Oxidation disaster

I'm glad you brought up this problem. I have a model of a French Ship of the Line where all the stern ornaments have oxidized. I too do not know what to do.

If the paint has faded due to exposure to sunlight, it's unlikely that any practical treatment will bring back the original colors.

When historic preservationists do research on old, faded building paint they rub a small area of it with Vaseline. That makes the paint shiny, removes some of the surface oxidation, and darkens the paint somewhat, giving at least a better idea of what it looked like before it faded. I don't recommend coating a ship model with Vaseline, but you might try (first in a small, inconspicuous place) hitting the faded paint with some sort of clear gloss. That may help some. If so, you'll have a correctly-colored but shiny model. What will happen if you follow up the gloss coat with a clear flat one I honestly don't know.

Oxidation of metal fittings (e.g., lead) is another topic. Bottom line: the worst thing you can do to a ship model is put it in direct sunlight - especially if the model is in a plexiglas case.

Good luck.

I had this happen awhile back, and my solution was a half step down from complete surgery...

I mixed up some colors to match the non-faded side...and ran them through my airbrush as a wash...with several plastic masks, I sprayed the effected areas and blended them back into line with the original colors. Small parts were touched up with brushes.

The reason for the washes instead of using a heavier paint mix...I already had the base color, albeit faded, underneath, and I wanted to feather and blend the colors in instead of covering them over.

It worked quite well, the model was returned to the customer and he was quite happy.

Jeff