To help the modeller Steve has put together some ideas with illustrations to demonstrate how a modeller might create a 1:1200 scale model. This is a model of the Dutch cruiser Tromp from 1937 but the ideas apply equally well for all manner of models.
With civilian ships it is often useful to use the paper from magazines to create white upperworks (on a base of wood or plastic) and coloured paper can be useful when making funnels and other coloured objects, particularly if they are small (eg the symbols on the funnels of merchant ships).