"How to hold 1/2400 ships while painting" Topic

Well, all my Spanish American War ships have arrived.

The next question is how do you go about holding them while painting?

Since I plan to have them free standing, I will not have a base to hold on to. So, what have you used to hold the ships while painting?

I've used white glue to attach them to plastic bottle caps. it's not hard to pop them off, and a little water will soften the glue if need be.

I'd really suggest basing ships that size on 3mm thick clear lexan bases. they are much easier to handle, and the edges are practically invisible on a sea cloth.

I always base mine, but if I wanted to paint w/o a base I'd hold the model left hand, pinching between thumb and forefinger about midships. Prime/Base color paint the hull on one side and set aside to dry.

Once dried, pick up and hold primed/painted side as before. Once the hull is primed/base painted, hold the hull between thumb and forefinger midships low, near the waterline. Once the main deck and above are done return to the hull and do fine detail and touching up.

+10 to the Beast, it's what I do.

I attach mine to craft sticks with a very thin layer of white glue. Like Beast Rampant says, they pop right off again, and water can help soak them off if you accidentally used too much glue.

I don't use bases either, but even if I did, I'd still paint the ships and bases separately.

I strongly recommend against handling the model itself while you paint it. Thin layers of paint (like you use on tiny scale models) are too easy to rub off by accident, esp. before fully dry.

One caveat: It helps to run a very sharp knife along the bottom of the ship where it meets the craft stick before popping it off. During painting, a lot of paint tends to slop onto the stick itself, and can form a bond to the stick. If you clearcoat the ship while still on the stick, this is doubly true. I've had chunks of paint peel off the waterline when taking ships off of craft sticks because of this, and it's just kind of a PITA to have to touch that up.

- Ix

Take a common nail and a bit of Blue Tac (it the stuff you can use to stick posters to a wall) Roll small amount of the Blue Tac into a ball and place on the head of the nail. Stick the ship on top of the Blue Tac. You can then just hold the shaft of the nail while painting. Once done you just pull the ship of the Blue Tac.

Affixed with blu-tac to 1 Ounce Paint Bottles.

A little rubber cenent on a nail head. the nails set in a 2 x 4. Same as any other of my miniatures.