ScaleDecks.com wood deck for Trumpeter Z-25

[MartinJQuinn]

Realistically getting plastic decks to look like wood has been a challenge for ship modelers for as long as companies have been making model ships. Well, unless you are Kostas, then it's no problem. But, for the rest of us mere mortals, it's always been something of a work in progress, copying others ideas and incorporating them into your own. From washes to extreme masking, there have been many attempted solutions. Not only was painting a chore, but many manufacturers (hello, Tamiya) broke the decks into multiple pieces, with the seams in the worst possible location, making it hard to eliminate the seam without destroying the raised planking lines on the deck.

If you couldn't manage to successfully blend your seams without destroying the deck, the other option to finishing your deck, other than painting, was to cut sheets of wood or small individual scale planks and try and fit those to your decks, like I've been doing to my Tamiya Bismarck. This, while visually interesting, is tedious and time consuming. And, unless you are incredibly anal retentive, not entirely accurate.

With the last decade (give or take), companies began to release real wood decks - very thin pieces of wood with planking lines etched into the wood. Many of the first to be release were carrier decks. Soon afterwards, custom cut decks for other capital ships began to appear on the market, until now almost every ship that is released comes with an aftermarket wood deck.

For the most part, I had little interest in wood decks until I had tackled the aforementioned Bismarck project. But, after seeing other modelers use them with great success on some of their builds, I was intrigued. I also was never going to go the individual plank route ever again.

So, when Scaledecks.com released their deck for the Trumpeter Z-25, I figured this was a good time to try out a wood deck. The deck was small (only two pieces) and relatively inexpensive (only $15.00 list) - seemed like a good starting point. Additionally, Scaledecks gives you choices of finish: Maple, Teak, Photographic Paper, or their newest product, Tinted Wood.

I placed my order through the Scaledecks.com website, settling on Maple. Not to long afterwards, a stiff cardboard envelope from California arrived. When I opened it up, not only was my order inside, but John - the owner of Scaledecks.com - had also included a teak deck and photographic paper deck for Z-25, but a tinted wood deck for the 1/350 Zvezda Borodino! John also included a nice note thanking me for my order, and explaining that he enclosed the additional decks as samples, since he'd like my opinion on the different types of decks they offered. Well, then, without further ado, here is a short review of the Z-25 decks (broken out into multiple posts).

The decks arrive in a plastic wrapped sleeve with a thin heavy paper insert. The deck is on one side, the instructions on the other.

Teak, Maple, Photographic Paper in their packaging

The next few photos show each type of deck - a photo of the name and then a photo of the deck itself.

The teak deck out of the package

It's super thin!

The instructions are a simple one page affair - nothing more is required.

One thing I notice when I opened the first package is how thin the heavy paper insert is. My suggestion would be to use a piece of cardboard instead, as the decks are extremely thin and could accidentally break if you aren't careful removing them from the packaging.

[MartinJQuinn]

Here are some photos of the decking out of the packaging, and then test fitted onto the corresponding parts in the Z-25 kit.

The decks out of the packaging:

Now the kit parts with (and without) the various types of decks in place:

The bridge deck of the Z-25, sans decking

The deck removes fairly easily with a sharp X-acto blade, and is ready to be test fitted onto the kit part

Teak wood in place

Maple deck in place

Photographic Paper in place

The smaller deck - kit part without the decking in place:

[MartinJQuinn]

So - what did I think?

On the plus side: The decks are unbelievably thin. They require a minimum of clean up - just cut them off the "sprue" and remove any nubs. All three seemed to fit easily onto the decking with the splinter shields (the large part). Scaledeck.com's pricing seems competitive with other vendors.

On the other side (can't say on the negative side because I haven't tried to put them on) - they are not self adhesive, which I've seen touted by other manufacturers. Again, since I haven't built the Z-25 and tried to put them on, I don't know if this will be a negative or just part of the build process, like adding any other part.

Of the three types of decking I got, I liked teak the LEAST. Yes, it may be the correct wood, but a) most navies kept their teak decks holystoned and cleaner than natural teak, so my personal feeling is it's too dark, and b) I thought it was way too grainy - if you look at the photos you can easily pick up the grain. This, to me, is the biggest issue with these types of decks.

I liked the Maple deck the BEST. It isn't nearly as grainy as the teak, and I like the color (again, personal preference) much better. Plus, it's real wood.

I also liked the Photographic Paper a lot - it was a close second to Maple. Scaledecks has incorporated different shades of planking into this product, so it appears to be more like a real wood deck, with variations in the tones of the planks. I also thought the joints between the planks was more pronounced than on either of the wood decks, which I liked. However, it is very light and it does seem obvious that it's NOT wood - which is it's only drawback to me.

Final verdict - I think I will go with the maple deck, my first choice when I placed my order. If the next Trumpeter German DD to be released (Z-43?) has the same bridge layout and will allow me to use the same product, I'll use the Photographic Paper. After seeing these decks, I did order a KA wood deck for the 1/350 HMS Repulse by Trumpeter, to see first hand what another manufacturers product looked like. That is supposed to come with self-adhesion on the back, so I'm interested to compare the products.

Regardless, I'm impressed with what Scaledecks has to offer. I like the thinness of the product and how it drop fits into the Trumpeter part. To me, it's a finely produced product at a reasonable price. What more could a modeler ask for? Once Scaledecks releases the deck for the Tamiya Prince of Wales, I plan on getting that.

My only word of caution - these are very, very thin and fragile - use caution when handling. As for the tinted wood Borodino deck John sent me, I'll try and post a review of that later this weekend or early next week.

Thanks to John from Scaledecks.com for the review samples.

[largeallan]

I like the look of the photographic paper decking, however I couldn't see any prices listed for it on the site.

[Hammertime]

good review

[johnd13]

I like the look of the photographic paper decking, however I couldn't see any prices listed for it on the site.

Here's the link for the Trumpeter Z25: http://shop.scaledecks.com/1-350-Z25-19 ... 50-055.htm

And the Dragon Z39 http://shop.scaledecks.com/1-350-Z39-Ze ... 50-056.htm

We're working on the Z31 and Z43 kits also...

-- John D. --