Hallo everybody

A small question. When a ship is for a time running around not only above the waterline is no longer like new but also under the waterline has his influence.

Has somebody experience for wheatering a naval ship under the waterline. Is a naval vessel also a bit rusty above the waterline after a time at sea for patrol/or water situation??

I look forward to hear any reply

Thanks and regards

Wim

Hi Wim

You will certainly see rust above the waterline of a warship, even after a relatively short time at sea. I'm sure you remember from your seatime what a harsh environment it can be! The amount will of course depend on how well the ship is looked after, and to some extent how much action she has been in as well.

As for below the waterline, that's a little more difficult. Ship's hulls are typically treated with anti-fouling, basically a poisonous paint that prevents marine growth from appearing (at least for a while...) There will probably be some growth just along the waterline itself (above the antifouling but where the hull is pretty much always wet), but unless you are working in a scale like 1/72 or larger then that wouldn't be visible.

All I would do for below the waterline is add some very subtle washes and/or filters just to break up the colour a little, and to outline any plating detail if it's present.

Hope that helps!

Cheers (A Belgian beer of course )

Graham

Hi Wim,

Graham has answered very well but I'd like to add that some colour photos of lower ship hulls can be found in an article I did on U-boat colours. If you go to -

http://www.rocketcopy.biz/models/rokket/uboat/ubrass.shtml

Once there, press "download U-boat colours" which is a 935KB pdf file.

Towards the end of the article there are two sections, "weathering above the waterline" and "weathering belw the waterline." In the last section, there is a photo of the lower hull of the USS Cole, and a weathered USS Ohio. Both exhibit the growth along the waterline that Graham explained.

I always find that below the hull is an area often overlooked by maritime modellers. Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Dougie