The Ship Model Forum

Perhaps I should add for Mike Maccabe, I only use ply to 200th, or 192nd. 350 is my lower limit now and I described painting my Trumpy Hood with Tamiya light deck tan.
I shall try and see what results I get painting black onto the sanded down deck and light deck tan on top and then scoring with sewing needles stuck to card to expose the black underneath the light deck tan.

Anybody who builds 700th scale then please do as you will, and use whatever methods you are happy with. It won't be me though !!

Here is what I do, I only model the teak decks on 1:700 IJN ships though:

1. paint the deck with a generic almond color spray paint. No Primer first.
2. After it has dried several hours I take sharp water colored pencils and draw lines at random on the deck. I try to make the lines a uniform length on the open areas. Colors are various tans, white and a burnt sienna.
3. I use a light tan, yellow and red-orange craft store paint and mix a nice gold color, thin with water and brush it on the deck blending in the watercolor pencil marks.
4. Once dry I do a quick swipe of the almond spray to finish the blending. Then coat with a clear flat spray to finish sealing the craft store acrylic.

This is usually one of the first steps I do before adding alot of details as it is easy to paint the deck then cover it with a liquid mask while you finish and paint the hull.

It should work for darker shades of decks too, just alter your base spray color and the craft paint color to suit your needs. I 'll be doing this for my Bismarck.

I agree with David, that is pretty much what I do. I've been looking recently at some decks done with wood in 350 scale and I can't say I'm convinced that the look there is right, too heavy and overscale for my liking.

Mike

IMHO, drybrushing is the way to go to produce realistic-looking wood (other than using actual wood planks on the model). Usually in scales like 1/350 and 1/400 I just paint the planks in a "bleached teak" colour (I use Revell Stone Grey) then drybrush lightly with greys and blacks to represent wear + tear and highlight detail. In larger scales, I first paint with a darker grey-brown colour and then heavily dry-brush with the teak colour. An oil wash of dark brown or grey/black can also help.

If you have an airbrush, Richter111's method sounds like it would also produce a good result, particularly in larger scales.

I use this method for woodgrain. I tried it on my 1/32 mustang, and it works great!!!

1: paint the material BLACK

2: Let it dry for hours, even a day or two

3: then spray on your deck color

4: Let it dry for a day or two

5: Overspray your deck with a lighter/darker deck color, be random about it.


6: Use a 600 or better grade of sandpaper, and lightly sand the area, until the black starts to peek through.

7: Brings out a heckuva wood grain. I plan on trying it on my 1/350 New Jersey when I get to it on the building slot.

Ric

I totally agree with Mike. If you take 1/1 scale wood grain and put it onto a 1/350 or 1/700 model, it'll look exactly like wood grain, but 350 or 700 times too big!

Painting the plastic with a base colour and then picking out a proportion of individual planks in a few subtly different shades is the way to go.

If you use thin paint, a good quality fine brush, and hold your breath, you don't need to bother with masking. On a decently engraved deck you can get a perfectly adequate effect freehand.

Put a very thin wash of artist's oils in a dark brown or off black shade and that will tie everything together nicely.

Kind regards,

David Griffith

Rodders wrote:

The big problem with wooden decks in plastic is that they will always look like painted plastic, no matter how good a paint job you do.

Sorry, don't agree and in any case it very much depends on the scale. In 1:700 I have never seen an effective replacement wooden deck. In larger scales perhaps you have a point. I think in smaller scales the only successful way to replicate wooden decks is through careful painting and this can be done very successfully with the right care and attention.

Mike

I agree that a painted plastic deck will look like a painted plastic deck, except maybe if you spend the time masking off the planking and varying the color. I haven�t yet found the patients to do this. It seems that if you are going to make that effort, you may as well try to plank the deck with model railroad lumber. From the pics I have seen, the results look great. I was looking forward to trying this out on my Dresden or Varyag due to their smaller size, but as it turns out there are laser cut decks available for these two. I wonder if it would be feasible for someone to produce (or if someone already does produce) generic sheets of scale wooden decking.

The big problem with wooden decks in plastic is that they will always look like painted plastic, no matter how good a paint job you do.
In larger scales I would suggest that a decent 3 ply wood is substituted for the kit plastic decks. Just use the kit decks as a template for marking out on a decent 3 ply wood substitute. My Victory and Constitution have 3 ply wooden decks that I have substituted for the kit ones and a fine black biro was used to line in the deck seams.
Below 1:200 it becomes tedious except for the most perfect perfectionist.
With my Trumpy Hood in 1:350 I sanded down the wooden parts of the decks and used Tamiya light deck tan which seems to have given a not too bad appearance. Unfortunately the scale is too small to allow the lining of the deck seams, as I see it. However, I am prepared to be proved wrong, as I am sure there is someone out there who has the patience and skill to do just that. It aint me though. Happy decking chaps

I pick a tan, which tan depends on my mood at the time, airbrush an even coat, apply a wash of reddish brown (yes over the raw paint, I *want* it affect the overall color)seal with clear gloss, wash with a blackish brown but only enough to settle in the recesses then a very subtle drybrushing of Grumbacher unbleached titanium oil and seal with more clear gloss.

Thankfully I have very few ships with bright teak decks............

Check out the various build articles in the Features section of the site:
http://www.modelwarships.com/features/index.html
Find one whose deck you like, and see if the builder included in the article as to how they made it =)

Alright how do you guys get that "wood" look into your models? Is that airbrush or hand painted?

I have only done a Tamiya 1/700 Yamato and I airbrushed it deck Tan.

Currently working on 1/700 Hyuga and using Lars model as a guide.