¹⁄350

HMS Westminster

Weathering

Lastly this is the completed ship with a few coats of Tamiya Clear and Mr. Leveling Thinner.

Then with decals and a gloss coat again. The image at the start of this article was the look I was after, with some light weathering and rust. Apparently, Royal Navy ships are constantly being painted to protect them from rust, and there is never a huge gap between ports, so any weathering and rust should be minimal. As such I used some of AK Interactive’s weathering washes and oils to give the impression of grime in certain areas and to give that subtle worn look. Light rusting was applied in certain areas, and some areas where I’d made a mistake with the CA glue. The use of AK Interactive’s Streaking Grime helped the hull to look dirty. Once all the weathering was done I sealed everything in with a matt varnish. I had already touched up the boot stripe where I'd applied too much gloss and leveling thinner, resulting in a small paint run. I don't think it's that noticeable, and it just looks a bit like weathering.......

The stand was developed from that provided with the kit. First of all I used a hot glue gun to glue small stones into the base. I then glued two pieces of styrene rod into the base, which replicated two holes drilled into the ships hull. This rod was painted silver to look like polished metal. A lid was then glued and trimmed on the top of the stand with the two rods protruding through. The entire stand was then painted matt black and a nameplate was ordered in brass. This now allows the ship to sit securely as there is a fair amount of weight in the base. The ship can also easily be moved from the base if required for any reason.