Hi, Barry! :smile:
Are those little gratings or whatever you call those tiny rectangular pieces part of the kit? If they are, or even if they aren't, that' s very nice detail. I am not that familiar with this class of ship, but I imagine those are a distinctive feature to the foredeck for the gun emplacement. I was wondering why you didn't try to paint them before gluing them to the deck at the indicated locations. I try to do that to at least cover the edges which are uncolored, but it's a rather tedious process with some many parts.
The Revell paints I am familiar with are enamels and come in various shades and colors, flat and some glossy. I can't tell which type you used, it almost has a satin finish to it, but your choice is probably best because when you try to paint a large area with acrylics you have to be so very careful not to put too much paint down or it affects the paper. I like acrylics only for the lack of fumes from the paint, but being water based presents it's own set of problems when painting a large area. Enamels from Revell have always gone on heavier than I like when using a brush, particularly over a large area where the brush marks seems to show up more if you don't apply it using a spray gun. I imagine spray painting would probably work best to put fine coats down, but I've not tried to spray paint paper yet and you would have to carefully mask or put some indication on the deck where the other parts where parts go so as to not loose the locations. You are probably right, you'll now have to paint the rest of the weather deck with the same color to give the right effect overall, but it should work out fine as I see what you did to the foredeck. You don't seem to suffer the same problem I do with the brush marks in using Revell enamels. If it's too glossy for the effect you are looking for maybe a light coat of flat matte will help even out the effect, but as I mentioned earlier, easy does it to avoid affecting the paper. I've not tried them but Humbrol paints, even Tamiya, seem to have a finer pigment to them but at this scale it might not make much difference save the finer pigments seem to give an more even coat even when brushed on. Mind you, I don't think there is anything wrong with what your foredeck looks like, it's coming out great, just something to keep in mind when choosing paint brands for smaller scaled models or parts.
It is obvious to me from the photos that this is a very detailed model, lots of little things to deal with, but I know you are doing this design justice. It looks great so far, even if you seem to question the color of the foredeck, because once you do the rest of the deck the same color it will not make much difference.
Good tip about the stanchion locations! I was working on my pinrails on Constitution and used small pin holes for the belaying pin locations...they quickly disappeared once I painted the parts and had to re-establish the holes for the pins. :?
As usual, looking great, mate. Can't wait to see more when you can!
Cheers!
Jim
So, I tend to do a bit of shopping on line, but there's the postage that increases the cost and I prefer seeing what I'm buying first hand before making the purchase, so guess I'll just have to abandon the wife and child some afternoon and visit Willis. :grin: 
