Masts and Bowsprit

I started by cementing all the parts for each mast together before painting. After the cement dried I painted the tops, doublings and woldings Testors Flat Black. The woldings were dry-brushed Testors Flat brown to make the stand out. The rest of the masts and bowsprit were then painted Testors Flat Red Brown Acrylic. After all the paint dried a wash of black watercolor was applied to the woldings to look like tar penetrating the wood of the masts.

Mounting on the Stand

A basswood plaque from the local craft store provided the base. When possible I like to paint my stands and bases a completely different color then the model . In this case Krylon Glossy Blue was used after attaching the stand with 2 wood screws. Thick super glue attaches the model to the stand.

Channels, Guns and Gunport Lids

I painted the channels while they were still on the spru. Black for the mizzen set and Middle Stone for the rest, to match the background. Flat black was painted on all the deadeyes. After scraping the paint from the contact surfaces I cemented them in place with liquid cement. After the cement cured, super glue was applied to the joints for extra strength. This is important since there will be tension from the rigging and joint failure would be a mess. After all the super glue cured I touched up the paint for a clean appearance.

Like the channels, the guns and gunport lids were painted while still on the spru. The inside of all the lids were painted flat red and the outside painted either Middle Stone or Flat Black depending on where they would eventually be installed. The bronze color of the cannon barrels can be reasonably duplicated by painting them dark brown and lightly dry brushing with Testors Copper. The Carriages were painted Middle Stone. After assembling the cannon barrels to the carriages with liquid cement they were super glued in place. For the rest of the cannons, the holes in the hull required opening up with a drill bit since paint had closed them up. I painted a drop of super glue accelerator on each hole and dipped the end of the cannon barrel in a puddle of thick super glue and installed. Gunport lids were installed the same way. This was a tedious process which took a couple of sessions to complete. The cannon muzzles were touched up with copper and a dab of flat black. This process was further complicated by the needlessly intricate numbering system of the cannons and gunport lids.

Figurehead and Head Timbers

I had a little trouble getting the grating to line up correctly with the entry but after a few tries I did manage to get it to stay on in the correct place. Since the figurehead has a little detail I thought painting it would look better. Model Master Camouflage grey and Model Master Neutral Grey were painted on and flat black painted around it. A black wash was applied after the paint dried to bring out recessed detail and dry brushing with silver and flat white to highlight raised detail. The head timbers and catheads glued on easily with super glue. After it all dried I touched up the paint where needed.