Mrchntmarine
Hey Chris question - I have a 1/350 USS Alaska and saw that scaledecks does one for that ship too. How do you finish it and attach it ? Ive never done it so curious. Might be nice to have one, but then again im guessing the USS Alaska wasnt a wood decked ship? Tks MM
Hi Mrchntmarine. I would highly recommend the Scaledecks if you are looking to buy a wood deck. I don’t know much about the other manufacturers but I believe most come with an adhesive already on them that you peel off a protective film and apply to the plastic deck. The Scaledecks do not come with adhesive which I think is a huge plus, at least for me. You can choose what adhesive you want to use with the Scaledecks. I have a Pontos deck that came with a detail kit for a 1/200 Titanic and I’m not going to use it but instead buy a Scaledeck for the model.
Basically they come on a big sheet with all the separate sections precut by a laser. There are a few wood tabs that the laser leaves uncut to keep the whole sheet together. You just have to cut these tiny tabs with a blade and the section you want to use comes free from the sheet.
You then just dry fit them and usually do some very slight trimming here and there to get them to fit perfectly. They are very close to being drop on and glue depending on how complicated the deck is. The backing is kind of a fuzzy material that I think helps with their adhesion as the glue gets a good hold of it. They sit under the bulkheads and most other things on the model which keeps a clean look and I assume probably helps in keeping them from coming up.
It probably helps to sand off any raised plastic deck detail before gluing them down. I take a paint brush and paint the glue on the plastic deck and then drop on the Scaledeck and use a bunch of small clamps to hold it until the glue sets.
They are susceptible to staining if they get wet so you could spray a few light coats of clear on them prior to working with them. I would not put it on heavy as the decks are actually printed with ink and a heavy wet coat of clear I think will cause issues. Just a few mist coats.
I like the fact that you have time to adjust and move them around as opposed to the other brands that stick as soon as they contact the plastic. That is stressful to me. I understand there are ways around that by putting water down first or other methods but I really would rather not have to go there.
I put them on my first model which I linked to here.
There are a bunch of photos of them being clamped down so feel free to look if you like.
I hope this answered some of your questions. If I can help answer anything else about them please let me know.