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Working with Resin Ships

High Molds USS West Virginia in 1/700

Before we get into the particular techniques involved in building resin ships, let's first look at some techniques that should be used in the building on ship models in general.

Ship models, due to their intricate details and numerous small parts, must be handled as little as possible. To enable myself to have access to all sides of the ship, yet not touch it while working on it I usually mount it with rolled over masking tape to a piece of cardboard. Make sure the cardboard is large enough to extend at least 20cm beyond all sides of the ship. This protects it from being bumped into anything. In this way you can hold the ship in your hand and maneuver it to any angle without actually touching it.

If you're going to put the ship on a water base the time to begin this work is before you begin to work on the ship. The reason is that you need to handle the hull and use it to mark it's position on the base. If you wait until after the ship is assembled, or even painted you risk damaging any railing you may have added or rubbing off the paint.

Many of the techniques I will discuss here may be used on resin and plastic ship kits. Let's start at the beginning....

©2002 Images and text by Mike Taylor - All Rights Reserved.