Painting windows

[hedron]

I have a 1/700th scale model ship and I'm having some difficulty painting the windows. I tried with a toothpick, but a toothpick doesn't really hold the paint well. The paint gets around the edges, and while wiping it with a paper towel soaked in thinner sort of works, it smudges the black all over the white paint of the rest of the ship.

Is there a good youtube video that demonstrates this? I've searched, but I can't find one. Or just general details? I assume it would apply as well, since there are some copper colored pipes on the smokestack and other details where I would assume a similar method should be applied.

[Timmy C]

I use Jim Baumann's trick of simply using a typical refillable lead pencil. You can even sharpen it if necessary, but the typical 0.5mm should fit in most portholes. The graphite gives a darkening, but still slightly shiny, window effect. It's subtle and clean.

[carr]

..

[drasticplastic]

I just run a black wash into the window indentations, and when the wash is well and dry, drybrush the original (or slightly lighter ) hull color over the windows. That sharpens the edges and makes the windows pop.

[Guest]

Guys,
As a newbie I'm wondering what the desired effect is exactly. Do the portholes have to appear darker for more depth, or clearer for more detail and illusion of glass? In my own limited experience, both effects can be easily achieved by airbrushing the hull and superstructure under a slight angle after applying a contrasting colour. 1/700 portholes are so small that they won't catch paint when sprayed under a 20� angle.

[hedron]

Yea, I think the pen/pencil trick is the best bet.

Also, my dad had painted some of the parts a flat orange/red color. But these are the mast and rigging, and I don't know of any mast/rigging that's colored that way, but I'm not an expert. Is this some sort of primer? Does anyone have a guess why it would be painted that way?

[Timmy C]

What ship is it?

[hedron]

All the instructions are in Japanese and I have no hope in translating them.

[USSCYCLOPS]

All the instructions are in Japanese and I have no hope in translating them.

I might be able to help you with it, send me clear photos of the instructions if you can.

[Timmy C]

Orange/red may have been your dad's attempt to replicate the buff colour that was used on those masts. Use a tan/sandy colour instead.

Rigging at this scale is usually best served with a dark colour - black is common.

[hedron]

I might be able to help you with it, send me clear photos of the instructions if you can.

https://s20.postimg.org/ih9xjwc7v/scan0001.jpg

That's the first side of the instructions. The flip side is pretty self-explanatory, just part numbers pointing where to glue them. I'm just curious if there's any special colors that aren't obvious. He had also painted parts of the deck, but not some of the things that are on the deck. I'm hardly a ship expert, so I don't really know what to call them. Like, one of them is this rectangle/square in the center of the ships' bow.

It looks like it's just explaining two color variations, and doesn't mention any detailing colors. A google image search showed three different ways to paint it. Black, green, and as a hospital ship.

Thanks!

[Jim Smith]

Hedron,
Here are some pics of my Hikawa Maru.
I've used your first method of painting the windows black and then drawing a cloth (handkerchiefs are best) lightly dampened with thinners. The trick is to wrap the cloth round your finger and rub it lightly but in one movement across the part. You can always clear up smudging to the surrounding plastic easily.

Another thing is that I always drill out my portholes using the indentations on the plastic as a guide.

As to colours - Hikawa Maru still exists as a museum ship in Yokohama harbour. She has been modified for tourist use (green decks - Yuk!!) but a guide to masts, hull, superstructure etc can be gained here:

https://www.ambassadors-japan.com/en/yo ... scape/357/

Hope this helps

Jim S

[John W.]

While not useful in all cases, one should never miss the opportunity to take the coward's way out when possible. When modeling warships, consider modeling the ship at General Quarters. In such a circumstance the window would probably not be visible as such. WWII USN warships would have an airport / porthole unit that looked like this:

PortHole.jpg (26.93 KiB) Viewed 3214 times

When GQ is set, the glass panel is hinged inward and a metal plate ("deadlight") swings outward to seal the hole from water and splinters. The outer surface of the metal plate is painted the same color as the ship's exterior / camo. In other words, no special painting is required.

You would not want to drill out the airport / porthole since the outer surface of the plate would be flush with the hull outer shell plating. I have used P/E portholes applied flush to the hull with no hole, then painted the hull. You could lightly highlight the round airport / porthole frame if you wish.