Deck Weathering

[derekwarner_decoy]

hi Mick - I am with Tony here, as sometime this week I plan to weather the fore deck of Decoy's new lime wood planking & I had posted some months ago that I plan to use Cabot's brand Liming Solution

But any tips would be grateful - Derek

[mjt60a]

This probably won't be any use but what I do is;
1) stick (glue) all the planks, margin planks and edging around companionways/cowl vents/anything that's 'planked around' to a piece of ply to fit the hull/superstructure roof etc.
2) mix a very small amount of black poster paint (in powder form) with water (to make 'dirty water'), dip a rag in it and wipe all over the decking.
3) give the whole lot a couple of coats of sanding sealer - ensure the end grain (of the planks) is sealed!
4) mix enough poster paint in PVA adhesive to make it into thick black gunk and spread it all over the deck with a piece of styrene/old credit card etc, working it into spaces between planks (sanding sealer should prevent actually dyeing the wood black) then wipe excess away with a damp rag.
5) sand the whole lot smooth (the planks I use are lighting tapers from tobacco shops and are varying thicknesses) which leaves almost bare wood with caulking between the planks.
6) stain it again with the dirty water solution, then make tea and wipe tea bags all over it to give a brownish tint (could be done with brown poster paint I suppose but I didn't have any...)
7) finally, seal with several coats of sanding sealer/matt varnish.

The result should be that, as the planks are all seperate and have different grain, no two look alike in texture or colour;...

   

[Eddy Matthews]

It just goes to show that when it comes to finishing there aren't really any shortcuts, at least in my experience! The quality of the finish depends on how much hard work you put into it...

The annoying part is that if you get it right people don't notice! But get it wrong and it stands out like a sore thumb!

[mjt60a]

...actually, this is a little easier (and a lot faster) than my previous method which was to;
...bury the planks in a seed propagator in layers, separated by 'baby bio houseplant compost' and water well for about a month. The planks tend to get warped and need to be dried out by laying flat between sheets of glass before  light sanding (so as not to remove the colour) and cutting to shape/size, gluing on and sealing  BUT...the result is the best I've seen - looks the 'silver-gray' colour of an old garden shed!!
*I caulked them afterward with black silicone sealant but it's very difficult*

[Khephre]

much appreciated Mick.

Your efforts at propagating deck planks sounds fascinating.

I've noticed that there are various weathering solutions available in the USA that give the lovely silver grey look that teak fades to but unfortunately it seems that the compounds used to manufacture these solutions means that the suppliers can't ship offshore e.g. on the Micro-Mark website there's Weather-It  - "not a stain but a chemical reaction" - shipped via UPS ground only.

Keen to try some propagating of my own.

cheers
Tony

[mjt60a]

Found an article on the 'scale model forums' (under TRAINS!) which led me to the following site - and I immediately thought of this topic.... http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/weathered_wood/
For our purposes we might need to go a bit easy with the sandpaper looking at the results shown there unless we're building a derelict ship! (though, come to think of it, that's about 1/80 scale railway? so it might look ok in our usually larger scales...)
I'm especially impressed with the results on styrene sheet  :shock:

[steamboatmodel]

Looks like a great site, I wonder how well that method wood work with our boats and exposure to real weather and water?

[mjt60a]

I should think it'd need to be coated with a suitable clear matt finish...
...especially using the ink/alcohol method.

[thewharfonline]

you could always leave the decking outside for a month and every weekend bang it against some rocks, dip it in water, smear it under sheeps wool to get the weathering effect of an Aussie boat!

Um if they are individual planks get a craft knife and slice some nicks onto the decking that might add some kind of look. Oh an while I think of it while looking at the Pev I found a bit of moss growing on some of the wood. you can pick up moss and flock from hobby stores just in case you want to add that effect. Um I'll also check a terrain making book I have (How To make war Games Terrain by Games Workshop) it has loads of info on weathering effects for their model buildings I'm sure some could be used on boats!