Is there a way to install wooden deck on a 1/350 scale model of the USS Arizona? Have Any of you ever done this?Any input would be appreciated. Thank You Support the Troops Hank 65 air cav vn
You can buy wood strips of different types of wood from a place like modelexpo.com and use white glue to glue the strips of wood on a plastic deck. I did this when I built the Revell 1/96 scale Constitution ship. It looks really good. Due to the size of the 1/350 scale Arizona, you may want to use a razor to split the wood strips into several slimmer strips before cutting lengths and applying. Be sure to “stagger” your individual planks using different length cuts of strips.
Afterwards, I apply a light wash using brown paint followed by a wash of flat black to raise the grain details and depth of the planks. Then seal with a dull clear finish. Be sure to order the paper thin strips of wood used to finish off the plank-on-bulkhead models, not the thicker strips used to build hulls. The thin wood strips will fit down below the level of the hull’s top edge.
I would practice with a few strips by glueing to a section of cardboard or something before trying on the model.
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Hi, I recently purchased the Revell 1/96 scale CSS Alabama and was wondering if anyone here who did use wood to deck their ships would post photos of the completed model, I haven’t seen the results as I’d like to try this, thanks. Karl
Thank you for info on decking. I do have a question regarding paint. What type of paints did you use for this? Alsowhat was ratio of wash made up of? Was paint enamel or arcrylic? Hank
I used acrylics thinned with alcohol. I was afraid that if I used water, the wood would swell up and give me an un-even deck surface. Alcohol dries fast and doesn’t hurt the wood.
I made a wash using just a few drops of Tamiya’s Earth drab for brown and flat black for shadow with alcohol applying each separately starting with the brown and finishing with the black. It really depends upon the color of your wood strips to finalize the concentration of the wash. If your wood strips are really yellow, it may take more brown, etc… I strongly recommend that you plank a sample deck on something like a piece of wood or cardboard to get the colors right before applying to the model. It’s hard to un-do a wash on wood.
I wish I could take pictures but I don’t have a digital camera nor do I have a IP provider to upload pictures to. Maybe someone else here can.
I am currently scratchbuilding a 1/192 model of HMS Dorsetshire, a WW2 British cruiser, mostly from sheet plastic and am currently in the process of installing a wooden deck. I am doing an on-line build at ModelWarships.com and you can see the steps involved in putting down the deck here (beginning at the bottom of page 3):
http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=10871
Personally 1/192 is about the smallest scale that I would want to attempt this at. It is VERY slow and painstaking work at that scale, and 1/350 is only a little over half the size. If you really want to attempt this I would go to a scale lumber supplier like Kappler (http://www.kapplerusa.com/) rather than trying to cut scale strips myself. At 1/350 a 6" wide plank is .017 inches wide and Kappler offers N scale 3x3s which are .019 inches square.
There is another modeler who has recently posted photos at ModelWarships.com of a deck he did for a 1/350 Prince of Wales that are pretty impressive:
http://www.shipmodels.info/mwphpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=9357
Unfortunately his decription of how it was done is written in Russian and none of the translations make it clear as to what his exact process was.
Something which you also need to consider if you just lay the wooden strips on the plactic deck – you now have the fittings sitting IN the deck as opposed to sitting ON the deck.
While the N-scale 3x3s mentioned above are only about 0.020 inches tall (seven scale inches), items such as cleats, bollards, anchor chain bolsters, etc. which should be mounted on top of the deck are now below the deck level. The height of gun tubs and superstructure are now shorter.
If the level of accuracy given by adding a wooden deck is important to you, you may then also want to consider cutting the superstructure, gun tubs, deck fittings, etc. free of the plastic deck. Sand them to the correct finished height, and reinstall them on the finished wooden deck.
That being said, there are seveal manufacturers of lazer engraved replacement wooden decks. Most are for applications where the superstructure is separate from the deck as are most, if not all deck fittings.
No one mentioned to sand off the raised plank seams nd wood “grain” so that your wood planks can adhere to a flat surface. I never tried white glue onto plastic, but if it works …
And Ed G is right. You should remove deck gear and then reapply it after the planking is completed.
I never paint wooden decks. I think stain is a much better way to go. Floquil, Minwax, whatever you can get in the color you want. Floquil had a nice teak color and Minwax Natural is also nice.
Ed.