use Tamiya black lacquer as a quick undercoat for Alclad.  I find the Testors stuff almost identical to the Tamiya.  It has a lovely gloss and dries in 20 minutes.

Good point. Thinking about it I've always done flat on the few I've done so far. Might be a good experiment to do a satin on this one. 

Mrchntmarine

Question - All ships should have draft marks, yes. I think so... But in looking at the pictures of this Quincy i dont see any anywhere.

Wartime regs had them in Black (or a "suitable" contrasting color).  They are also only 6" tall IRL.  (About 8 thousandths tall at 1/700; 16 at 1/350.)  That makes them very hard to see in photos, for being smaller than the grain size of a lot of film stock.