_GOTOBOTTOM
General Ship Modeling
Discuss modeling techniques, experiences, and ship modeling in general.
Wood deck question
ChurchSTSV
Visit this Community
Arizona, United States
Joined: September 20, 2017
KitMaker: 350 posts
Model Shipwrights: 175 posts
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2018 - 09:00 PM UTC
So I was doin some googlin' and was looking at real wood decks. The community seems to be split between painting the deck and getting a real wood deck. So I thought of a question:

I have seen videos/threads about multiple layers on the plastic deck to appear like real wood. Has anyone put down a coat of say, deck tan, and used Tamiya's new panel line accent stuff to make the planks stand out?

This seems like it would be maybe a little too easy and I might try it and post some pictures.

SECONDARY QUESTION: How do you all paint the deck without painting all the little bits that are supposed to remain gray? Its it easier to brush paint the deck, or try to mask off all the little bits before airbrushing.

Tojo72
Visit this Community
North Carolina, United States
Joined: June 06, 2006
KitMaker: 4,691 posts
Model Shipwrights: 258 posts
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2018 - 09:28 PM UTC

Quoted Text

So I was doin some googlin' and was looking at real wood decks. The community seems to be split between painting the deck and getting a real wood deck. So I thought of a question:

I have seen videos/threads about multiple layers on the plastic deck to appear like real wood. Has anyone put down a coat of say, deck tan, and used Tamiya's new panel line accent stuff to make the planks stand out?

This seems like it would be maybe a little too easy and I might try it and post some pictures.

SECONDARY QUESTION: How do you all paint the deck without painting all the little bits that are supposed to remain gray? Its it easier to brush paint the deck, or try to mask off all the little bits before airbrushing.




Answer to secondary question,the wooden decks have cutouts,so you paint the gray pieces first then place the wood deck over the painted pieces.
rolltide31
#377
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Joined: June 27, 2010
KitMaker: 1,481 posts
Model Shipwrights: 1,332 posts
Posted: Thursday, March 22, 2018 - 09:46 PM UTC
Charlie,

My process is painting the deck the appropriate color and then masking to deck before slinging gray. I find it easier to mask the deck verse trying to mask all those little fiddly vents and above deck pieces.

Dave
TimReynaga
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
MODEL SHIPWRIGHTS
Visit this Community
California, United States
Joined: May 03, 2006
KitMaker: 2,500 posts
Model Shipwrights: 1,830 posts
Posted: Friday, March 23, 2018 - 12:56 AM UTC

Quoted Text

… The community seems to be split between painting the deck and getting a real wood deck. So I thought of a question:

I have seen videos/threads about multiple layers on the plastic deck to appear like real wood. Has anyone put down a coat of say, deck tan, and used Tamiya's new panel line accent stuff to make the planks stand out?




Hi Charlie,

You are right; ship model building community opinion does seem to be split between real wood and painted plastic decks. I am ambivalent myself. On the one hand, on full sized ships wood decks look basically one tan color from normal viewing distances – the plank runs are not typically even visible.

So given that, simple painted plastic decks like that on this 1/720 scale battleship

or this 1/303 scale Coast Guard Cutter

should be the most realistic. Only close up would the plank runs even be discernible:


On the other hand, nothing looks as much like wood as real wood!

Unfortunately even the finest real wood veneer decks for scale models are pretty much always massively overscale, and the individual planks are much more prominent than in real life.

A case in point is this USS Olympia in the relatively larger scale of 1/228:

Even though not really in scale, though, these heavier, more “theatrical” renderings of wood decks are undeniably attractive!

Anyway, as to your actual question, yes, you can get good results from a simple wash over a single-color painted plastic deck. On this Chinese junk, the plastic deck was given a coat of tan acrylic followed by a wash of dark brown oil paint to deepen the plank and hatch detail.

So again, even though exaggerated compared to real life, a more dramatic approach on a model can still be effective.

Cosimodo
#335
Visit this Community
Auckland, New Zealand
Joined: September 03, 2013
KitMaker: 1,808 posts
Model Shipwrights: 871 posts
Posted: Friday, March 23, 2018 - 02:45 PM UTC
Great examples Tim of both types.
I have done both recently, used a wooden deck and painted a deck. I would the former is substantially easier but the latter I think looks better. The key difference as I think Tim says is there no variation in colour on a veneer deck and they are quite difficult to work with weathering wise if you want to show a well worn ship.

cheers
Michael
RobinNilsson
Staff MemberTOS Moderator
KITMAKER NETWORK
Visit this Community
Stockholm, Sweden
Joined: November 29, 2006
KitMaker: 6,693 posts
Model Shipwrights: 70 posts
Posted: Friday, March 23, 2018 - 03:47 PM UTC
Two views of deck planking on the USS Maine




Two views of deck planking on the USS Maine

Japanese surrender on the deck of USS Missouri


The planks are slightly wider than a shoe, let's assume 5 inches to be on the safe side (probably 4 inches).
In 1/350th scale the planks would be 1/70th of an inch or 0.36 mm (4 inch planks results in 0.29 mm so 0.3 mm could be a good approximation).
This could be achieved by printing a deck pattern on paper,
0.3 mm strips of wood pattern separated by very narrow lines of black/dark grey.

In 1/700th scale it becomes difficult and I would recommend a straight tan look. From 1/200 and upwards it becomes easy.

One important aspect of decks which is usually missed in plastic models is the deck camber.


In my opinion this is more important than trying to replicate wooden planking. The absence of this will be visible on a 1/700 battleship.

Deck view of the Liberty ship Jeremiah O'Brien

Link to full size image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/SS_Jeremiah_O%27Brien_main_deck_5.JPG


SS Hellas Liberty. Note how the deck drops away to the side under the doors to the companionway.

The load deck of a container ship is flat though, it gets awkward to handle containers otherwise ...

Large ships







and small boats


The problem with camber on plastic models is that a flat sheet of plastic can be bent as camber (crosswise) or as sheer (lengthwise), doing both at the same time requires a lot of force or softening the plastic to allow it to adapt. To achieve both the deck needs to be molded as a three dimensional structure.
Building the deck from strips makes it easier to get the curvatures right.
/ Robin
d6mst0
#453
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Joined: August 28, 2016
KitMaker: 1,925 posts
Model Shipwrights: 1,298 posts
Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2018 - 08:20 PM UTC

Quoted Text

So I was doin some googlin' and was looking at real wood decks. The community seems to be split between painting the deck and getting a real wood deck. So I thought of a question:

I have seen videos/threads about multiple layers on the plastic deck to appear like real wood. Has anyone put down a coat of say, deck tan, and used Tamiya's new panel line accent stuff to make the planks stand out?

This seems like it would be maybe a little too easy and I might try it and post some pictures.

SECONDARY QUESTION: How do you all paint the deck without painting all the little bits that are supposed to remain gray? Its it easier to brush paint the deck, or try to mask off all the little bits before airbrushing.




I have installed the wooden decks but never been happy with out thick they are so I started painting the decks. I use a multi step process. Here are a few pictures.






This is what it ended up looking like with the model built out.






Mark
Quincy
Visit this Community
Oklahoma, United States
Joined: October 29, 2008
KitMaker: 99 posts
Model Shipwrights: 97 posts
Posted: Sunday, March 25, 2018 - 08:38 PM UTC
The one thing that I dislike about wooden deck inserts are, they hide a lot of details on the deck. Unless they fit perfectly they tend to hide details such as, the chocks, bollards, hatches etc. They look like they have that sunken in feeling to them.


Bob Pink
McRunty
#491
Visit this Community
Missouri, United States
Joined: April 06, 2016
KitMaker: 602 posts
Model Shipwrights: 349 posts
Posted: Sunday, March 25, 2018 - 10:56 PM UTC

Quoted Text



I have installed the wooden decks but never been happy with out thick they are so I started painting the decks. I use a multi step process. Here are a few pictures.


Mark



Mark, that deck looks amazing. What was the process?
d6mst0
#453
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Joined: August 28, 2016
KitMaker: 1,925 posts
Model Shipwrights: 1,298 posts
Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 04:15 AM UTC

Quoted Text



Mark, that deck looks amazing. What was the process?



Rory,

I borrow the technique from a Guido Hopp who posted two videos on how to paint decks on ships. Here are the links to the two videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAnTo2OYLYw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa6vWwIaOyg

Mark
ChurchSTSV
Visit this Community
Arizona, United States
Joined: September 20, 2017
KitMaker: 350 posts
Model Shipwrights: 175 posts
Posted: Monday, March 26, 2018 - 09:23 PM UTC
All these wonderful posts!! I love seeing activity in the Ship Modeling section!!

I think for my test ship, I will try to paint the deck. It seems it would be pretty easy to lay down some deck color, then mask is off to get some good color on all the fiddly bits. See how it turns out.
ChurchSTSV
Visit this Community
Arizona, United States
Joined: September 20, 2017
KitMaker: 350 posts
Model Shipwrights: 175 posts
Posted: Wednesday, March 28, 2018 - 04:04 AM UTC
So got a chance to sit down and put some paint on some plastic the other day. Vallejo and Citadel paint BEAUTIFULLY with a brush. Oh man. I can totally see buying all kinds of colors.

Haven't had a chance to paint the with the AB yet, but am really looking forward to being able to put it to use.
ChurchSTSV
Visit this Community
Arizona, United States
Joined: September 20, 2017
KitMaker: 350 posts
Model Shipwrights: 175 posts
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 01:45 AM UTC
Ok guys, here is a thought:

Could I paint a deck with either AB or brush and add weathering with some thinned down Tamiya black? Really thinned down. I keep reading using oils and I would like to avoid having to make another run to the art store.

Just a thought.
Biggles2
Visit this Community
Quebec, Canada
Joined: January 01, 2004
KitMaker: 7,600 posts
Model Shipwrights: 833 posts
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 04:25 AM UTC
Try that on a model you don't like, first. Acrylics tend to dry fast, and once they're dry they're difficult to remove (Windex removes Tamiya paint instantly, but if you paint the deck with Tamiya also, you'll remove that paint, too). Oils are convenient in that they dry slow, and if you don't like the result you can easily remove it.
ChurchSTSV
Visit this Community
Arizona, United States
Joined: September 20, 2017
KitMaker: 350 posts
Model Shipwrights: 175 posts
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 04:38 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Try that on a model you don't like, first. Acrylics tend to dry fast, and once they're dry they're difficult to remove (Windex removes Tamiya paint instantly, but if you paint the deck with Tamiya also, you'll remove that paint, too). Oils are convenient in that they dry slow, and if you don't like the result you can easily remove it.



Good info to know!!! I have notices that these acrylics dry super fast. So I need a tiny tube of black oil based paint and some thinner I assume?
d6mst0
#453
Visit this Community
Texas, United States
Joined: August 28, 2016
KitMaker: 1,925 posts
Model Shipwrights: 1,298 posts
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 06:59 AM UTC

Quoted Text

Ok guys, here is a thought:

Could I paint a deck with either AB or brush and add weathering with some thinned down Tamiya black? Really thinned down. I keep reading using oils and I would like to avoid having to make another run to the art store.

Just a thought.



You could use a paint brush but a airbrush would give you a better/even coat, plus it is a whole lot easier.

I wouldn't use an acrylic paint to weather the deck.

For weathering you need to clear coat the deck (I use Future) and use a oil or enamel base black/brown (I use wood ageing solutions by MIG) color highly thinned. After applying you will want to wipe up as much of the stain as you can. It will really make the planks stand out.
TimReynaga
Staff MemberAssociate Editor
MODEL SHIPWRIGHTS
Visit this Community
California, United States
Joined: May 03, 2006
KitMaker: 2,500 posts
Model Shipwrights: 1,830 posts
Posted: Friday, March 30, 2018 - 08:37 AM UTC
These are all great suggestions!

My particular method is similar. I start with a base coat of acrylic (Tamiya Buff or Deck Tan brushed or airbrushed on) followed with brushed on artist's oil (I like Raw Umber).
Then I immediately wipe the oil off with a thinner-dampened towel.


The oil doesn't attack the acrylic base, deepens shadows between planks, and provides a nice "wood" filter all in one step.

 _GOTOTOP