How to

I find painting the deck first works best.

Painting verticle first maks it hard to mask and harder to paint.

It will be easyer to touch up any bleedthrough on the deck ... If there is any.

Just the way I do it. There are others on this forum who I consider their 2 cents to be worth more than my 2 cents so you may want to wait  and see what they suggest.

TheMongoose

 Good thing i stopped building given the amount of rambling I'm doing!

 

At least you are rambling to a crowd!

Every time I build a boat/ship/sub...I find myself off in the weeds somewhere, talking to myself. They are so far out of my element (aircraft). Whatever looks like it will be easiest to mask, is what gets painted first. I've only done a few "boats" and the decks were the easiest to mask, so I painted them first.

I just completed a ship that had that kind of raised area to attach superstructure pieces to.  What I did was use good Tamiya tape in the 6mm size, trying my best to put it down over those ridges so that maybe fifty mil ended up on deck.  I set it with a sharp toothpick in the corner between the raised guide ridge and the deck.  Then, if too wide an area is covered on the deck I carefully trim it down to make it as narrow as possible.  While I ordinarily do most of my kit work with a #11 X-acto blade, for fine trimming of thin masking tape I keep a scalpel on my bench.  Those scalpel blades are even sharper than X-actos, and are really nice for trimming tape. 

It is okay to trim it right to the corner, so no tape is left on deck, but you get a stronger bond if glue is on both the side of the ridge and on the deck surfaces just under the walls of the structure you are adding.

This is what I do with my ships.

I will AB the hull once built, deck before installation and the superstructures after assembly. I mask the superstructure side’s spray their decks. I then hand paint all the faddily bits including handrails and any overspray/bleed through. I will also go back and hand paint (that's why I use Vallejo) all the stuff on the main deck should they be a different color, again including the handrails. Once everything is assembled I will then attack any gaps with a fine application of Mr. Dissolved Putty and then the appropriate color.

Ship superstructures and hulls are mostly and constantly chipped and hand painted. They also weather rather quickly while underway so some thinned Burnt Sienna oils around some of the hatches, doors, portholes, anchors, scuttles ETC adds to the effect.

That's just the way I've learned to do it over the years. Others may disagree.

Hey Mongoose !

   I always paint the vertical surfaces and adjacent parts "Before" sprue removal . This way there's very little if any problems . What I do , and this is a trade secret I now share . When you have all those surfaces painted  , get out the X-Acto knife . Fresh Number 11 blade .

   Now , using ONLY the KNIFE weight , draw it along the corners between vertical and horizontal surfaces . Now , take Blue Tape , put it on the parts you can do it to , burnish ( rub down ) tightly and spray away .

  The little crease you've created with the blade Should prevent paint bleed .  Now carefully dry - brush the decks around those vertical surfaces , until they are covered good enough to brush normally .

     Brush right up to the little dams and slots and bars they mold to locate stuff . It's very easy to take a little scrape with a number 11 with the end broken off till you have about 1/8 inch straightedge on the end of the blade . Scrape the paint away from those protrusions till you can just barely see model color below .

 Put part in place and if possible let the glue ( I use Testor's Regular or Tamiya's ( Green Label ) Liquid glue .Let it run down the inside of the part ( If hollow . ) If solid , use the Tamiya glue and touch the brush tip , full of glue , to one spot on a side that will not be that visible .

 If visible then a brush tip with the right color will cover it up ! Good building ...   T.B.

Aha !

  Good advice , ModelCrazy , except Liners . Most are kept fairly clean in the passenger areas .( Wouldn't want them to think they are on a Poseiden Type voyage now would we ? ) LOL.

  Tanker - Builder

I knew this rambling question would pan out. Off to the mother in laws birthday weekend so I now have something to look forward to...when I return:-) 

OOOH I'm greatful for this post. I'm soon going to start on my first ship and these tips are a Godsend ,Mates. Thank you all very much. I am fearful that I will mess this model up since I have been practicing with aircraft for the past 2 years in order to aquire the skills necessary to build the ship on which my Father served in WWII, the CL-81 Light Criuser Houston.