So, got back into model building a couple years ago after a few decades off. In my past, I have a lot of experience building armor and aircraft and feel I have a good process. I have a habit of largely completing a modelmfirst, then painting.
Starting last year I started doing 1/350 ships. I started out simple on a couple submarines and then my first surface ship (Trumpy Independence class). This was my first real foray into PE.
I am now working on a dragon Tico build and it's coming along fine, but I am trying to determine the best steps for finish and paint. On my Independence build I ended up replacing several railings as I crushed/broke several while attempting to paint. I also found it challenging to paint as when I sprayed the vertical surface, I over sprayed the deck and when spraying the deck, i would over spray the horizontal surface. It was impossible to tape off the railings without damaging the PE but I found if I painted rails separately, when I tried to glue them into place, I would damage or smear the paint and would then have to repaint a part of the deck or vert surface.
So, my question is, what is your process when building ships? Do you build in major sections, paint and then final assembly? This seems like it going to work well between the deck and vertical surfaces, but it will force me to add railings post paint, which worries me about damaging the the deck paint. When do you add railings? Do you paint prior? If so, how do you protect the paint when gluing the PE?
Thanks in advance.