Painting the hull.
As stated before, I went with the colors as specified by BB. This means white inner bulwarks, white railings, black hull above the waterline, gold(!) below the waterline and the waterline a duck egg blue, which turned out more like a duck egg green…
According to a letter sent in 1970 from Smith & Rhuland in response to an inquiry from a modeler, the lower hull should be painted a “red copper”. The complete letter (and the colors used on the original Bluenose) can be found in the
Bluenose Practicum Standard, pages 135 and 136.
So I went with the BB specified colors and the picture below shows the outcome of my paintjob below the waterline, after applying the first layer of paint.
View attachment 255101
As you can see, I already painted the handrails ánd the bowsprit. According to the same letter in the Bluenose Practicum Standard, the bowsprit was “oiled resembling varnish” (this also applies to, amongst others, the decks, btw).
When looking at BB’s main plan, the bowsprit should be painted white, hence the bowsprit of my model is painted white.
Initially I wanted to forego any painting of anything installed on the forward- and aft decks.
Once I completed painting the hull I reevaluated my earlier decision, the model really looked kind of boring, but also the balance was gone. The hull painted, the masts painted and none of the deck structure having any finish just didn't make sense anymore.
When looking at the picture below, showing the deck details of the wheel house and the main cabin, you’ll probably get my drift. So I started using tape…
View attachment 255102
The result is a more appealing looking of the various deck parts, although to this day I have second thoughts about the deck color. BB specifies “trainer yellow”, whereas the original should have its decks “oiled resembling varnish”. So essentially, the deck color on my model is at best too dark. What held me back, was, that in order to properly treat both decks, I had to remove all deck equipment, which was bonded to the decks. Since I had no idea what damage I could incur to the decks, I decided to leave the decks as they were…
View attachment 255103