Well after my first game of VaS three weeks ago I've become rather addicted. I've invested in an absolute ton of 1/3000 NavWar models after visiting Tony's shop in Ilford. The trouble is that now I have them all I'm at a mild loss as to how to paint them, not so much actual colour schemes and camo, but the best techniques to get them on the table looking good the very best they can, as fast as possible.

First things first, has anyone got a good, idiot proof guide to painting these up?

Secondly, when it comes to basing can anyone recommend decent sized wooden bases for these things? I'm going to be printing the sea scape off with ship name and national flag and gluing it onto a base in a variation of a 'Hex' template method I saw on TMP that worked a charm of 1/6000 naval.

Thanks all!

for your ships you can primer them in gray or black. if gray paint them with a black wash. then dry brush dark gray to light gray to highlight the ship.
for camo if you want to go that far just look on the net for pictures check navy gaming forums. theres also some good books on this subject.
Bases wood check Litko they have nice wood bases there are also some others out there doing wood bases. then you can print names and flags to glue on the bases then clear coat everything to seal the base and mini.
Also if you want you can paint the decks with a wood paint scheme on most ships.
Ray

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"Official Naval Boffin"

Mal Wright is producing what looks like a very promising series of booklets on warship camouflage if you are after paint schemes.

Deck colours are a minefield - natural wood, beige, etc. works well for early war, but many navies overcoated with dark grey or blue later in the war, and steel carrier decks were generally grey anyway. IJN used a linoleum for cruisers and some DDs that was dark brown or chocolate (depending on how long it had been out in the sun), but also many steel decks that were essentially the same grey as the sides of the ship.

In 1/3000 I generally prime in white or light grey, then paint the camo scheme and finish off with a black wash. games Workshop "Badab Black" works very well (have they changed the name?), as does Tamiya "Smoke" - although in that case a matt varnish is needed as the wash dries with a glossy sheen.

Watch out for scale effects on colour shades. Colours use don smaller models need to be lighter than on larger models to look right, so you should be using something like a panzer Grey where you would normally use black. That said it is a rule I often forget for blacks, but I try to follow for blue/green/grey schemes.

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DM's occasionally-updated website
http://www.btinternet.com/~david.manley ... naval.html
Co-author "Order of Battle"
Author, "Age of Dreadnoughts"
Bacon Number (TV-related though) of 4

How does this relate to basing ships?

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"Official Naval Boffin"