Wood decks: worthwhile? how does one finish or paint them?

I used a wood deck on my 700 Scharnhorst. I did not stain/wash the deck and it turned out pretty well. I'm sure you can do both staining  washing but if you make a mistake I don't know how well it would work to fix it. I think the deck cuts my work time by 1/4. There's no masking of those little dinky deck parts. Now I just brush paint them and put the deck on over them. 

I believe that you shouldn't use any acrylics on them as they might warp.

I've used three. Brian I'd be interested in that 1/700 to see, it seems to me thats really stretching it at so small a scale.

I stained mine using Minwax oil-based penetrating wood stain. It worked well and didn't cause it to curl. I've built all kinds of stuff over the years with thin wood; usually if it needs to be painted, I will coat both sides. That won't work with self-adhesive decks.

Lessons learned- do not expect the adhesive to be of any help with fit. Test fit and trim as needed before pressing it down , removing the backing or whatever the set up is. get it to fit a little loosely, and flat, first. The problem areas tend to be tight spots like between two turret barbettes, for instance. Trim the holes until it drops right on flat. Trying to press down areas that are buckled, or squirting in glue under the deck and pressing it down, in the end result in the deck popping back up.

I'm not a huge fan of wood decks. I did one on my 1/350 Dreadnought, and as thin as the deck is, it still shows the thickness when it is next to deck fittings. The fittings look like they are partially submerged in the deck rather than sitting on top of it. This is especially evident around bollards, winches and the like. I don't even want to imagine what it would look like at 1/700, which is why I am sticking to painting those decks, as painful as it can be. I will likely get wood decks for my 1/200 Missouri, as I think the scale is small enough that the thickness won't be too annoying. To be good enough for larger scales, I really think the decks would have to be about as thin as a decal. After all, even if the wood deck is only 1/100th of an inch thick, that equates to 3.5" on a 1/350 model, and 7" on a 1/700 model.

ships4ever

I'm not a huge fan of wood decks. I did one on my 1/350 Dreadnought, and as thin as the deck is, it still shows the thickness when it is next to deck fittings. The fittings look like they are partially submerged in the deck rather than sitting on top of it. This is especially evident around bollards, winches and the like. I don't even want to imagine what it would look like at 1/700, which is why I am sticking to painting those decks, as painful as it can be. I will likely get wood decks for my 1/200 Missouri, as I think the scale is small enough that the thickness won't be too annoying. To be good enough for larger scales, I really think the decks would have to be about as thin as a decal. After all, even if the wood deck is only 1/100th of an inch thick, that equates to 3.5" on a 1/350 model, and 7" on a 1/700 model.

 

Eric,

I have to agree with ships4ever.  I was going to use them on my 1/350 HMS Dreadnought also, but when I was test fitting them, I also did not like the look of the deck around the fittings and eneded up not using it.

On weathering them, I have tried a mixture of Payne's Grey and Titanium White Artist Oils lightly over the decks and then wiped most of it off to get a sun bleached look. That actually looked good.

Steve

To be fair, even painted decks present a degree of thickness. To be even more fair, many of those deck fittings do not sit on top of the wood; they are built into the steel structure of the ship. The wood deck is built around them.

I get around this issue by building those fittings up by using plastic strips to cut the correct shapes.  This helps to compensate for that "submerged" effect.  This procedure also has the added benefit of negating the "molded on" appearance of these fittings, creating a more realistic appearance.

Anyway, I see the issue of whether to use a wood deck or to paint the deck as being up to the builder. I like the wood decks because they fit snugly against the superstructure and barbettes, creating a very nice appearance.  I do not stain or paint them. But, many of you are quite skilled painters and can create a realistic wood appearance with paint. We each have our preferred techniques, and each is equally valid.

Bill Morrison