I received Lindberg's Bismarck from a friend as a birthday gift so I decided
to dress it up with Tom's Modelworks' etched detail set, and an
assortment of other etched bits (hatches, portholes, ladders, etc.) that I
had on hand. Moreover, since I have ICM's Kŏnig
“in the wings,” I decided to experiment with a decking technique
I've had in mind for that old girl, and see how it would come out.
I
made up a deck planking pattern in MS Paint, sized it in Open Office,
and printed it out on the same 110 lb. Cardstock I've used for years
doing paper models. I did the same with several metal grating and
plating patterns “borrowed” from various web imagery. I cut
pieces of the appropriate pattern to fit the chosen location, then
glued the sections down using a tacky craft glue.
Patience
in measuring and trimming the individual pieces was the key to a good
fit. (It was made easier by the convenient straight lines running
through the patterns themselves.) Several light coats of clear
acrylic flat gave the inkjet-printed patterns a good resistance to
incidental moisture. Edges were touched up before application with
Prismacolor colored pencils, and I underpainted the joining areas of
the plastic structure with a matching color to minimize the
visibility of incidental gaps and nicks. Deck fittings and fixtures
were attached with the same tacky craft glue I used to lay down the
planking, and proved surprisingly strong. And, since the glue dies
clear, small smudges or overruns are nearly invisible.
Any
comments, questions or observations welcome.