Teak Deck Color

White Ensign's Colourcoat Teak is an excellent match

Thanks I believe my hobby shop carries that brand of paint.

Bill

HEY wjbwjb29 , do you know anyone that has any humbrol ??? I was very dissappointed when I couldn,t get the product anymore , their DECK BLEACHED TEAK was perfect for that holystoned deck look. The other thing you can do is this . Mix 2 parts modelmaster nosecone ivory with 1 part light a/c grey . Mix well and if the color is to dark ad 1 part lightgreen ( cut the intensity with  1 part flat white . mix well and tone accordingly . TANKERBUILDER

wjbwjb29 wrote:

Hello; Sorry if this has been asked before but what is a good color to represent holystoned teak? I tryed Modelmaster  wood and do not like the color (to yellow). Bill

The actual color of wooden warship decks is one of those subjects upon which an awful lot of electronic debate has taken place. In addition to the suggestion for the WEM Teak color in oil based paints you might also wish to try Radome Tan. This works especially well in the smaller scales and is available from several sources and either in acrylic or oil based paints. I like working with the Modelmaster acrylic (#4722). This gives a very bright, light wood color in 700 scale which works very well in replicating the look of a freshly cleaned deck in bright sunlight. You can tone it done a bit with slightly darker washes.

If you have ever seen a freshly holystoned but soaking wet deck you will want to use a much darker tan like the Testors Flat Tan with some dark gray streaks running through it. There's a famous color photograph of USS Texas plowing through the North Atlantic in the early 1940s that gives a good idea what a wet deck looks like. Send me a note if you are interested and I will try to find it in my photo collection. WS

What I ended up doing was anding light gray to Modelmaster Wood and I think I nailed it, at least to my thinking.

 

Bill

HEY ! wjbwjb29  I wish I couldv,e caught you before you did that .I recently found an excellent paint to use . It,s AFRIKA GRUNBRAUN by TESTORS MODELMASTER . Take a mixing bottle and decant 1/2 of the contents into it . Now you have two half bottles of the base color . To lighten it use approximately 1/4 bottle of flat white . This will look dead on to new teak . Take the other half and use 1/4 bottle of light aircraft grey . This will give you a weathered old teak look . To add interest streak the colors here and there in plank groups . A true teak deck in a warship is not exactly plank matched like a yaght is , and it gives an interesting touch and tone that should NOT be monocrhomatic in it,s color . Give it a try and let us know ...     tankerbuilder

 I have read all of the old posts about teak deck color but my question is ; How much painting of the teak decks occured during WWII? With all of the different camo types attempting to conceal ships from the air were the wooden decks painted and if so were they painted in "deck blue" ( whatever that is ?). I would really like to know what the general practice was regarding the painting of wooden decks, other than CVs ?

My understanding is that ALL US warships with teak decks (and.or decks generally) were painted deck blue after the outbreak of war.  WEM has a good deck blue available.....

My understanding is that ALL US warships with teak decks (and/or decks generally) were painted deck blue after the outbreak of war.  WEM has a good deck blue available.....

My understanding is that ALL US warships with teak decks (and/or decks generally) were painted deck blue after the outbreak of war.  WEM has a good deck blue available..... It is quite a dark blue, and makes ships blend in with the sea very nicely from the air, especially when combined with either Sea-blue, or Navy blue for the hull and superstructures....

Thanks for the info, I was not sure what was done. A logical answer but remember we are dealing w/the military during very difficult times and circumstances. I'll bet someone will come up with a pic of a teak deck on a ship w/a new coat of Measure 21. I have seen some color pics that show the "deck blue" very heavily weathered just like the dark blue (5-N) used in Measure 21. The Pacific just beat paint to a quick death especially for high value ships that just did not have time to drop by their local repair station for a quickie paint job. I have made the error in painting using Dark Blue (5-N) in Measure 21 without taking heavy weathering into account ( It is not wrong because freshly painted Measure 21 is very dark but it just did not stay that way very long). I now heavily dilute the dark blue (5-N) in a Measure 21 to get a true "weathered look" as reflected in many pics. There are several pics of ships leaving Mare Island with a brand new coat of Measure 21 after a refit and pics of the same ships just a few months later look like the paint is years old. The Pacific is a mean creature and for those escort ships, like CAs,CLs,DEs and DDs, that ran w/the fast carrier TFs the ocean took a quick and mean toll on the paint, the equipment and the men. 

 CRUISERBUILDER --- Talk about the pacific being a ship ,s painted surfacebeater , it,s just as bad in the ATLANTIC , remember different temps caused salt water to be more or less abrasive . The shell ORION after a cruise from OMAN to TOKYO , lost a chunk of paint ,DOWN TO STEEL !!! almost 60 sq. feet This besides all the other sea related damage . I do believe that if you build ww2 shipmodels ,even camoed , you should take that into account by using PALER shades . This will help too . ---TANKERBUILDER

I guess that is one reason why they kept changing their color schemes so often!  Some US ships in WW2 had as many as three completely different color schemes in the same year, and of course, as long as the ship wasn't in some sort of sort of storm or under attack, sailors were kept constantly busy with paint details..... Sure wish I had the US Navy paint supply contract, it's like printing money!!!!