Hello again everyone!!!
I have an update to my progress with The Yukikaze. After installing the weather decks permanently and sanding and filling a couple small spots, I was ready to lay down a coat of primer. This will help smooth things out and allow me to see if there were any gaps that I may have missed.
First step I take care of before any painting is checking “the tools”. When painting, I prefer to lubricate the needle in my airbrush. Badger makes a great product designed for this exact purpose. This is called Needle Juice. Just a drop is all that is needed on the needle.
Rub the Needle Juice along the airbrush needle, being careful of the sharp tip and reinsert into the airbrush. You will notice the difference right away on how smooth the action will be. Needle juice is not just for Badger Brand Airbrushes, it works excellent on all brands.
Onto the hull…
After preparing all my painting supplies I began shooting a nice primer coat the entire hull and weather deck sections.
I used Alclad Base and Micro Filler for this stage. REMEMBER, make sure you use plenty of ventilation while spraying any paints and/or using any solvents.
Once the base was applied everything looked pretty good.
At this stage, I could go back to starting the construction of the model’s superstructure and other components, but I am choosing to stick with the lower hull section for a couple of reasons. First, If I paint the hull then I can apply a clear coat over the paint, this is not only to prepare for weathering further on into the build, but, I will be less likely to damage the paint while handling the model during construction. Secondly, most red paints, including the Hull Red from Tamiya, have a tendency to bleed under a mask. To eliminate this, I paint it first clear coat and mask the hull when I paint the top.
Here I am applying shading to the raised details including the panel lines. I used a mix of Black and Dark Grey from Tamiya mixed 50/50 with a small amount of thinner.
With the shading done, I am ready to begin application of the below the waterline hull coloring. Most hulls to ships were painted with an anti-fowling paint to resist barnacles and such from attaching to the hull, creating drag for the ship. This color varied from shipyard to shipyard, so typically Tamiya’s Hull Red is an excellent color to use on most hulls. For the Yukikaze I will be adding a few color shadings to attempt to create a more realistic looking hull of a vassal that is in use.
First step I apply a thin coat of Tamiya’s Hull read. It’s tough to see in the picture, but the pre-shading I applied is still visible.
Next I mixed equal parts Tamiya Orange, Flat Earth and Hull Red and mix this 50/50 with thinner to obtain a really thin, light coat for shading.
This coat, again, is barley noticeable at this point but it is there is still another step. A light touch on modulation to highlight the hull.
Finally, with Hull Red thinned down about 70%, I lightly misted the hull to blend everything together.
And that is the hull! There will be some weathering to this later in the hull but I need to move on. Next segment I will be starting the construction of the super structure, preparing and painting the upper hull and weather deck along with adding some photo-etching to the model.
As always thank you for stopping by to check out my progress on the Yukikaze. I hope you come back soon to see my next update here on SMA.
