I didn’t follow the exact sequence of assembly and painting in the directions, since I was adding the Tom’s Modelworks brass photoetch as I went along. This required painting and building, painting and building, basically in layers as I moved up from the waterline. All external surfaces got a base coat of PollyScale Acrylic Haze Gray  (you know, “haze gray and underway..”), the decks got Pollyscale Weathered Deck Blue and then the Pollyscale Navy Blue pattern was added to the hull, along with appropriate rust, stains and streaks. By the way, Trumpeter’s full color plan included with the kit is an approximation only, check your reference photos carefully for a more exact pattern. Their depiction of dark blue striping on the Island is just flat wrong. Check out the cover of Warship Perspectives Yorktown Class Carriers, and there is the Hornet, in beautiful Technicolor, with Pale Gray stripes on her island! I tried a test pattern on a blank sheet of white card of the Navy Blue, Ocean Gray, Haze Gray pattern as written in the book, but it just didn’t look right, and certainly didn’t look like the photo, so I shot the model in Navy Blue, Haze Gray, and Pale Gray. The pattern was applied hard-edged, just like the original. Lastly, I added the badly chipped white Bow Wave. On the real boat (that's SHIP. Ed, who's been aboard a few), there wasn’t much left of this after the Doolittle raid, but what was there stood out.  The flight deck was also painted Pollyscale Weathered Deck Blue with a few drops of white added, and got some tan drybrushing to simulate the wearing of the original Norfolk Blue deck stain. I used some smeared black pastel chalk to simulate tire skid marks in the landing area, then sealed the entire deck with Testors’ Acrylic Clear Flat.