Nice work. The blood red colour certainly looks the part.

Graeme

She's heading to be a stunner Carl, great work...

Regards

Alan

Certainly looks like the right colour to me as I used anti fowl on the hull of my boat

Rgd Martyn

There a beggar to put on right and you have done a fine job

Looks great, you've certainly done a great job with the deck... Well done...

Regards

Alan

Cheers Kev and Ken.

So the forward portion of the deck is now applied.This was a bit trickier than the aft section because of the anchor chain races.I had to go really slowly to prevent the deck from breaking as I was applying the decking around the anchor chain races.This decking material is actually a bit stronger than it looks.I am now in the process of painting the deck details (tons of them) and I have started work on the main turrets.

Carl

It's definitely a nerve racking process getting the deck on but as you can see the end result is really worth it. She looks awesome.

Thanks everyone.

SO a little digression whilst I am waiting for the nine bazillion deck pieces to dry.


Vallejo paints.

I am using Vallejo paints for most of this model.These are acrylic paints that come in small squeeze bottles.They have 2 different types of paint.Their model color range is designed for brush painting and their model air range is airbrush ready ie you dont need to dilute it in order to airbrush rather than brush paint.

I have used both types of paint on the Arizona.
They are highly pigmented,dry VERY quickly and provide excellent coverage.

The model air paint was used for the lower hull and bootstriping. This paint is excellent.it sprays very well through my Grex airbrush using the 0.5mm tip.It dries very quickly and it doesnt cause much tip clogging.I used a cotton bud dipped in water to keep the tip clog free.I found 2 or 3 coats will cover very well.The paint seems to adhere well to the primed plastic.I masked over the paint to paint the bootstriping and didnt have any paint coming off with the tape.


The upper hull was painted with the model color paint since the color I needed isnt available in the model air range.

The model color paint is VERY thick.Vallejo recommends diluting it a bit even if you are brush painting. The MINIMUM dilution for airbrushing is 1:1 with either distilled water or the Vallejo airbrush thinner.

I tried using the model color paint without dilution with my 0.7 mm tip and even under high pressure it just sputtered globs of paint out.

I diluted it 1:1 with the airbrush thinner and it sprayed fine through the airbrush-No sputtering and it provided nice and even coverage.I also used some Vallejo flow improver.This supposedly helps with flow and tip clogging.1 drop into the airbrush cup is all you need.My usual rule of thumb with thinning paint for airbrushing is to thin it until it is the consistency of milk.The 1:1 diluted Vallejo paint was just about that consistency.

I did have some tip clogging with the model color paint-even when it was diluted.I kept a wet cotton bud and every minute or so I would clean off the tip.You could hear the hissing nose from the airbrush change as the tip clogged.

I think part of the problem is that the paint dries very quickly so you have to be careful about clogging.

It does take 24 hours for the paint to cure.Acrylics dry form the outside in so if you are not careful and handle the part too soon it will smudge( ask me how I know).

If you let the paint cure for at least 24 hours it is a pretty durable finish, however it doesnt seem to be as robust as the model air paint and I have some touch up to do after appyling some of the painted parts to the model.


I have done some brush painting with the vallejo model color paint. I put some paint on a palette and diluted it with water from the brush.It covered well and dried quickly.There were some visible brush marks, but overall it was pretty easy to use.I think the Games workshop paints are better for brush painting because you see fewer brush marks with those.

So thats my Vallejo paint experience.

The next stage of the build is to add all of the deck details and then gradually add on the superstructures to the deck.

Carl