Bluenose Schooner 1921 - Model Shipways 1:64 by TexBilly

[Loracs]

another fantastic build... yea, bluenose!

 

[DocTom]

Dancing around pesky work obligations, I've been painting fake stanchions and waterways. I'm using Model Shipways primer and paints. Now, I consider myself a decently capable painter but…why is white paint so hard???

Thick paint/brushstrokes, poor color transitions, lots of obvious touch-ups. I gradually developed a method that works for me - especially with white paint.

• Use quality brushes
• Pick the right brush type/size
• Dampen the bristles before loading paint
• Pause and clean the brush often
• Lots of thin coats.

Unfortunately, the starboard side of the quarter deck was where I had started and it suffered through the aforementioned education. I scraped off most or all of the paint twice, which also led to rough surfaces, misshapen stanchions, etc. Poor quality I just couldn't accept.

I sat down yesterday, took a deep breath and decided to start over. Hey, once you tear off the first piece it's easy! Once that band-aid was ripped off, I decided to use this as an opportunity built around pre-painting.

After some clean up and a bit of filler, I masked off the waterway and gave it two coats of medium gray paint. I knew I was starting with no stanchions for support so I gradually tacked the 1/16" thick bottom waist plank (pre-painted on the inside) to the top hull plank/deck surface in 6-8 spots using super glue and finally wood-glued the end onto the filler block at the transom. I followed the same method for the 1/32" top waist plank, keeping it flush with the inside of the bottom waist plank as much as possible. I had some minor paint touch up along the joint.

I had also pre-painted a strip of 1/8" square stock for the replacement stanchions and left one side unfinished, which will attach to the sides. I'll scrape a small area of the waterway and side at each location and probably use only spots of super glue. My hope is only light touchup will be needed. The stanchions shown in the photo are dry fit and I hope to complete this section of the deck in the next couple days.

This approach is a whole lot cleaner and neater and I'm pretty pleased. But now there is a real danger I'll want to do the same for the rest of the deck. In fact, I'm already 99% sure I'll do the same on the port side of the quarter deck, for continuity. We'll see about the fore deck!

View attachment 610091View attachment 610092View attachment 610093View attachment 610094View attachment 610095

Dancing around pesky work obligations, I've been painting fake stanchions and waterways. I'm using Model Shipways primer and paints. Now, I consider myself a decently capable painter but…why is white paint so hard???

Thick paint/brushstrokes, poor color transitions, lots of obvious touch-ups. I gradually developed a method that works for me - especially with white paint.

• Use quality brushes
• Pick the right brush type/size
• Dampen the bristles before loading paint
• Pause and clean the brush often
• Lots of thin coats.

Unfortunately, the starboard side of the quarter deck was where I had started and it suffered through the aforementioned education. I scraped off most or all of the paint twice, which also led to rough surfaces, misshapen stanchions, etc. Poor quality I just couldn't accept.

I sat down yesterday, took a deep breath and decided to start over. Hey, once you tear off the first piece it's easy! Once that band-aid was ripped off, I decided to use this as an opportunity built around pre-painting.

After some clean up and a bit of filler, I masked off the waterway and gave it two coats of medium gray paint. I knew I was starting with no stanchions for support so I gradually tacked the 1/16" thick bottom waist plank (pre-painted on the inside) to the top hull plank/deck surface in 6-8 spots using super glue and finally wood-glued the end onto the filler block at the transom. I followed the same method for the 1/32" top waist plank, keeping it flush with the inside of the bottom waist plank as much as possible. I had some minor paint touch up along the joint.

I had also pre-painted a strip of 1/8" square stock for the replacement stanchions and left one side unfinished, which will attach to the sides. I'll scrape a small area of the waterway and side at each location and probably use only spots of super glue. My hope is only light touchup will be needed. The stanchions shown in the photo are dry fit and I hope to complete this section of the deck in the next couple days.

This approach is a whole lot cleaner and neater and I'm pretty pleased. But now there is a real danger I'll want to do the same for the rest of the deck. In fact, I'm already 99% sure I'll do the same on the port side of the quarter deck, for continuity. We'll see about the fore deck!

View attachment 610091View attachment 610092View attachment 610093View attachment 610094View attachment 610095View attachment 610096View attachment 610097View attachment 610098View attachment 610099View attachment 610100

Hats off for going back to fix something you weren’t happy with. I’ve learned that if you think about fixing something on a model, you probably should. And, as you say, ungluing isn’t that hard. One question - did you thin the paint? I found with the Model Expo warm white I had to dilute it about 60:40 paint to water to get it to flow properly with my airbrush, and a little less than that for brush painting.

 

[TexBilly]

Hats off for going back to fix something you weren’t happy with. I’ve learned that if you think about fixing something on a model, you probably should. And, as you say, ungluing isn’t that hard. One question - did you thin the paint? I found with the Model Expo warm white I had to dilute it about 60:40 paint to water to get it to flow properly with my airbrush, and a little less than that for brush painting.

Hi Tom, thanks so much and I completely agree on following your instincts but my standards do sometimes get in the way!

I didn’t thin the paint ahead of time but instead on the fly with my damp brush or briefly dipping the loaded brush into water - this made the paint more milky and led to those multiple coats. I agree on the relative thickness of ME paints and I’m afraid that contributed to my early quality challenges. If I had to guess, I’d say I thinned it to 60:40 on average. I’ve since bought some generic acrylics as well as a Golden starter set to play with but I have a lot of ME paints so I’m motivated!

 

[TexBilly]

Yeah, it’s happening over on the port side…

 

[AllanKP69]

Billy

Thanks for sharing a nicely detailed build log with explanations.

In the photo in post #31 is the white stipe on the hull paint, pinstripe tape, or something else?

Thanks

Allan

 

[TexBilly]

Billy

Thanks for sharing a nicely detailed build log with explanations.

In the photo in post #31 is the white stipe on the hull paint, pinstripe tape, or something else?

Thanks

Allan

Hi Allan and thanks. That photo was shared by our fellow SOS member @bradjensen, who is also building the same kit. He might even see this post and provide an answer!

 

[AllanKP69]

Hi Allan and thanks. That photo was shared by our fellow SOS member @bradjensen, who is also building the same kit. He might even see this post and provide an answer!

Thanks. Pin striping can be a pain in the neck but it looks fantastic. For painting a stripe, If it is right it looks spectacular, if not,,,,,,,,paint over it.
Allan

 

[TexBilly]

Progress! Very glad I took that big step.

 

[TexBilly]

That second bandaid had some strong adhesive but I ripped it off nonetheless and rebuilt the fore deck. Absolutely no regrets as I’m happy with the much neater and orderly appearance from pre-painting. Now, time to move on!