How I painted my boat


Starting even before I started building my model, I was thinking how I was going to finish my boat.  I didn't want to paint it like the one on the box (I just wanted mine different).  I wanted to do something different and I also knew I wanted to name my boat.  Not knowing what I wanted to name it, I was pondering over a few names.  I knew my wife would not like me to name it after my ex, so that was out. Then one day early in the boats construction, my daughter was in my model room.  Then it hit me as to the perfect name, my daughters name, Melodie Grace.

Now having a name for the boat she now need a color scheme.  I liked white but didn't want to use the blue as Midwest used on the model on the box.  So I decided to use Melodie's favorite color in place of the blue.  Not only did I want to change the color below the waterline, but also match this color to the cockpit roof and cabin roof.  The deck I didn't want to plank.  I wanted to paint the deck grey, as are most lobsterboats in use today.  The trim was left mahogany.  I could have painted them the color I used for the roofs, this would have looked good.

The process of finalizing the color scheme took several days for me to complete.  A few of the following pictures show how I had NOT even finalized to color scheme even while I has started painting the hull.
 

When the water has evaporated from the hull, the talcum powder will indicate the waterline all the way around the hull. Mask off the waterline with electrical tape, above the talcum powder, as shown. Clean off the talcum powder and apply the bottom paint.


                 Click on image to enlarge

After applying the bottom paint, and before it dries, care­fully strip the tape from the hull by pulling it back over itself. This will leave a clean edge between the two colors.

After the bottom paint dries, it can be given a flat appear­ance by lightly wet-sanding it with #600 grit wet or dry sandpaper to remove the gloss from the paint. Or if you wish, your hobby dealer can supply you with a "flat"  urethane, which will give the bottom paint a dull appearance.


                 Click on image to enlarge