World War One Naval miniatures

So I bought a box of old Davco 1/3000 ships from a buddy at the club - they were already painted so I intended to simply base them and leave it at that. However, having spent a good hour on the net identifying the ships I finally decided to repaint them to match with my existing fleets...

Step One - I superglued the ships to large screws that are mounted on my painting block. Next I applied a base coat of Citadel foundation 'Astronomical Grey'. (Is it me or are these paints the worst tasting on the market!!). Now for the odd bit - having applied the base coat I put the ships in the oven (150 degrees) for 15 minutes. This gives a real hard finish and gives the washes that follow a real good base to adhere to - my wife thinks i'm mad, but hey, it works!

Step two - Having first let the ships cool, I applied a generous wash using Citadel Washes 'Badham Black'. Once again the ships are then baked in the oven for 15 minutes.

(The photo shows the ships after step two. The figures in the background are my criminal gang for a 'very British Civil War' campaign).











Step three - Next dry brush the superstructure of each ship in a mix of astronomical grey with a little badham black. Paint the hull in the same mixture and pick out the top of each turret on the ship too.