Bismarck & Missouri - Double WIP

I decided to report these together, as I always seem to be working on them in tandem, always masking them up together and spraying the next layer in one session. There's a gap of at least one day between every colour. While painting, these acrylics are dry after several hours and you could probably go even sooner, but with  masking tape I'm not taking any risks and waiting 24 hours.

Both primed in black. I'm using the black more often than the grey now. It just sprays smoother and the primer colour doesn't seem to make much difference on the end result.

First layer on the side of the hull. "Light grey" for the Bismarck, with "US grey" on the front and aft. A mix of "hull red"(which is far too brown for my taste) and Revell's "Ferrari red" for the Missouri. I should have used more red, but "close enough" is my motto.
(I photoshopped the general view and close-up together each time, to reduce the amount of pictures.)

Masked up and ready for the second colour : the Bismarck's deck is a mix of "Panzer ochre" (which is greenish ochre) and "Tank brown" to get ... well, brownish-greenish ochre. The Missouri is "Intermediate blue" from the waterline up, which is more a blueish grey if you ask me.

Silly putty to the rescue for masking the Bismarck's superstructure. The Missouri is masked for 2 colours : "US grey" above the intermediate blue (everything above the lowest part of the deck) and black  grey (not yet applied) for the waterline.

The Bismarck's horizontal surfaces sprayed up in "Intermediate blue". A picture of the silly putty to prove how easily it is removed in one piece, leaving no residu on the model. The trick is to put it down rather thick.

The Bismarck with all masks removed. The Missouri will stay masked until the deck is done. I sprayed the last vertical part of the hull (and all vertical surfaces on the superstructure) in "US grey". I should maybe have gone with "Light grey", but it'll be okay anyway.



Side by side, for a size comparison (1/540 Missouri and 1/1200 Bismarck). Disregarding the scale difference (in the same scale, the Missouri would be about 10% longer than the Bismarck), this setup could never have happened in real life, as they were on opposing sides of the war and - more importantly - the Bismarck sank 3 years before the Missouri's commisioning.

The fiddly bits for the Bismarck in light grey. I forgot to paint one mast and the airplanes.