Measure 22 painting of the Fletcher Class Destroyer

I am starting the Measure 22 Camouflage painting of this model, hull red, black boot topping and dark gray are applied. Haze grey comes next but I am having difficulty reconciling the colors I see on the USS Cotten DD-669 which I am using as the basis for the model. The color images look like it is in the middle of a transition from Measure 22 to Measure 21! But the ship was built in M21 and then was painted in M31 (Dazzle Scheme) then went to M22. The painting info is from shipcamouflage.com the color images are from NavSource Online the photos are obviously late war after an overhaul and some upgrades.

U-73 Final Look

Mounted to its base, I have done a bit more on the water effects. Last thing to do is get the brass label with the ships info.

U-73 sea scape complete

I used Mod Podge, Acrylic Paints, and Cotton to do this. The camera is making the sea colors pop a little too much. it is bright but not as bright as the camera is making it look.

U-73 water effect preview

As I am merging the model into the sea base I am getting a preview of the coming scene, the white is the Mod Podge "stuff". I call it "stuff" only because I am not sure what it is. It has the consistency of Elmers glue about half dry, not a paste but not a runny liquid either. Anyway  while I was filling in the gaps, I am also adjusting the texture of the surface. So I then went and did a little "painting" of what I envision the water looking like. I am liking it, but once this is dry it is all clear, so I will keep playing until the submarine is totally merged into the ocean and then the real painting will begin, but at least I have a preview with out actually adding the paint.

U-73 is painted, weathered, detailed and set

 After painting the primary colors, The reference photos I am using are black and white but I believe I have the colors right. 

 This is after weathering and dry brushing to bring out the details, also the forward and aft communication wires are installed.

Set in the sea base, now I can merge the water into the hull and add the final texture and color to the water

Finally found figures for the dry dock on USS Scamp model

The three figures are Prieser HO scale figures, I noticed that the 1/72 scale sailors were close in size to the larger HO scale 1/87 figures which I have many of. I just pored through the figures box until I found ones that were the same "scale", by that I mean we are all different heights. The figure manufacturers tend to make them all the same adult height when they make a set, however there can be a significant variation between sets, some of the HO figures were the same height as the sailors or not significantly shorter so they work.

These three guys started as RR workers, I cut off the features that made them look like RR figures and then made little hard hats.They all had hats to start with, so I cut them down, dipped the top of the figures hat in white glue and hung them upside down. The glue mad a natural "drip" that looks like a hard hat. Once that was done I painted the figures and glued them in the basin.

Texture and Paint added for U-73 sea base

The texture has been added to the Styrofoam and I painted it to see how the effect would look. I used sawdust sprinkled over a wet layer of Mod Podge, and then multiple layers of it brushed over the saw dust base, I think it came out pretty good. I ordered the paint to paint the model, this needs to be done before I embed it into the base, once that is done then it will be neat to see it all done. I have been staining and sealing a base for it so that will be ready.