1/72 Scale Los Angeles Class Submarine Build, Part VIII

Part VIII?  Are you kidding me?  This build is soaking up the time, largely due to the distractions of the home remodel.  High time I got on with the painting!  The Los Angeles boats all have a non-skid coating applied along the centerline.  Being a cylinder, the hull curves more and more steeply the further you go abeam, so there is actually only a small area which can be safely walked on before footing becomes precarious.  Here I have stippled on Mr. Surfacer 1000 to simulate the rough non-skid finish.

The non-skid helps show off the added surface details.  These are made from raised panels or lines scribed into the hull or a combination of both.  I struggle with this as in 1/72 scale neither method is prototypical, actual indications of the details would be almost invisible.  The same can be said of panel lines on 1/72 scale aircraft, but the models just do not look quite right without them.

I primed the model with rattle can primer from the hardware store.  These primers are generally much less expensive than specialized modeling primers and work just as well, especially on large subjects such as this one.  This picture also shows the stands I’ll be using while painting, made from scrap plywood and bolted into the mounting holes under the hull.  They provide convenient handles for moving the model and can be turned to the sides when needed for painting.

The primer did its job and helped identify a slight dip in the hull contour here, which was filled with Bondo and smoothed out.  The other areas which show signs of sanding are corrections to flaws in my scribing, I’m still working to perfect that skill and have a long way to go.

With the corrections re-primed it was time to add color to the hull.  In service the red lead protective paint wears and takes on a distressed appearance which I wanted to duplicate.  I built up the red underside color with thin applications of Testors Insignia Red, altering the density to vary the color intensity.  Then the hull was stippled with Wood and Dark Tan to simulate wear.  These areas were then blended with thinner applied with a brush.

Next the hull was airbrushed with patches of Root Braun RAL 8012, and those areas were again blended.  It looks like a hot mess now but the finish coats will pull it all together.

The hull red areas were masked off using Saran Wrap stolen from the kitchen and the rest of the hull was given the first coat of “scale black”, which is just black toned down with grey.  Rarely should anything be painted truly black on a model, and this finish will receive some additional scale black paint layers with slightly varied tones to break up the finish.

Part IX here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2019/05/17/1-72-scale-los-angeles-class-submarine-build-part-ix/