New to shipbuilding.....1/700 questions

Welcome to a great modeling subject area and scale!  And be advised, painting procedures are like... opinions.  Everybody has one.

 My preference for a modern ship in a single color like an Arleigh Burke is to assemble the decks, masts  and superstructure with real glue, and the smaller stuff on the decks - guns, domes, rocket launchers, etc, with white glue.  (then let it dry)  Then airbrush the whole thing with the  Haze Grey color of choice (I prefer Model Master Dark Ghost Grey, because it is lighter than the actual FS color of Haze Grey, which I feel overpowers a 1/700 model).  Then, after that dries, I pop off the parts that were on with the white glue and go back with Gunship Grey and brush the decks by hand.  Then glue the guns on for real.

 Since I do PE railings, next I stick the railings on the ship and paint them by hand. 

That's my procedure, and only one of dozens you will hear.

Good luck,

Rick 

The biggest thing is to Plan Ahead. Look out for hard to paint areas and leave those parts off (weather you put it back on and paint or paint then put on is up to you). Build sub sections and then paint if possible, ususaly these are masts and the super structure.

 Paint the deck before you put anything on unless it's the same color as the superstructure.

It'll proably be easier to put the tiney parts onto panters tape to hold in place.

 For masking (this is not personal experence) i have read that using elmers white glue works good, for camo i plan on trying gluing scale cut outs of the camo patches and gluing them onto the ship, after your done gently wash off in warm water. I don't konw if you should use a clearcoat.

Work in subassemblies.   You need to be able to get into an area to paint it and the overhangs on a completed model make it difficult.   Paint and apply guns, boats, and other details later.   

Another approach to painting a ship is to paint the decks first (wood, steel it really doesn't matter - the process is the same). 

Then go back and spray the hull & superstructure while you hold the ship tipped 45 to 60 degrees awat from you.  Spray from the bottom up.   Let the deck edges mask the deck paint leaving about the bottom quarter or third of the bulkheads unpainted.

Then when that is dry go back and hand paint the unpainted bottom of the bulkheads.

Then there is Mike Ashey's technique that he presented in the Kalmbach book on the  Basics of Ship modeling.   Paint the deck.  Then cover the deck with masking tape snippets which leave the bulkheads and deck fittings exposed -- then spray.

I tend to prefer something which is a combo of both these practices on my ships.  I do the decks then the coarse spray of the upper bulkheads -- then mask the deck and deck fittings and spray the lower bulkheads.  I work in sections,  fore, foreward superstructure, aft supestructure,  port & starboard.   

You need to try several methods and see what works best for you.

Some real good ideas here guys.

I'll probably use my DDG to act as a guinea pig and try out several different apporaches to see what works best for me.

Thanks for all the advice.

cj95, you're right to approach your first 1/700 build as learning experience. When I opened up my 1/700 Victory ship - the first model I had attempted in 30+ years - my initial reaction after Oh #&($^*(#$& was sheeshhhhhhhhh, this thing is tiny! You have to learn to scale down all of your techniques, be it painting or masking or gluing.

That said, my biggest piece of advice is to take your time - you're supposed to be enjoying it, remember?

Second is to treat the project like a series of mini-models. A tank looks pretty much like a tank as soon as you plop the turret and gun on the hull. A ship can look like random blobs of resin or plastic for a long time, until you  finish the hull, add the superstructure and then start attaching all the little fiddly bits. My ships typically don't start looking like "something" until right before they're completed.

Third is to go easy with whatever painting technique you us. I don't own an airbrush, and have learned the hard way to be cautious with rattle cans. One nice thing about 1/700, most of the subjects are so small, you can get very acceptable results with careful handbrushing. The exception to that would be aircraft carriers, like the USS Enterprise I am currently toiling away on (I've used more paint on this one model than on the previous 3 ships combined!).  And nothing ruins delicate photoetch parts quicker than a gloppy paint job. Just trust me on that one.

So dive on in, and welcome aboard!

cj95, I recently started building 1/700 ships, when i got $50 for my birthday and bought the HMS Rodney and KMS Scharnhorst, (both Tamiya). Built the Rodney first (badly). I started by following building instructions and painting the large pieces (citadel, boiler, guns ect.). When it came to building the deck, I mixed colours (again, badly) and brush painted the deck and hull. The deck had grooves to represent planks, and due to the consistency of the paint, covered these details. The Scharnhorst I built entirely and figured I could paint it when it was all complete. 

That was a year ago.

I am currently building Trumpeter's 1/700 HMS Dreadnought (1918). I have discovered tamiya sells cans of spray paint around $11 AUD. The range includes almost every tamiya acrylic colour. Paint small details (cutters, deck that can't be sprayed) with a brush and the colours you are using. For Arliegh Burke I'd suggest light grey, dark grey and hull red. It has been almost 13 years since this first post, and your model is probably well in the past. 

Best regards

BrizzyModeller1

The OP is probably a lot better at it now,especially after 13 years of building 1/700 

cj95, I recently started building 1/700 ships, when i got $50 for my birthday and bought the HMS Rodney and KMS Scharnhorst, (both Tamiya). Built the Rodney first (badly). I started by following building instructions and painting the large pieces (citadel, boiler, guns ect.). When it came to building the deck, I mixed colours (again, badly) and brush painted the deck and hull. The deck had grooves to represent planks, and due to the consistency of the paint, covered these details. The Scharnhorst I built entirely and figured I could paint it when it was all complete. 

That was a year ago.

I am currently building Trumpeter's 1/700 HMS Dreadnought (1918). I have discovered tamiya sells cans of spray paint around $11 AUD. The range includes almost every tamiya acrylic colour. Paint small details (cutters, deck that can't be sprayed) with a brush and the colours you are using. For Arliegh Burke I'd suggest light grey, dark grey and hull red. It has been almost 13 years since this first post, and your model is probably well in the past. 

Best regards

BrizzyModeller1

EdGrune

Then there is Mike Ashey's technique that he presented in the Kalmbach book on the  Basics of Ship modeling.   Paint the deck.  Then cover the deck with masking tape snippets which leave the bulkheads and deck fittings exposed -- then spray.

I wonder if the OP is still building ship models, 13 years later.

Ah the old zombie thread slap down. Look, the recent poster offered new info. It's worth something, right?

One of the things I do before building is to thorougly go through the instructions, making notes on them- things like 'paint something at this point" or photo etch part N goes on here.  I find this helps a lot.  I used to plan in my head, but found once underway on a kit I was likely to forget my planned steps- writing notes on plans has helped a lot.

Don Stauffer

One of the things I do before building is to thorougly go through the instructions, making notes on them- things like 'paint something at this point" or photo etch part N goes on here.  I find this helps a lot.  I used to plan in my head, but found once underway on a kit I was likely to forget my planned steps- writing notes on plans has helped a lot.

I also photocopy any PE fret and do the same. 

I like to paint the deck colors first (after priming) while still on the sprues.

GMorrison

Ah the old zombie thread slap down. Look, the recent poster offered new info. It's worth something, right?

 

Yes,but still funny,I mean 13 years old.

No harm,no foul here.