Hello all. I have been a collector of micro armor for a while, and have painted all of my micro armor minis. I am also an avid scale modeler, as well as model railroader. But i have just received my first order of Micronauts, and i have no idea how to paint these things. Tiny and detailed. Ive been modeling for years, and i know how to paint, drybrush, wash, weather....but i dont know what order to put them in on such tiny tiny ships! I dont want to lose any of that detail, and wish to end up with ships as realistic as possible, given the tiny size. I have some Fletchers, some Mahans, One Baltimore class cruiser, Wichita, an ** CENSORED ** class carrier, and the Tenessee. I will probaly start with a basic scheme, like measure 22, but would like to maintain some depth and detail, not just have a navy blue blob of metal....any hints? If someone has a link to another thread where this has been posted, feel free to just post that, i dont expect any lengthy responses (though if someone does that, i wont argue!)
And one last question, and one my "in action" books and their B&W photos dont help with, what color is the deck on ships like these? Is it usually the same as the rest of the ship, natural wood, what?
I will probably start on the destroyers, because they are A) the smallest and B) the cheapest. I also have questions on basing, but that can wait for a later time i think.
Thanks!
PS...it censored the name of the large class of aircraft carriers, i presume due to the last 3 letters....im not putting anything profane up there! Lets try this....CV16, the new Lexington. Thanks!
My fleet needs paint...any help?
Moderators: dnichols, GHQ, Mk 1
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battlewagon
- E5
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- Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 10:57 am
- Location: San Diego, CA
Hopefully I can help you out as I have a few (OK...a hundred or so) Micronauts in my "fleet". Prior to Dec. 7th, 1941 wood decks were typically left with their natural (light) wood finish. By 1942 these decks would be painted "Deck Blue". The kits take paint very well and I personally don't use washes or dry brushed highlights but many people do. The GHQ catalog gives some tips as do some of the people that contribute to the "Show us your stuff" thread in this forum".
If you are going for a specific time frame or battle and can provide some details, I will be able to give you better info. It may have to wait a few days as I am seperated from the bulk of my reference library on account of a really big fire and the evacuation notice that came with it. In the meantime, some of the other contributors should be able to get you going.
Enjoy your new fleet, "Admiral"
Matt
If you are going for a specific time frame or battle and can provide some details, I will be able to give you better info. It may have to wait a few days as I am seperated from the bulk of my reference library on account of a really big fire and the evacuation notice that came with it. In the meantime, some of the other contributors should be able to get you going.
Enjoy your new fleet, "Admiral"
Matt
Always respect the law of gross tonnage (aka "bigger boat wins")
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CA-68
- Posts: 78
- Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2007 8:35 pm
I plan to model largely the USN pacific fleet and the IJN. I had seen in some of the books i have references to "deck blue" but i wasnt sure if this was an occasional thing or if most/all decks were painted blue.
Will the decks still be blue regardless of the paint scheme of the ship? Even if the ship is in measure 31 or 32 will the deck still be blue?
As for what and when, it seems that 43 or 44 is about the timeframe for my fleet at this moment, as the Baltimore class, ess*x class and the repaired Tenessee all arrived then. I havent yet decided on individual destroyers from the Fletcher and Mahan classes yet, i suppose i will look through my books and see which ones i want to model.
Thanks much!
Will the decks still be blue regardless of the paint scheme of the ship? Even if the ship is in measure 31 or 32 will the deck still be blue?
As for what and when, it seems that 43 or 44 is about the timeframe for my fleet at this moment, as the Baltimore class, ess*x class and the repaired Tenessee all arrived then. I havent yet decided on individual destroyers from the Fletcher and Mahan classes yet, i suppose i will look through my books and see which ones i want to model.
Thanks much!
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groundlber
- E5
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2006 8:13 am
WW 2 Us Navy Color schemes
CA -68 - The following information is from Arco's "Famous Ships of World War 2'.
Us Navy ships usuually had horizontal surfaces painted deck blue, "...but other colors were often substituted.". Most of the photos I've seen show the decks a dark color; but it's hard to tell the color on a black and white photograph. My guess is that a dark blue would 'jump out' on the two color schemes you mentioned. Guess number two is that a medium grey would be used as a deck color for those two paint schemes. Oh yeah, carriers usually had the wooden flight deck stained dark blue or grey.
You could really mix paint schemes up in that period. Ships would have differnt paint schemes depending on how recently they had been in drydock, transferred from another theater, or even a ship's captain preferring one pattern over another.
On painting tips, I found it easiset to paint the individual pieces first, then assemble the model. I'm a great believer in self locking tweezers to hold and place all those tiny bits.
Groundlber[/u]
Us Navy ships usuually had horizontal surfaces painted deck blue, "...but other colors were often substituted.". Most of the photos I've seen show the decks a dark color; but it's hard to tell the color on a black and white photograph. My guess is that a dark blue would 'jump out' on the two color schemes you mentioned. Guess number two is that a medium grey would be used as a deck color for those two paint schemes. Oh yeah, carriers usually had the wooden flight deck stained dark blue or grey.
You could really mix paint schemes up in that period. Ships would have differnt paint schemes depending on how recently they had been in drydock, transferred from another theater, or even a ship's captain preferring one pattern over another.
On painting tips, I found it easiset to paint the individual pieces first, then assemble the model. I'm a great believer in self locking tweezers to hold and place all those tiny bits.
Groundlber[/u]
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Donald M. Scheef
- E5
- Posts: 1629
- Joined: Sun Jun 25, 2006 2:24 am
- Location: Waukegan, Illinois USA
The *CENSORED* problem
A lot of people have run into a similar problem. Imagine trying to discuss the British 'County' class cruisers.
If you want to use an approximation to the correct name, replace one of the offending letters with an asterisk. Most everyone will recoginze Ess*x for what it is.
Just this morning, I had difficulty with the WW I era French aircraft manufacturer F*rman. I haven't a clue why this got censored.
Don Scheef
If you want to use an approximation to the correct name, replace one of the offending letters with an asterisk. Most everyone will recoginze Ess*x for what it is.
Just this morning, I had difficulty with the WW I era French aircraft manufacturer F*rman. I haven't a clue why this got censored.
Don Scheef
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Mikee
- E5
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:32 am
- Location: Oakland, CA
U.S. & IJN ship painting
There's a bunch of information about WW II ship paints, patterns, etc. I' ve been painting up a lot of ships lately (rt. now I'm working on WW I ships), including U.S. warships in their WW II patterns. So Far I haven't tried to weather these ships (might try that some day in the future), If you're interested in colors, contact Snyder & Short. They have accurate paint chips for the U.S., U.K., Japanese, German and Italian fleets in WW II, and have other resources that you might be interested in.
With respect to the U.S., at different times their ships used deck blue or dark grey, with special tints for CV flight decks. Early in the war some wooden BB and CA/CR decks were unpainted, others were grey. More importantly, later in the war some decks even had patterns ('tis really exciting painting those patterns on DDs.) Among other things there's a web site that has official navy deck and side patterns that were ised in WW II. I don't remember the web address, but I think it's on the Snyder & Short site.
For the IJN, there were actually four shades of grey; used in different shipyards. (I think that they're Kure, Maizuru, Sasebo and Yokohama Grey.) Late in the war the IJN even painted some wild green camouflage patterns on the decks of a few of their CVs. I've painted two of them, the Zuikaku and one of GHQ's light CVs. Haven't tried to do the deck markings, yet, on any of my CVs. I paint freehand and I'm not accurate enough to paint the thin, straight stripes.
Look around & you'll find more info than you might really want - unless you're a camouflage nut like me.
Incidentally, I've always had a problem finding a good clear flat finish to cover my models with after I've gone to all the trouble of painting them. With some of them, it looked like the ship had just gone through a snowstorm; others made the ship look shiner than the original colors. What I'm using right now is "Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer Finish." If any of you try this, be warned. It's lacquer, and if you give it half a chance it'll eat any enamel paint right off. I slap it on right quick, and it mostly dries quickly without messing up the paint.
With respect to the U.S., at different times their ships used deck blue or dark grey, with special tints for CV flight decks. Early in the war some wooden BB and CA/CR decks were unpainted, others were grey. More importantly, later in the war some decks even had patterns ('tis really exciting painting those patterns on DDs.) Among other things there's a web site that has official navy deck and side patterns that were ised in WW II. I don't remember the web address, but I think it's on the Snyder & Short site.
For the IJN, there were actually four shades of grey; used in different shipyards. (I think that they're Kure, Maizuru, Sasebo and Yokohama Grey.) Late in the war the IJN even painted some wild green camouflage patterns on the decks of a few of their CVs. I've painted two of them, the Zuikaku and one of GHQ's light CVs. Haven't tried to do the deck markings, yet, on any of my CVs. I paint freehand and I'm not accurate enough to paint the thin, straight stripes.
Look around & you'll find more info than you might really want - unless you're a camouflage nut like me.
Incidentally, I've always had a problem finding a good clear flat finish to cover my models with after I've gone to all the trouble of painting them. With some of them, it looked like the ship had just gone through a snowstorm; others made the ship look shiner than the original colors. What I'm using right now is "Model Master Flat Clear Lacquer Finish." If any of you try this, be warned. It's lacquer, and if you give it half a chance it'll eat any enamel paint right off. I slap it on right quick, and it mostly dries quickly without messing up the paint.
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Mickel
- E5
- Posts: 321
- Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 2:00 pm
- Location: Adelaide, Australia
The site mikee was meaning is:
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/warship_camouflage.htm
It has a description of each measure and a table of which ships were wearing what - as far as the author can work out anyway. It also includes a lot of the theory and history.
http://www.shipcamouflage.com/warship_camouflage.htm
It has a description of each measure and a table of which ships were wearing what - as far as the author can work out anyway. It also includes a lot of the theory and history.
And it does happen.... 
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Gort
- E5
- Posts: 167
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 5:51 pm
- Location: SW Ontario
If you liked that site you're gonna love this one.CA-68 wrote:OMG what a great site! Thanks so much for that link, i think this is exactly what i was looking for!
Now where is my no 10/0 brush...?
http://nautilusmodels.com/camouflage.htm
regards
Steve
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battlewagon
- E5
- Posts: 231
- Joined: Wed May 11, 2005 10:57 am
- Location: San Diego, CA
One other resource is "The floating drydock", this company sells paint chips, reference books and camouflage plans for numerous US Navy ships. The url is: www.floatingdrydock.com
I hope this helps.
Matt
I hope this helps.
Matt
Always respect the law of gross tonnage (aka "bigger boat wins")
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Mikee
- E5
- Posts: 145
- Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 3:32 am
- Location: Oakland, CA
CA-68
<You>
This can be a real problem w/ HMS ships; fortunately, the U.S. patterns are pretty well covered. The real bear is in the MS 12m patterns. Each one is different, and the port & starboard sides - although usually/often similar - seem to be unique to each ship. On top of that, pictures of some of the ships are not all that good, so one can't always figure the MS 12m pattern out. For example. I want to paint the first four Fletcher class DDs in their MS12m patterns. The book on Fletcher, Sumner, and Gearing class DDs (I forget the title and company at the moment) show drawings of both sides of two of the division, and pictures of one side of the other two. So far I haven't been able to find pics of the other side of those 2 ships. (Someday I'm gonna have to make a list of DD, CA and CL patterns I want & post it in the forum - to see if anybody has data.) You're lucky you are doing the IJN; not much in the way of camo. OTOH, painting up the ships in the one of four different grey shades that it might have worn in WW II is fun.
<You>
This can be a real problem w/ HMS ships; fortunately, the U.S. patterns are pretty well covered. The real bear is in the MS 12m patterns. Each one is different, and the port & starboard sides - although usually/often similar - seem to be unique to each ship. On top of that, pictures of some of the ships are not all that good, so one can't always figure the MS 12m pattern out. For example. I want to paint the first four Fletcher class DDs in their MS12m patterns. The book on Fletcher, Sumner, and Gearing class DDs (I forget the title and company at the moment) show drawings of both sides of two of the division, and pictures of one side of the other two. So far I haven't been able to find pics of the other side of those 2 ships. (Someday I'm gonna have to make a list of DD, CA and CL patterns I want & post it in the forum - to see if anybody has data.) You're lucky you are doing the IJN; not much in the way of camo. OTOH, painting up the ships in the one of four different grey shades that it might have worn in WW II is fun.
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cbovill
- E5
- Posts: 439
- Joined: Mon Dec 13, 2004 5:20 am
- Location: Las Vegas, NV
CA-68,
The steps I follow when painting Micronauts are as follows:
1 Tear down
2 Drill-out Holes
3 Clean and Sand/File
4 Build/Install Masts
5 Mount
6 Prime
7 Vertical Primary Spray
8 Horizontal Spray - Wood Deck
9 Horizontal Spray - Steel Deck
10 Horizontal Spray - Cortizene
11 Vertical Touch-up Spray
12 Black Upperworks Spray
13 Camoflage Color 1
14 Camoflage Color 2
15 Camoflage Color 3
16 Ships Boats - Wood
17 Ships Boats - White
18 Ships Aircraft - Underside Color
19 Ships Aircraft - Base Color
20 Ships Aircraft - Camo
21 Ships Aircraft - Roundels 1
22 Ships Aircraft - Roundels 2
23 Black Detail
24 FlaK/Gun Detail
25 Primary Color Detail/Touch-up
26 Secondary Colors Touch-up
27 Final Assembly
28 Black Wash
29 Dry Brush Highlights
30 Basing
Now I don't necessarily do every step for every ship, only as needed. I also don't put my ships together until after painting - its just easier to paint them that way. Another site for good info on painting them up, though not always accurate is www.modelwarships.com. This site has a gallery of plastic models painted by some talented folks and has lots of color pictures of their finished work, both port, starboard, overhead views and so forth.
Chris
The steps I follow when painting Micronauts are as follows:
1 Tear down
2 Drill-out Holes
3 Clean and Sand/File
4 Build/Install Masts
5 Mount
6 Prime
7 Vertical Primary Spray
8 Horizontal Spray - Wood Deck
9 Horizontal Spray - Steel Deck
10 Horizontal Spray - Cortizene
11 Vertical Touch-up Spray
12 Black Upperworks Spray
13 Camoflage Color 1
14 Camoflage Color 2
15 Camoflage Color 3
16 Ships Boats - Wood
17 Ships Boats - White
18 Ships Aircraft - Underside Color
19 Ships Aircraft - Base Color
20 Ships Aircraft - Camo
21 Ships Aircraft - Roundels 1
22 Ships Aircraft - Roundels 2
23 Black Detail
24 FlaK/Gun Detail
25 Primary Color Detail/Touch-up
26 Secondary Colors Touch-up
27 Final Assembly
28 Black Wash
29 Dry Brush Highlights
30 Basing
Now I don't necessarily do every step for every ship, only as needed. I also don't put my ships together until after painting - its just easier to paint them that way. Another site for good info on painting them up, though not always accurate is www.modelwarships.com. This site has a gallery of plastic models painted by some talented folks and has lots of color pictures of their finished work, both port, starboard, overhead views and so forth.
Chris