Revell 1/400 cruise ship Aida

[FrankJ]

I'm about to start building the ship in the subject title. 

I have joined the 2 sides of the Hull together, the instructions give no colour indicator for the Hull above the waterline. 

Out of the box the Hull is a very smooth and white glossy finish. 

 

Should I paint over the glossy white or leave it as it is, perhaps a gloss varnish?

I notice other white parts white glossy guard rails etc do not have a colour code in the instruction pamphlet. Any advice is much appreciated. 

 

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday Frank, are you painting the decks? I'm not familiar with this ship so can't give a specific answer, just a general one. A potential problem with only painting part of a model is that the texture of the painted and unpainted surfaces may be different. This might be OK, but might not. Also, if you accidently get paint on a surface that was to remain unpainted you can't paint over it if it's the wrong colour, and you might get scratch marks on the plastic if you try to scrape the paint off. Just things to consider. I've only ever half-painted one model ship, and that was decades ago. HTH. Regards, Jeff.

[FrankJ]

14 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Frank, are you painting the decks? I'm not familiar with this ship so can't give a specific answer, just a general one. A potential problem with only painting part of a model is that the texture of the painted and unpainted surfaces may be different. This might be OK, but might not. Also, if you accidently get paint on a surface that was to remain unpainted you can't paint over it if it's the wrong colour, and you might get scratch marks on the plastic if you try to scrape the paint off. Just things to consider. I've only ever half-painted one model ship, and that was decades ago. HTH. Regards, Jeff.

I think some parts of the decking will need painting, my plan is when I get to these parts is probably paint them before fixing them into place. I have a feeling this is going to take a while to complete🙄

I seen this ship while on a cruise, it was berthed next to the ship I was on, it was quite colourful. 

[Orso]

I had a look at my kit and the verdict is that I need to paint it. First there are some sink marks that need to be filled. Second is that I think that decals don't adhere well enough to unpainted plastic.

Unpainted plastic will look as plastic. I remember when my brother built his first kit when he was around five. He didn't want to paint the car as it was white already but he painted it in the end. 

After that he always painted his models as he liked it better than the plastic look.

[Paws4thot]

On 18/03/2021 at 13:10, Orso said:

Second is that I think that decals don't adhere well enough to unpainted plastic.

They don't; you always need a coat of paint or varnish (or Klear/Future floor depending on where and when you buy it) under decals. A touch annoying if you get car kits that apply decals to perspex windows.