Advice ref painting a plastic ship deck

[BattleshipBob]

Planning ahead and planning to have a bash at either brush or airbrushing a plastic ship deck?

Hope that young Ron can help, he of the hairy stick fame!

Need advice as to doing the individual planks etc, colours used? Masking

Thanks in advance.

[Tim Marlow]

Best advice I can give is find a good photo of a real one and copy that Bob. Natural materials like wood and fur are very deceptive, so copying is the order of the day. One thing it won’t be is brown……and I’m afraid you won’t get a pre mixed colour called “teak” that works……
As to colours, I’d say a buff colour that is on the bluegrey side of the colour range is the way to go, closer to oatmeal than to magnolia…….
You could always get an offcut scrap of white oak and match it. I used to match against scrap pine when painting the unpainted interior of railway wagons…….mind you, by the time I’d weathered them it looked nothing like it
As to individual planks, I think that way lies madness. If you want variation, and remember at the small scales of model ships it won’t be that visible, I would use a couple of variations of the main colour. Tint one (add a touch of white) and shade the other (add a touch of grey) perhaps, and drybrush along (not across) the planks.

[Tim Marlow]

Forgot to add, if you really want to highlight the odd plank artists coloured pencils can work. I’ve used them while doing brickwork and it’s some times easier than using a brush

[Ian M]

At 1/350 scale I would paint the deck .... deck tan then dry brush randomly in random groups .ships decks would get grubby but not really very dirty. Wood decks and fresh water aka rain. = rot. Best option is to regularly scrub the decks with salt water.

[Dave Ward]

I'd airbrush the superstructure. then brush paint the deck - if you go the masking route, it's a lot of work, and time for no real gain. Wood decks of warships could vary in colour - in peacetine RN warships, particularly in the Mediterranean. the decks were scrubbed to a very pale beige - in wartime that was relaxed a lot and as Ian M says pale tan. These warships had large crews, so even in wartime the decks would be kept clean.
Russian ships had decks made of locally sourced timber & had a reddish tinge. - This is Vallejo New Wood on the Zvezda 1/350 Knyaz Suvorov from a few years ago

All WWII USN ships had painted decks, overpainting the wood - including aircraft carrier flight decks ( USN Deck Blue ).
Some RN cruisers had painted decks, especially if they had refitted in the US, but reference to individual dates/ships is needed.
Weathering the deck has to be subtle - at 1/350 there wouldn't be a huge change of tone - very thin washes & light pigments over a varnish sealing coat , so you can reduce/increase effects, it pays to have a day or so away from the model, so you can look at it with fresh eyes.
I know that some people regard it as heresy, but for 1/350 ships, the self adhesive wood veneer decks can work well ( a bit iffy in 1/700, though ), they can be tricky to apply, but brush painting over large deck areas isn't a walk in the park! I have several 1/350 models in the stash, with veneer decks already purchased ( Revell Emden & Zvezda Varyag ). A matter of personal preference.......
Dave

[spanner570]

Regarding colour, I believe there is no right or wrong way to brush paint the plastic ship's deck. For a start, no two will be identical. (even on the same ship)

Weather, human scrubbing etc. etc., all come in to play to affect shade differences.

Some folks can get bogged down in 'Technicalities' Keep it simple.

No two trees produce exactly the same shade of timber - Fact!

So Bob, if I were you I would free wheel, with no worries about 'Plank Counters'

I use Vallejo Air IJN. Ash Grey. Applied to the decks whilst they are still attached to the sprues. I use a wide flat headed brush and liberally apply the paint, then lay the stuff off in the direction of the deck planks. Then thin the paint a bit and apply a wet on wet, hit and miss. The thinned paint will be slightly lighter than the first coat.

No faffing about, straight forward, simple way and job done.

Don't get me started on those self adhesive veneer wooden decks! A good basis for the compost heap or to light our wood burner.

To each his own........It doesn't matter one jot how the end result is achieved. Be it long winded, super technical, or quick and easy, as long as the modeller is happy with the outcome, that is all that matters....even down to using stick on 'Wooden' decks.

[Dave Ward]

Don't get me started on those self adhesive veneer wooden decks! A good basis for the compost heap or to light our wood burner

I thought my post might stir up some muttering! :rolling:
Dave

[spanner570]

Raised eyebrows? All just good fun Dave and I hope my comments on veneer decks were taken that way too. :upside:

570. Happily caulking his deck planks

[BattleshipBob]

Sorry for late reply. Mum not too good so spending more time at the home.

Thank you all chaps, sound hard earned advice!

Hopefully the next build will have a wood deck plus the lifecolor weathering set. Will get a cheap kit to practice brush painting a deck.

Thanks again

Bob

[Tim Marlow]

To save buying a whole kit Bob just buy a pack of 1mm planking sheet from Slaters and practice on that.

[BattleshipBob]

Thanks Tim, never of that. Will have to look

[BattleshipBob]

What size would you recommend Tim?

[Tim Marlow]

1mm will be closer to the ship planking you are looking at doing Bob.

[BattleshipBob]

1mm will be closer to the ship planking you are looking at doing Bob.

Kind of you Tim
.
Bob

[Tim Marlow]

No worries Bob, just glad I could help.