Duh thats right the 348th Fighter group was in my mind with the white tail! Looks great Jay!
Frank it's not how you meddel but what you meddle with!
Now back to business! Getting ahead of myself so time for an update !
Let me show how I handled the wooden deck. Similar to what I did on the Gorizia.
Painted the whole thing deck tan. Not a big fan of Tamiya Deck tan colorwise. Looks like Panzer interior buff to me. So I got a whole mess of shades of brown and streaked them going the same direction. If you get too big of one streak use the next color to shape and shrink it.
darker colors show through more so I used smaller streaks with them.
Then using a series of washes. For this I used Tamiya Paints and Alcohol for fume contol!
I lighten and blend the colors much the same way you would blend a hard camo pattern to make it softer.
First I used a darker color in the wash as the Jap wood decks ( Ships that had them as oppossed to linoleum) Were darker than a teak deck and exposed to sea water and weathering on subs almost constantly.
Notice I have nothing mask. The colored wash is thin enough not to significantly change the gray or red color. Just kinda weathers it which I like.
Now to finish it off I washed the whole sub with a nato black wash in alcohol as well. When it drys it looks just terrible all the white residue or whatever it is that marred the finish of the paint. This can be used for an effect as well for scale salt and corrosin.
Now to tone it all down and control this effect is simple. I have a rattle can of acyrilic matt finish for art paintings. Low fume low oder which is a plus. Dull coat will work as well but it is laquer based strong smelling and can effect acyrlic paints and even deepen their color.
WHite marring all goes away if you want it too.
So retouc the gray metal parts on the deck and you have I think a convincing wood look. Deeper than the Gorizia on purpose.
Close up with the camera flash makes the wash look kinda harsh but in regular light sitting on the table it is starting to look pretty convincing.
Time to start adding the details eh? Great part about the alcohol and paints I use is it drys very fast as well. Back to it men!