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Working with Resin Ships

Painting the Deck   Painted Deck

The subject for this article is High Molds USS West Virginia in 1/700. The ship is represented in it's 1941 fit and I have decided to do a small Pearl Harbor diorama combining it with Corsair Armadas USS Vestal repair ship and USS Hoga Tug. High Molds kit is state of the art where resin casting is concerned. The molding is exceptional as well as the engineering of the parts and the overpour from the rubber molds. I find it helpful to wash the resin pieces with warm water and dish soap just to ensure that there is no mold release present on the parts. you should have at your disposal varying grades of wet or dry sandpaper, modeling files, tweezers, nail clippers and your favorite cyanoacrylate ("super") glue.

I began by positioning the kit hulls on my cutting board to find out how large my base needed to be. Once I had the kits and the base I placed masking tape on the base then positioned the hulls on the masking tape and traced them with the tip of an exacto knife. After removing the excess masking tape you are left with the masking tape "footprint" of each ship on the base. Then I mask the edges of the base and also a spot for a nameplate with 2 to 3 layers of masking tape. The area left uncovered represents the water. As this was going to be a harbor I airbrushed this area with a blue/green color, and prepared to use my "calm water" technique for the base. This is very simple. Once the ships positions are determined and masked and the borders are masked and the water is painted pour some acrylic gloss varnish over the base and spread it out with a fan brush. This acrylic varnish is used by artists and can be found in most art supply or craft stores. It is milky in appearance and has the consistency of maple syrup. Once spread out on the base it will even itself out and once dry it is clear and glossy. The base can be set aside until later.