Gentleman

I'am normaly an armour builder but as of late find myself attracted to building the odd warship too and have a question! at what point do most of you install the hand railings?

Do you fit them before major hull paint which initialy appears to make deck painting a little difficult or is it one of the last things applied?

Any help would be greatly appreciated-Thanks

Hi Gerry
I have built a number of 1/350 scale warships and always fit the handrailings on after I have completed the hull and deck painting.
I paint the railings before I remove them from the brass sheet generally with the same paint that I use on the hull.
Carefully pre shape the railings and don't try to attach too long a section at any one time. I do about six inches at a time unless I am using specific photoetch kits for the particular ship, in which case specific sections of railing are often supplied.
You can't go past " gator glue" for this job as it holds the rail in position while it dries. goes on white and dries clear. You don't need to use too much.
It works much better than super glue in this application.
Hope this is helpfull
Good modelling
Colin Swager
New Zealand

Hey Colin

Most excellent advise and thank you for the info it will be used wisely and confirms what I was thinking!

Cheers
Gerry

I pretty much do everything the same. I build in subsections, so the upper deck and bridge sections get bult first. As the railings are more difficult generally, I may assemble them along with the bridge as it may be easier to attach prior to putting on higher sections (as in the Japanese pagoda bridges)

Once again thanks for the advise guys