tutorials

• This is what you get when you open your blister. Since Ark Royal has a closed bow, hull and flight deck are a single part. The island comes in two parts, and you also have two cranes to place on both sides of the hull. And a great total of 14 Swordfishes, if you fancy going after the Bismarck !

• The hull is fairly clean, you will need to do but minimal filing in order to remove small mold-lines. Now, here it is with both cranes glued on. The hardest part of the assembly, they are fiddle at that scale.

• Time to glue on the island. Notice, this comes after the cranes, Unlike with bigger scales, 1/2400 models are easier to assemble if you deal with the smaller parts first most of the times. There are indeed exceptions, but common sense is your friend.

• Assembly was not that hard... time to paint your model. First, in order to handle it easily, I glue it on a good support (in this case, the stopper of a barbecue lighter bottle readily available in my neck of the woods). I primed the ship grey – a good option for warships – but I primed the planes white, in the - perhaps vain- hope of getting better details,

• Paint the flight deck ! I used dark grey. I know, it will be hidden under the decal, but that helps when painting the remainder of the ship.

• The hull and island have been painted a light grey. This is a straightforward job, but the part you need to devote most attention to at this stage : it is important, in my opinion, to avoid trespassing as much as possible.

• Add details : I paint the lifeboats a creamy white, and the funnel exhaust and anchors black.

• The model is ready to be applied a black wash. Citadel Nurn Oil may well have a silly name, but it does the job perfectly. When the wash is dry, it is time to do some dry-brushing with your light grey to enhance details.

• Paint the planes grey, then wash them in black. Paint the camouflage (in 1/2400 scale, well, it means adding 2 stripes on the upper wing, and a stripe on the fuselage. It is important, too, not to forget to paint (black, dark grey, green, dark blue etc... depending on the model and its livery) the nose of the model once it comes off the sprue.

I use the excellent products from Flight Deck Decals

• Before applying decals, there is a very important step : spray a gloss seal on your model, This will provide a smooth surface on the flight deck to apply your decal. Let it dry for 24 hours.

• It's time now to cut your decal out of the sheet : this is how it looks before the operation, A good exacto knife with a sharp blade is mandatory, otherwise, you may damage the decal when cutting it out,

• Next step, before applying it to the model, test fit the decal. You may have some minor corrections to do...

• Dip the decal in lukewarm water, apply it, and let it dry for a few minutes

• Then use a setting solution, this will improve the final result.

All that's left to do is to spray matte seal on your model, and base it - or not - in your usual fashion.

RETAILERS

Let’s start with retailers’ online shops.

GHQ Models 
 

The basic link.  You’ll find an incredible quantity of finely sculpted models to fit all your wargaming projects (or collecting obsessions !) Also, you will find a flourishing community forum where you can shamelessly plunder your forum mates’ good ideas, and post your minis pics.

Flight Deck Decals

The perfect solution to avoid the troublesome endeavor of painting, free hand style, all the lines and markings that cover the deck of any flat top. They also have a tutorial to help you avoid any pitfall in the application of their products.

Litko Bases  

Warbases UK 

I use clear bases. They are great in the sense they require very little work and will adapt to any tabletop color. A reward for laziness, I’m afraid but oh, I won’t complain ! If you live in the US, go with Litko, they have a wide range of options. Warbases UK has less options, but those living in good old Europe won’t be charged the insane posting fees.

RESSOURCES

Let's talk online resources. You may, as GHQ says, paint the models to your taste, and that is fine. However, if,  like me, you are also somewhat history-obsessed, these few links will help you get accurate color schemes for your models.

Shipbucket

What would I do without Shipbucket ? I owe them a lot. They are a bunch of artists dedicated to making terrific computer renditions of all the ships you can imagine. A lot of ships have different schemes, depending on the year they are represented, giving you tons of options. I love them.

USN Camouflage 1941-1945

Another great site, a must-go if you do US navy WW2 ships. All the various schemes are well documented and, I think, all the ships that served under the Stars & Stripes in World War 2 are referenced with the evolution of their paint scheme.

Sovereign Hobbies Royal Navy Paint Schemes

Interesting page on a retailer’s site, which will give you an idea of Royal Navy paint schemes & camouflages.

Matrix Games Imperial Japanese Navy

A thread on the Matrix Games boards, giving useful information on Imperial Japanese Navy  paint schemes.

Kriegsmarine Paint Schemes

A page on Kriegsmarine camouflage that can be helpful.

  World of Warships German camos

A useful page on both world wars German camouflages

La Royale Modelisme

Another forum, in French, with some beautiful models. Insane modelling skills there !

Let's face it, it's hard to identify a 1/2400 model, however great the sculpt can be. From 1 meter, it's not that easy to tell a Kagero from a Fubuki destroyer. So you'll need a way to identify ships. Of course, you can be content with scribbling the ship name under the base, but it's not handy to pick up the model to check its name under the base. It's better to have the label on the upside, but then, it needs to be nice not to detract from your work.

It's not that hard : all you need is a color laser printer, and a computer equipped with Excel (or any substitute) and good old MS Paint. First you need to write the ship name in an excel box, like this.

1 Okay, now it's better to have different colors to differentiate nationalities, I picked this light blue grey for the Royal Navy, but the choice is yours !

2 Then give the box thick sides, you'll need them when you cut off your label,

3 I prefer a right side alignment (nothing political, eh!) for the ship name because I'll add a flag to the label. These models represent ships on which brave men fought and died, however misguided and criminal their leaders were, adding a flag to the label is but a small tribute to remembrance of their sacrifice.

Fortunately, the Nimitz ships lists are topped with flags, you can pick it from there, using the snipping tool, and edit it with MS Paint. You'll also find lots of other sources on the web if you don't play these rules.

Now the hardest part, resizing the flag so it can fit your Excel box. Copy, paste into the box, et voilà !

Make as many labels as you need with Excel, then copy and paste them into MS Paint.

That's the trick : copy and paste them into a Word file. Now resize your MS Paint work, say to 66% and paste it into the Word file. Resize it again to 50%, and paste it again : this way, you'll have 3 different labels for each model, and you can pick the best sized one to fit your base.