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Old 05-23-22, 01:36 AM   #39
ET2SN
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Oh, just some fine points to make note of:

Masts fairings and antennas- On older subs (pre-2005-ish) the fairing would be painted in flat sea gray with random (no two fairings are alike) flat black dots and shapes. The actual periscope barrels should be painted a light metallic gray or flat silver. The "head" of the scopes is coated with some special stuff, so feel free to go a little crazy. Try painting that area with NATO Black or a really dark flat gray. The very top of scopes should be either flat black or maybe "black chrome/plastic black". While this sounds like a lot of work, some slight color variations on your masts will really grab some attention. Radio antennas are really a translucent green plastic that ages to look like flat zinc chromate green or a very light version of olive drab.
The RADAR mast (like on your Virginia class kit) has a mostly silver mast area. The back of the array is flat black while the front is best painted in a dull silver/light metallic gray with a top coat of clear yellow (the array tends to yellow out as it ages).

Nav lights- Really small at this scale but they help the model to "pop". Go the extra mile and add a small dot of bright silver or chrome ( a Molotow chrome pen is really handy here) followed up with clear red, green, and gloss clear to simulate the glass. The SID beacon (don't worry, you don't have one) is ALWAYS clear orange. Make certain you know which bumps on the sail are the nav lights. On your kit, the lights are the middle bumps on the sail above the fairwaters. The stern light is ALWAYS clear/white and always located on the top of the rudder.

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