Deck coloring

[sgrez]

I was just wondering what color does anyone paint their decks? Any pointers on aging or weathering. I just painted or dyed my deck with a dye cut with water and I'm not digging it. Also looks like I may have to sand it some.

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

Anywhere glue touches will act as a 'resist' to any subsequent coloration - thus causing light splotches.  One way around this (before any tinting is attempted) is to apply a thin coat of clear shellac.  This sparing coat, which can be slightly thinned with denatured alcohol before application, will act as a sealer without changing how the wood looks underneath (mostly) once dried.  Then I brush a light coat of amber shellac over top, and the appearance gets a uniform light amber color, as shellac will fuse with itself (the undercoating or 'spit coat', that is).

  You can't glue anything (wood to wood) after that, but something with a reasonable 'footprint' (like a cabin) can be secured with epoxy or CA.  But things like fife rails, bollards, pumps, eyebolts, etc. have to be pinned into the substrate.  Many plank-on-bulkhead models have only a thin sub deck below deck planking, which doesn't give much to 'pin' into.  Solid hulls have an advantage in that department.  So it is advisable even before laying the sub deck on a P-O-B model (the 'skeleton' phase) to improvise filler wood between the tops of the bulkheads flush to where the sub deck will be applied.  Then the builder will have more 'meat' to pin stuff into later from above.

[sgrez]

Thanks for input. I just sanded the decks and actually I think they now have a somewhat weathered look to them now. Any thoughts or opinions on that? Yes I do have things that will be need to be glued to the deck so I'm wondering if I should wait for any kind of shellac. Just thought I'd make it easier and paint it while the deck was empty.

Edited Thursday at 06:55 PM by sgrez

[Snug Harbor Johnny]

  Your sanded deck looks just fine - I really like the look.  Decks were in constant use and got maintenance, yet some builders darken them.  Since you want to glue some items to the deck, I'd wait before applying any kind of sealer.  Both shellac and varnish have been used in the past, and that can keep fine particulates from getting into the wood fibers - and make future cleaning much easier, especially if the model will not be in a case.  The application can be with a small art brush and is sparing, so a single application will have a mostly matte surface.  Over application or multiple coats will make the surface shiny, and you might not want that appearance.

  Even if gluing wood to wood, the modeler's bane is that spindly items in the future might just come 'unstuck', like a fife rail with rigging attached.  Then fixing it is a pain. That is why pinning is a good idea where possible.  I've attached a photo from a project where I made a fife rail where the vertical posts are toothpicks with shaped ends (found locally at a food store) - other builders have used 'fancy' toothpicks (hors d'oeuvres skewers) for railings.  So I simply marked and drilled holes in the deck for the round posts to go into and glued them in.  The rail is attached so firmly that only a force great enough to snap the wood will cause failure.  (Dropping a model is never a good idea.)

  The original builder just penciled the plank lines on the deck, and used an amber varnish over.  50 years of dust and grime (when I rescued the Gorch Fock from way in back of an jumbled antique shop) from the neglected model came off with a little TLC, and appear OK now.

 

[sgrez]

Thank you for all of your input and advice. Looking at the deck in the light, I like the way it looks after sanding it since I brushed it with a dye. I think it gave it a weathered look and I will now wait to apply any shellac until I have everything glued to the deck. I was thinking about going with an amber shellac, so I'll have to get that. But I was also reading on one brand of shellac that they put a coat of mineral oil before hand. Any thoughts on that?