johndon wrote:
Does the deck take into account the 'gutter' that runs round the edge of the deck as shown in the picture below (i.e. does your deck run right to the very edges of the hull or is there a gap left?
What we are doing (usually) is making a piece of wood that exactly fits the "deck" part, without incorporating the cast hull sides. Since the decks drop into the well formed by the hull, our decks end where the plastic piece deck piece ends, thus leaving the top of the vertical hull sides exposed and uncovered. This provides for a nice surface to attach the PE railings, and it makes a reasonable approximation of the gutter. So the answer is "yes."
I note in the photo that "edge planking" is shown as well, that appears between the gutter and the longitudinal planks. At present, we are NOT incorporating that into 1/350 decks. Since our planks have to be overscale anyway to be visible, in our opinion the overscale edge planking would look "wrong." So straight lines right into the gutter for 1/350 is the norm.
A couple of exceptions...
First, we
ARE Looking at edge planking for the 1/200 Arizona. At almost twice the scale, I think we will be able to get away with that.
Second, we've begun taking a look at the classic Glencoe Oregon in 1/225. My oh my, what a mess THAT kit is. The gap between the deck and the hull can be almost 1/8 inch at places, and looks quite ridiculous. Most hobbyists fill that in with putty or filler of some sort - it's one of the nastinesses of the kit. So for THAT one we are seriously considering running the planks right out to the edge of the hull, and allowing the hobbyist to snip away as much as they want with scissors or a sharp knife to leave the outer edge exactly as they would prefer it to be. After all, it's a lot easier to snip away material than it is to add it!
The rule is that "we will do what we think is best for each individual kit; and if the community wants something specific, all they need to do is ask. With THAT said...
SeanF wrote:
A few questions, if I may, regarding your plans for this deck:
Will the deck be cut-out around the octagonal engineering access panels that flank the aft-most mainmast pole, or will they be planked over? (Or even separate, optional inserts? There really was a planking "seam" there, so it's a perfectly viable option)
Will the deck be cut around the aft AA gun tub shields that are molded-in (the ones near the panels mentioned above), or continuous in anticipation of removal and replacement with PE tubs (or even omission of the tubs entirely for a 1930s backdate)?
Similar to the above, will the midship deck planking be pre-cut around the molded-on gun shields, or continuous to facilitate typical PE replacement (or backdating)?
Our plans are to always produce a deck that fits the kit out-of-the-box, except for common sense exceptions - Aztec staircases being the prime example. When we come across those, we are pretty confident that modelers that will want a wood deck will probably be going with replacement brass staircases. Therefore, we generally will cut the deck assuming that those clunky molded in stairs will be removed by the modeler. If the modeler is KEEPING those stairs (?!) then they would always be able to cut a notch in the wood deck to allow for that - once again following the rule "it is easier to remove material than to add it."
As for the specifics on the Arizona, we haven't decided what we are going to do with the octagonal hatches. We think that on the 1/200 we will print them on the wood, and if the hobbyist wants to cut them out they can do that. The 1/200 kit allows for a plastic (simulated metal) plate to be placed there, or you can leave it with the wood planked pattern molded into the deck. We figure we will print the lines on the wood, and if you want to add the plastic piece on top then you would be free to do that. We haven't decided what to do on the 1/350 kit yet.
As for the other features such as gun tubs and shields and such... Let me explain our concept of "HD" decks, or our "High Detail" variants.
At scaledecks.com we are VERY impressed with the LionRoar Super-Detail sets. We already have the Bismarck and Missouri in-house, and the Yamato set is on a boat somewhere between Hong Kong and Southern California. We plan to offer "High Detail" decks for those three kits that ASSUME that you will be following the LionRoar instructions, and scraping off all the molded in ammo boxes, boat racks, splinter shields, etc, and replacing all of those with the LionRoar brass. As a result, the decks will be much simpler and cleaner, and will cover up all of the "fittings hacked off here" evidence quite nicely. We feel that the results will be superb. The only problem is that these decks will NOT fit the kits "out of the box" and so we still want to sell another version of the deck that would suit the less ambitious modeler. In those instances we will sell TWO products - a "standard cut" and an "HD cut" (which will actually have less detail cut into it than the out-of-the box variety to support the add-on details.)
The big question is... "How much for the HD decks?" And the answer is "the same as the standard decks." The follow-up question is "how long after a standard deck is released until we can expect to see the HD variant?" And the answer to that is "pretty soon - most likely just a week or two" because to make the HD variety all that we will need to do is to eliminate cuts from our instructions to the laser cutter. The HD deck is actually EASIER for us. BUT - we can't hack away at our test deck and remove all those fittings until after the standard deck is complete. So we will always do the standard deck first, make sure it fits right, then we are free to demolish our molded deck in anticipation of the HD variety.
Whew! Long answer. But I think it all comes around to the logical question of "are you going to do an HD variant for the 1/350 Arizona?" And the answer to that question - at least until tonight - was "we weren't planning on it." Seeing all the work that can be done on the MiniHobby kit, and the work that some people actually do, we could certainly add a 1/350 Arizona HD deck to our plans - since it's easy to do once the basic kit is done. All that we would need to do is to decide what cutouts should be eliminated - so when that project is nearing completion, I'll post a new thread on that specific topic and I'll take feedback about what cuts to eliminate for the Arizona HD.
Would that suit your needs?
Petros wrote:
Do you guys plan to do a deck for a 1/400 Bearn carrier from L'Arsenal? I would LOVE to see it - her deck would really greatly profit from this!
I think you're right - we could do a super job on that kit, but alas it has not yet made it to our production schedule. I think it might make the list for a 2012 release as our 2011 plans are booked pretty solid right now... If you REALLY want it and are willing to pay a rush fee for it, we could add it to the production list and burn the midnight oil for a few weeks to crank it out for you. Info on custom services can be found on the scaledecks.com website.
(And I think I hear faintly in the distance,
"Nooo! Finish the Dragon Scharnhorst and the Trumpeter Arizona, and the Tamiya Yamato and Revell Bismarck..." Can you hear that? I think I can hear it...
)