Caulking Deck planks

[Keithbrad80]

I recently read some posts about caulking deck planks and figured i would share my method with you all that works pretty well for me. 

 

 

right off the bat i start with cutting the planks to equal lengths, for this i chose to cut them at 4 inches a piece. If you don't have one of these cutters or something like this i highly recommend it, it makes cutting lots of planks at the same length very easy and leaves behind a nice clean cut. I got it at my local arts store but they are also online. 

 

I have my planks cut and I’m ready to add the caulking effect. 

 

I stack up the planks in groups of five which worked best for the clamps i was using for this. I clamp the ends that will be visible when on my model so they wont get very much paint on them. I painted all the edges that were left when clamped and left it to dry. 

 

 

It looks pretty messy for now but it will look much better in a second. 

 

 

So i used metal nails here that i cut from some wire i had sitting around. I measured out each plank and where I’m going to be placing my nails, i tried to get as exact as i could but we all make mistakes no big deal. 

 

 

It may not be that realistic but i have always liked a really smooth almost reflective deck, so i sanded it from 60 grit paper to 5000 grit paper which gives it an almost mirror like finish. 

 

 

This is the difference between mineral oil being used to clean it and not, its a pretty big improvement. You cant really tell from these pictures but from my sanding all my nails have a mirror finish that i could see my reflection in. 

 

 

Afterward i gave it a semigloss clear coat to try and make. The natural wood grain look as good as it could. I hope someone finds this useful and my example here is probably out of scale but you get the idea. Doing it this way doesn’t create any kind of bleeding from ink or indents from pencil lines, it also ensures that every caulking line is as straight as your planks. Good luck and have fun!

 

Bradley 

[allanyed]

Very nice tutorial Keith!!   Depending on the ship and era, keep in mind the pattern of the ends of the planks are  a bit more complex, usually  with a three butt or four butt shift system rather than a single butt shift system as you show which would be extremely weak.  I realize with a POB, this may be nonsensical, but it can be done.  Thanks for sharing!

Allan

[Bob Cleek]

I appreciate the work you've put into your approach, but, as allanyed mentioned, there are specific butt shift patterns which are distinctive to the construction method of vessels and periods.  Your "every other plank" butt placement is glaringly incorrect to a knowledgeable eye. Similarly, deck planks are always fastened with trunnels (wooden pegs) or with metal fasteners which are countersunk with the holes plugged with wooden plugs. No bare metal is visible on the deck surface. Wooden decks were regularly holystoned (sanded with abrasive stone blocks) to keep them clean and free of tar.  Protruding metal fasteners would prevent holystoning. In fact, at scale viewing distances, deck plank fastening pegs or plugs would be invisible on a real planked deck. Portraying them on models at most scales is greatly out of scale.  I could have passed on this comment, but as you posted this as a tutorial, I felt it might be helpful to some to note the discrepancies. Depicting deck plank fastenings of contrasting colors in scale models seems to be a matter of taste with many modelers, and if it satisfies them, that's their choice, but it does not create an accurate impression of the prototype.

[Keithbrad80]

I appreciate the responses, i had the intention of a three butt shift but after cutting my planks i felt to lazy to recut them properly or use more material, this was initially a project for myself to test a few different techniques i was thinking about implementing in my current build, like sanding a lot and using metal fasteners, but thought some might find my technique of painting several planks at time and creating a tarring line useful. However i had never heard the word holy stone so ill look into that, and your right bob, my small example is not an accurate impression. Thanks again for the advise ill keep all of these things in mind next time!

 

Bradley 

[Bob Cleek]

1 hour ago, Keithbrad80 said:

However i had never heard the word holy stone so ill look into that