Wooden Decks - Any preferences?

   i have only used Nautilus wood decks but they are VERY good !  Never seen a blue deck.

Others will give you more detailed advise and suggestions on the brands of wooden decks but I can tell you that, in my limited experience building 1/350 scale ships that the Artwox decks I've used have been very satisfactory to me.

I've used Pontos decks on several builds and am more than happy with the results. I have no experfience with any other brands and so far haven't tried any of their blue deck options. 

I have used the Artwox blue deck for the Tamiya 1/350 USS Missouri. It looks great, it went on well and fits perfectly.  This was my first attempt at using a wood deck. The only problem I have experienced is that it has bubbled in places, which may be due to my inexperience with such decks.  However, I was able to repair the problem easily.

Bill Morrison

Hi;

 Personally , I prefer to do them with paint . No worry about the adhesive failing over time or the wood discoloring . Most of these aftermarket decks , although wood veneer have adhesive .This stuff IS suceptable to humidity and temperature .

 I have had wood veneer decks rise up and bubble or break loose at the edges on yacht models . So no more Wood decks in any scale smaller than 1/72 . I will say though I have seen an Artwox deck at my LHS . Nice looking stuff .

Well.... they really only work if they can be made to lie flat on their own prior to sticking down. Any effort spent clamping or rubbing or relying on the glue will fail.

Any place where they are a tight squeeze, a classic being between two turret bases.

Much time spent trimming until it is almost a loose fit, is key.

I was able to repair any bubbling by simply making a cut with a sharp #11 X-Acto blade along an affected deck seam, lift the bubbled deck and lightly brush Tacky Glue underneath, then pressing it down.  I have had no further bubbling or any discoloration since.  The sliced seam does not show.

One problem that I have seen among certain builders who try to paint their decks is that they have difficulty painting straight lines adjacent to deck fittings or bulkheads due to limitations of skill or other physical limitations.  It is easy to argue that this can be corrected by skilful masking, but people with disabilities with motor skills or visual problems might not have the ability to finely mask fine deck details.  In cases such as these, wood decks could be a solution by which they can turn out better models.

Others might simply prefer them to simplify the building process.  Who knows?  There are many justifications to use wood veneer decks.  Just be aware that they can present some problems of their own.

Bill

Thanks all for the replies.  Been painting decks since 1976, so I wanted to try something a little different.  Picked up a couple of different brands on ebay so I guess I will be able to make some kind of evaluation between them.

Kind of bummed...I had my eye on a ScaleDecks USS Constitution deck, but someone else stepped in and bought the last one.  Hopefully they will be made available again.