Wooden Or Plastic Model Of A Boat

Many years ago Sterling had a wooden kit of thetake a day or two. A trick that a friend uses for his
USS Missouri in a fairly large scale. Unfortunatelyfunny car models is to use finger nail polish as it dries
Estes bought the assets of Sterling and the Missourivery smooth.
is not currently available. I hate to think what oneI have managed to get fairly smooth finishes by
might run on EBay. About the only option todaypolishing the surface prior to my first coat and
would be a plastic model and about the biggest is 1building up the paint in light layers. I also sometimes
350th. Tamiya has a good kit, but if you want wooduse flat paints and a final gloss coat that usually
you will pretty much be out of luck.results in a smooth finish. There really is not a science
While I have seen some hand painted models it is ato good paint finish; it is more of an art that each
skill I have never been able to develop. Most reallyperson develops on their own.
bang up jobs are done with airbrush. For that I wouldI am not sure what scale architectural models are
recommend a Paasche model "H". It is good, durablebuild to, but 1:200 does not equate to inches very
airbrush that is packaged with three different tips. Itwell. 1/48th works out to 1/4-inch equals 1 foot, and
is cheaper than an Iwata, though some Hobby Lobby1/72 equal 1/6 to one foot. The scale should be
stores carry both and you can usually score onedivisible by 12 (i.e. 1/144th scale would be 144 divided
during Hobby Lobby's 40% of sales.by 12 which gives 1/12 of an inch equals one foot).
Acrylic paints are something that I have not gottenYou could always go with 1/192 (1/16 of an inch
into and do not know much about. The advantage isequals one foot), which is a popular scale for ship
that you do not have to use special thinners. Somemodels. Another choice would be use metric where 1
modelers use Windex to thin. My experience is mainly200th would work fine.
with enamels. I have a friend that uses finger nailAs far as materials you have a good choice. There is
polish thinned with lacquer thinner on his cars, as healways the old standby: balsa wood. Balsa is light and
likes the range of colors and fine grain of the metalliceasy to cut. A better choice might be plastics, in
metal flake ones.which case I would recommend using plastic from
You do not have to have a compressor, someEvergreen Scale Models. That company produces a
people prefer to use a CO2 bottle, but that seemswide variety of shapes (sheet plastic, I beams,
somewhat expensive. Some of the discount toolcorrugated, etc.). Plastic also produces plastic in many
companies (like Harbor Freight) stock inexpensiveconstruction type shapes.
compressors. Probably the most import thing to aThree possibilities come to mind. One is the old
good finish is good surface preparation. In otherstandby balsa wood. Balsa is fairly cheap and easy to
words a good clean. Smooth surface. As I havework with. Several glues can be used with balsa:
gotten older I have developed a tendency to primeElmer's, wood glue, super glue and even an adhesive
the surface and after that dries well to sand it withthat is used it wooden model construction. Balsa can
very fine grit paper. Try 3200, 2500, in that range.be cut with an Exacta knife, or razor blade using a
Afterwards I wash it and allow it to dry thoroughly.straight edge for straight lines. Sheet plastic is the
Thinning the paint is an art, not a science. That issecond material.
something you just have to experiment with.Super glues, or solvent type glues work fairly well
The best (smoothest) finish should be obtained byand plastic is very easy to cut in straight lines, you
applying a good color coat first. After that has driedneed only score it with the blade and then snap it
well you can polish out any irregularities with fine gritalong the line. The third possibility is solid foam like
sand paper (2000, 3200, something of that order.). Ifthat used in insulation. The first two are available at
additional coats are needed you can apply themany hobby shop and the foam is available at a
lightly afterwards. I would wait for clear coat until thehardware store. There are always the old standbys
finish is blemish free. If you are using gloss paint forpaper and cardboard, but they do not offer any
the color coats make sure that the coats aremore ease in construction and will not have the
thoroughly dry between coats. Sometimes that mightstrength of the other three I mentioned.