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Help painting cruise ship windows

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  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: West Virginia, USA
Help painting cruise ship windows
Posted by mfsob on Thursday, June 1, 2006 9:20 AM

My 13-year-old daughter has chosen the Revell 1/1200 Aida cruise ship as her summer modeling project. Hard to believe I'm taking on something even smaller than the 1/700 ships I'm used too, but ... she really fell in love with the cool decal scheme.

One question - is there a practical, i.e., easy way to paint all the recessed windows that a 13-year-old could handle? We drilled out all the round portholes on the Titanic we did last year, but these are square. The hull already had a coat of gloss white on it - I was thinking maybe a wash of black acrylic and then wipe off the excess, but am open to all ideas.

  • Member since
    August 2005
  • From: vernon hills illinois
Posted by sumpter250 on Thursday, June 1, 2006 10:10 AM

I don't know the ship, but I'm guessing the cabin windows are maybe .050" square (or close), so even individual painting would take forever. What you're thinking, "wash and wipe" would probably be the most efficient way of painting the windows. If the "glass" part of the window is thin enough, sanding the inside of the cabin walls might open a square window that could be backed with a solid color, but I suspect that would take too much sanding to be worth the effort.

Pete

Lead me not into temptation ..................I can find it myself

  • Member since
    February 2004
  • From: Weymouth, Dorset, UK
Posted by chris hall on Thursday, June 1, 2006 2:30 PM

You could try marking in the windows with a permanent black marker pen. Leave this to dry and cure for a day or two, then wipe the hull side down with a cotton rag, lightly dampened with isopropanol, to remove any excess.

Works for me for radiator grilles in 1/72, which seems a not dissimilar problem.

Cheers,

Chris.

Cute and cuddly, boys, cute and cuddly!
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, June 1, 2006 5:23 PM
I used to use a black technical pen set (Koi-noor or Rotring drafting pens) which gave me a wide range of line widths to choose from. I used permanent waterproof ink and always gave it a day or so to dry before hitting it with any dull or gloss finish coats.
 
I used them to run ink lines down panel joints and  to fill in things like windows.
 
If you do use a pen, test it first by applying the ink to some sprues, let it dry. then rub them, if if smears easily  its the wrong kind of ink for permanent application. If its sticks good, then add a dullcoat or a glosscoat over it, if the clear-coating causes it to smear or run, better on a scrap piece then on your finish model. If when it dries, it takes and doesnt smear...your in business!
 
Good luck
  • Member since
    March 2005
  • From: West Virginia, USA
Posted by mfsob on Wednesday, June 14, 2006 9:02 AM

We went with the fine point marker route, but my daughter just did it one evening on her own before I had a chance to make sure it was waterproof ink.

It got kind of interesting when we put the decals on, but ... she's happy with it, and that's all that matters to me.

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