wood decks for wet boats?

[Von Hilde]

I ordered a 1/72 wood deck set from Nautilus for the type IX. Not sure if I want to use it on a working model due to saturation and warping, I can urathane over the finish, but I have an original plastic as well as a brass set, for operational models. Anyone ever have any experience with the wood?

[small sub guy]

I was thinking that new spray called Never Wet, this might work.

[trout]

I had thought of a wood deck for a type VII I have, however by the time I got the wood prepped and to a point I did not think it would absorb water, I might add too much weight to the deck.
What is Never Wet? Oh, I just searched. Hmmmm not sure. Definitely would want to test that before putting into production.

[Von Hilde]

I had thought of a wood deck for a type VII I have, however by the time I got the wood prepped and to a point I did not think it would absorb water, I might add too much weight to the deck.
What is Never Wet? Oh, I just searched. Hmmmm not sure. Definitely would want to test that before putting into production.

I would think it couldnt weigh more than the brass decks. I have a Nautilus wood deck set for a 1:72 type VIIC minelayer and the weighs about half of what the brass decks for the same boat. Actually all my operating boats have some lead or zink in the keel to keep them laterally stabile. The more heavy the boat, the more water it displaces, The majority of the weight mass is in the driver so the center of buyoancy is below the waterline at neutral balast. Countering the extra weight of any deck with lead shot in the keel is minimal. I most likely will use the wood for a display boat, where people could appreciate the detail. I think the commercial wood decks are made of a soft wood. There is a warning about using acrylac model paint from Nautilus on the instructions. They recomend using thinned out enamel, or wood stain, but Im sure for display purposes, since they arnt thinking of people making the model actually work. On my 1:24 type II that is scratch built, I used actual marine African mahagoney, that a friend with a furniure shop milled for me into thin 3mm sheets. I stained it and coated it with toung oil. Just like on my old sail boat. How it will hold up, is yet to be determined. Theres a long way to go before it splashes.