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PO Box 926, Dayton, TN 37321 . UNITED STATES
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a place where I can see photos of modelers using your decks?
You bet! Doing a build log of your project is a great way to get feedback and suggestions as you work on your special ship. Here is one of my favorites. As you read it, you'll see all kinds of helpful advice and a fair amount of humor, too!
Revell 1/96 USS Constitution (Fine Scale Modeler)
Facebook is also a great place to see builds in progess. We have our own page there, and also post regularly in groups such as Warship Scale Modeling, 1/200 Plastic Model Ships, 1/350 & 1/400 Plastic Model Ships, JL's Scale Fighting Ships, German Dreadnoughts 1906-1919, and many more.
Are your plank markings to perfect scale for the kits they are made for - such as in 1/350?
To represent four inch planks in 1/350 scale, they would be barely larger than 1/100 of an inch apart. If we were to print this on an inkjet printer it would just look like a grey sheet of paper – a blurry mess. Not good.
So what we are doing is cheating the scale up a bit. Our gaps between the boards are indeed one pixel thick, and we are spacing them ten pixels apart – or 3/100 of an inch. This makes a pretty nice scale effect that “looks proper.” That's a 1/350 Tamiya Musashi at right - the planking, though overscale, looks very fine.
For larger scale kits, usually in the neighborhood of about 1/200 and above, we DO feature scale planking (and usually nibbing detail, too!)
How do you get such fine detail in your plank patterns?
Our manufacturing process utilizes Inkjet Printing combined with Laser Cutting; we don't merely "burn in" the planking pattern which results in thicker, brown lines. Our plank lines are grey and extremely thin.
Consider the photo at left - our deck for the 1/500 Fujimi Yamato versus a competitor. You can see the fine detail in the scaldecks deck above the coin. At the bottom, the competitor's deck coarsely burned plank detail - and the end cuts (where the laser has to move slower) are extremely thick and distracting.
More Questions!
What wood do you use? What colors can you emulate?
We actually print most of our decks on very thin sheets of aspen, which is a very light wood. We then lay down a plank pattern in a variety of tones that simulate individual plank color variations. This produces an amazingly realistic effect in scale.
Other manufacturers usually use maple or basswood, which has a long straight grain that can extend from end-to-end on your ship, which is not realistic at all. They attempt to break this up with extra-heavy burned in plank detail, but that can just add more unreal effects.
We can simulate teak, pine, or cypress depending on what was on the ship that is being modeled. At left you see a darker pattern on the 1/96 USS Kearsarge, and a lighter pattern on the 1/96 CSS Alabama.
Can you print deck markings in color?
Absolutely! Our technology allows us to render incredibly detailed national insignia on the German battleship Bismarck in 1/200 scale.
(For those that don't want the swastika, we also offer the deck with just a plain wood plank pattern.)
Do your decks include photo etch details?
Usually, no. We concentrate exclusively on just doing realistic wood decks. The only exceptions to this at present are the decks for the Revell USS Kearsarge and CSS Alabama in 1/96.
These are United States Civil War ships, and they used "Pivot Guns" which rotated about the deck on iron sweeps. When laying down the wood decks, these molded in features would be covered up, so we offer photo etch to lay down replacement deck sweeps for these two ships. And, in the case of the CSS Alabama, we replace the inaccurately molded deck seeps with historically accurate ones!
Where can I purchase your decks?
Amazon.com
We just started offering our products on Amazon.com in January, 2018 - so we're still pretty new there without a whole lot of feedback yet. Amazon is very restrictive on who can sell products on that platform, as well as tight requirements for quality and honoring returns. You can be comfortable with purchases you make at Amazon.com, and Scaledecks.com is committed to maintaining the highest levels of quality to remain on this exciting platform.
eBay
We have been selling on eBay since 2010, and are proud to be a top-rated seller. We strive to maintain a 100% Positive Feedback rating. Feel free to look at our seller ratings to review feedback on our sales process and quality of product within eBay - we think you will like what you see!
If something isn't right, we will do everything that we can to make it right.