Thought i would share my progress on converting Revells Flower Class Corvette (Snowberry) I decided to go with a weathered version (Much more realistic....if it's done correctly!) For reference i purchased the film ''The Cruel Sea'' which is based around the Flower Class, even tho it's an old B/W movie, it gave me the information i needed as regards the weathering process. For those who are thinking about getting the Revell kit, a word of warning.....dont expect the parts to fit together correctly, unless you spend time making them fit! If i was to start again, i would rather go with the Matchbox version as the tooling is the same, but the moulding's are cleaner(If you can still get hold of it?)
The model has been fitted with a Prop Shop shaft and prop, with a custom oiler tube added. Power is supplied by a 385 motor connected to a Robo double coupling.....Right and now onto the painting. The model was airbrushed using Humbrol enamel paints, after first spraying the hull with Halfords acrylic white plastic primer. To obtain a super smooth finish, the primer needs to be lightly sanded before applying any enamel paints. The first enamel paint applied was a satin white over the whole hull, which was left to dry for two days, after which the hull was masked off and a number of light coat enamel satin black was sprayed on, and again left for two days to fully harden. The remaining colours applied which consisted of Humbrol (89) for the blue, and Humbrol (23) for the green. The model was still looking like a plastic kit, or a dockyard fresh of the production line boat.....but that's the way some people like it! Carefull aplications of Humbrol (62) with a fine brush started the rusting process, then before the paint dried, use an old paint brush to apply a dusting of ''Light Rust'' pigment powders available from MIG Productions. Then using a soaked in thinners cotton bud, dab the area you just applied rust on with the cotton bud to seal in the powders, and for that extra touch, touch the area and drag it down to the water line. For darker and heavier rust you can use Humbrol (70) and again using the same application process as before. For small chips in the paint and scratches i use Karismacolor pencils, you can find these at most good art shops, silver 949, black 935, tuscan red 937, burnt oche 943. If you over weather an area, or it just doent look right, you can remove it with a cotton but soaked in thinners. Last of all to highlight and raise any detail, a thinned wash of Winton oil washes (Again from your local art shop) over the whole model, this is best left to dry for an hour or when the wash turns dull. Plenty of toilet roll should be on hand to gently remove some of the wash, but the detailed area's should remain.
Once your happy with everything, a coat of satin or matt varnish locks everything in.....and there you have it.....a realistic weathered model...i hope!