CheckM
1. The technique I use is courtesy of Jim Baumann who moderates many of the Ship Modeler forums including "tips." In the view of many, Baumann is one of the great ship modelers of the era - and I wouldn't quibble. (Check his gallery postings - amazing.) He uses a very tacky white glue available in the UK. I'm sure that the US equivalent is Aleene's Tacky Glue which is available in every craft store and most hardware stores. Comes in regular, quick-dry and extra-tacky. I use regular usually. If you want to use the stuff as white glue a little water is fine. For attaching PE (or small plastic parts) I'd use it straight. The stuff takes a couple of hours to cure but it begins setting very quickly so you want to apply it and stick the part within two or three minutes. Just put out little blobs and refresh every step - we're talking seconds and a 4 oz bottle ($3) will last about five years. I run a very thin line of Aleene's along the line where railings will go and put a little blob about every inch. Use a paintbrush or toothpick and put glue on the bottom of the rail - just a very thin line. The stuff will take something like a PE railing and hold it like a magnet immediately when you get used to it. Baumann advises against doing lines of rail more than 2" but I let the shape determine length. As soon as Aleene's grabs the piece (no waiting) take the finest applicator possible and slip in some CA (preferably from the rear). As soon as the CA sets take a moistened Q-tip and remove any Aleene's that's accessible. It dries clear but leaves a little smudge if left in quantity. (You'll want to touch up railing with paint anyway.) So you set the part with Aleene's and use CA to hold it. This stuff has become one of my most important bits in the modeling arsenal and I use it on every kit somewhere. I've got Gator Glue around but haven't opened after I met Aleene. Super Tack is tackier but gives you less time and is harder to apply thin and smooth: ditto with quick dry. However, Aleene's acts very differently than any other white glue - it's ability to hold a small part is amazing. And when it does cure, it gives a pretty good join.
Another Ship Modeler wizard is David Griffith who has written the best book out there on modeling plastic ship. One of the hardest things about PE is curving it. He recommends using a mouse pad and take some kind of tube shaped object (pencil, toothpick - depends on what angle you want) and just press where you want the curve. That works very well and if you're careful you can fine tune with tweezers. For basic PE bending a thin, short metal ruler works great. Get a piece of glass or very hard plastic. (Coat it with Saran Wrap if you want a place to glue PE together without gluing it to the table.) Take the PE and put it under the ruler along the line where you want the bend. Slip a razor blade or hobby knife under other side and bend up. If it's aligned right, you'll get a very clean bend. (White Ensign has a couple of inexpensive gadgets that I find better than the big and expensive PE bending gizmos - of course they're very poorly documented.) At 700 scale the real trick is getting the stuff off the sprue. WEM suggests using a #11 hobby blade to cut the stuff on top of glass. I think a size 17 or 16 is much better: you never want to cut across PE sprues - always push down. Actually railings and simple ladders are the easiest thing to handle and install. As noted, I would go with Tom's although WEM's generic railings (which have simple ladders) are widely available and very inexpensive. They're also better from a scale viewpoint but more delicate. If you're railing a 350 scale ship get some generic railing made by Verlinden - the stuff is out of scale but tough as nails and very easy to apply and bend. And if you buy PE sets - note that some of the most experienced modelers on the planet will skip some of the parts that are smaller than an ant's eyeball. Sometimes I think the PE guys like to show off. But railings are sweet.
2. What kind of software to you use to get those flasing Group Build icons?
Eric