- 1). Lay out newspaper to cover your working area, protecting it from glue and paint drips. If you need to use more than one sheet of newspaper, make sure the seams between sections overlap by at least a half-inch. Use masking tape to stick the corners and edges of the paper to the sides/edges of the working surface.
- 2). Remove the instruction manual from the box and set it aside. Remove the polyethylene bags containing the parts and place them in front of you. The parts will be fixed to "sprues," which are plastic frames that prevent them from crashing together and getting damaged in transit. Next to each part on the frame will be a small flat section on the sprue with a number stamped on it. These numbers are used to reference the part in the instructions. Slit open the bags with the hobby knife and remove the sprues with their attached parts. Use the instructions and the stamped numbers to make sure that no parts are missing or damaged.
- 3). Wash the sprues/parts in a gentle solution of detergent and water, which removes lubricants used in the manufacturing process, and let them dry. Paint the parts while they are still attached to the sprues. Use the instructions to determine what color to paint each part. It can be helpful to use a coat or two of spray primer prior to the painting to promote paint adhesion. For the hull you will probably have to paint the bottom part red up to the waterline. Use masking tape to mark out this line and keep the paint line crisp.
- 4). Following the instructions, start to assemble the parts of the model. Remove them from the sprues by slicing through the connecting spit of plastic with the hobby knife, then sand the stub down flat with the surface of the part. Touch up the paint on the section where you removed the part from the sprue before doing the assembly steps. The hull will usually be in two halves that must be joined together, after which the deck will cover the top. The superstructure (conning tower, gun turrets, stacks, etc.) will then be glued to these, after which various small details will be added. Allow the glue to dry for each step before moving on to the next.
- 5). Touch up any sections that need additional detail painting. Apply decals by soaking them in water and then sliding them off their backing and onto the appropriate place on the model.
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