Hi guys, I will be building a 1/700 waterline HMS Illustrious WW2 carrier and need some advice. It is years since I built a ship kit [I normally do aircraft and vehicles/figures] and it wasn't very good so could anybody offer tips on finishing techniques ie should I do a wash, dry brushing, adding rust, etc. How do I depict the flight deck, should it show weathering round the catapults and some indication of rubber marks where the aircraft landing gear hits the deck? Any help at all would be welcome.

The only tip I can offer is that in that small a scale a little goes a VERY long way. Rust, and rubber marks, will have to very small in order to not be vastly oversized in scale.

Halfyank is absolutely right about the scale. A little will go a long way. All I can add at that scale would be try to picture where the high traffic areas on the deck would be. I.E. landing areas for the planes. around the elevator Close to the Island structure.
Did the Illustrious have a Catapult in WWII?? I never saw a pic of the ship and was wondering.
One other thing you may want to consider is. If she was Coal/ Oil fueled you may want to add some soot effect to the bulkheads where the details of ladders and such stick out. Soot would get everywhere and when the crew did a scrub down it would leave some residue on the ladders and piping.
Hope all this helped and gives you some ideas. Can't wait to see the pics of her.

Paul

Thanks for the replies guys. Would you suggest using a wash and drybrushing technique on this scale or would it be too much?

Either one would be fine. but the most common one I have seen use on boats in particular is pastel chalks. I guess on smaller scales it is easier to work with.
But I guess it would be what your comforatable with.

Go light on the rust; in 1/700 scale it's very easy to go overboard and leave your ship looking like its waiting it's turn at the breakers dock! One note; if I remember right, the Illustrious had an armored flightdeck. If so then, it would not be outside the realm of possibility to have some bare metal on the landing area, from the wires, up the centerline up to a'baft the island. I've seen many pictures of planes that came in low and busted their landing gear off on the round-down or came in high and caught their landing gear and or prop on the protective barricades after snagging their hook on a wire. Seafires and Corsairs really had problems with this because they had such high landing speeds relative to other aircraft in service with the Royal Navy

Thanks BlueBear, yes the Illustrious did have an armoured flightdeck. I guess just a slight streak of rust where the anchors are would probably be appropriate? I've looked for some reference pics and although they are in b/w they do show that the camouflage on the hull tended to weather away so I will have to depict that. I gather from the helpful advice offered here is that in this scale SUBTLETY is the key.

Hey Martin:

Found this pic while sufing the net if the link works correctly it may help with your deck weathering question if it the Illustrious you have

http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/May1998/980409-N-8890B-003.jpg
HTH
Paul

Many thanks warlock0322. I have noted the tonal variations in the deck colour, especially around the catapults and landing area. Also the fading and "dirtying" that has happened to the deck markings. Great reference for my build.

Anytime Martin:

Can't wait to see her. She looks like a Beauty have fun with her.
Paul