Ok, so I've not built a ship in a loooooong time. Not since the Revell Model of the Month days. My niece is in the US Navy and aboard a WASP-CLASS LHD Amphibious Assault ship.

I purchased a 1/350 USS Wasp (Re-badged to match her ship) to build OOB and give it to my brother and Sis-in-law for Christmas.

I built the well deck and part of the aircraft hangar, but i just came to a full stop because I'm not sure how to proceed. The instructions are clear (mostly). Im just having trouble visualizing when to paint the hull.


Do you guys have a specific build sequence you follow regardless of what the instruction say?
I'm just trying to visualize how to minimize masking or scraping paint for gluing.

Great sounding project Ivan! There is no real set of rules that apply to when to paint...it does come down to what you are comfortable with more or less. If you prepare a mount or plausible cradle to support the [auto-censored] while you work on it, it will keep you from banging the hull around. Personally, I tend to work in sub assemblies, paint the small parts, hull and decks and sub-assemblies individually, then construct those together with the main hull. With the LHD, I think once you have the interior bay section done, paint and protect and move onto the hull painting...but that would be my take. It is easy enough to pop some soft plucking foam into the opening to mask the interior.

Hi Todd. I like your process. Also, I never though of using PU foam for "masking" or blocking areas from paint. In all honesty, I was kinda stuck until I visualized using the foam. That's a great idea and a game changer for me!! Thanks.

Depending on the size of the ship model, I like to build the hull and superstructure together and paint them as a complete unit, then mount them on a base. Sometimes it requires prior planning to add a customized base to the lower hull before painting. Of course this also depends on the complexity of camouflage and details-- but it works well if the ship is one uniform color. As for details, I usually build items like masts, gun turrets, and items like radars and searchlights and add them to the model after it's positioned on the base (or cradle) as mentioned above, and painted in the base color-- that way I can handle the base and not the model while attaching delicate details. For a modern US ship, you likely only have two or three overall colors to worry about-- I'd think hull red, some form of gray and perhaps black. So painting should be simple. For Photo Etched parts, I tend to complete all the parts inside the outlines of the hull when building the superstructure, and paint them with the rest of the ship, touching up with a small brush as needed. For handrails, I prime and paint them on the sprue, carefully remove and form them as required, attaching with CA glue and a fine applicator. Any "messes" with the CA are cleaned up with a sanding stick, and again I use a fine paintbrush to correct any errors in the paint finish. On occasion, I've repainted errors with an airbrush, using a 3x5" note card cut to the appropriate size as a mask. If you're careful, this same technique can be used to simulate hull plating in small scale by varying the shades of paint. Hope this provides som additional help.
VR, Russ

I think you have received a good answer already so I'll just add some general thoughts/advice about plastic models.

1. The assembly sequences in the instructions are not always the best. They will have you add small fragile details before glueing large subassemblies together (add propellers and rudders before glueing the deck, need to tape the deck down, lot of handling, break off the propeller shafts).

2. Painting a hull is usually easiest when the decks and topsides are still on their sprues in their little bags.

3. Paint the hull before or after the rudders, propellers and shafts? Both. Paint most of the hull and leave the spots where the small parts need to be glued. Assemble most of the rest (all the handling of the hull). Add the small bits and do touch up painting of that little area.

4. Assemble as much as possible before painting becomes really necessary. Paint the hangar deck insides before closing the "lid". Mask the outsides if the hull was already painted or the other way around, mask the insides to protect them when painting the hull. The same general "theory" goes for the topsides in general, paint the flight deck before adding any fragile parts.

5. The general questions are: Can I assemble this part without running the risk of breaking it later? Will assembling this part prevent me from reaching some area later?

/ Robin

Thank you all. Your tips have boosted my confidence!!