submarine deck

[sammykParticipant @sammyk]

happy new year to one and all,I need some advise on what type of wood to make a submarine deck out of,its a u boat type 9. should I use bass or lime wood or something else and what type of glue.when its finished it will be painted grey.thanks regards sammyk

[sammykParticipant @sammyk]

[Mike Wharton 1Participant @mikewharton1]

I found the stirring sticks used by many cafes ideal for the job. They are free and come in a range of sizes! Not sure what wood is used, but after sanding and varnishing they look OK. I used them on the Dumas 'Carol Moran' tug to give a more authentic-looking deck.

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

sammyk,

I am not all that familiar with the Type IX U-Boat, so please forgive my ignorance, but if the deck is painted, what would it have been made from on the original? Wood? Steel?

Also, are you building the model for static display, for surface sailing only or for actually diving?

And, finally, to what scale are you building, roughly what size planks are you thinking you will need, and to what underlying material will you need to glue them?

I am of course asking the above qustion in order to better be able to form and give you my opinions in reply to your questions!

For planking a deck where the wood grain remains visible, either just varnished or stained and varnished, one of my favourite woods would be maple: it is fine-grained enough that the grain does not look completely out of scale, and I find that it strikes a happy medium between soft and hard; it is hard enough not to take e.g. a nail mark too easily (as opposed to e.g. lime), drills and sans well, but is not so hard that it becomes very difficult to cut to shape.

However, if the planking was to be painted, and in particular if it were to painted and to represent a steel surface, I would think both twice and trice before using wood as a building material unless I really had to, as you will need to apply and sand down a fair amount of filler before the grain is completely hidden. For any painted structure that should ressemble steel or a similar, man-made material, and that does not rqeuire too much structural strength, I would, depending on scale and static or sailing considerations, first look at either styrene or brass.

As for glue, that would depend on the underlying surface (wood-to-wood or wood-to-something else?) and also on how water-resistant you need the joints to be (i.e. static, surface sailing or sailing and diving?). For wood-to-wood static, any PVA glue will be fine; for wood-to-wood surface sailing, an aliphatic resin (I like the one from Deluxe Materials but there are others); for wood-to-non wood static, PVA or CA; for any wood-to-non wood sailing or diving, epoxy.

/Mattias

[sammykParticipant @sammyk]

Hi,thanks for the help,the i hope it will be a diving boat .the plank size is 2mmx5mm spaced with 1.5mmx5mm fitted to a support frame underneath . this is based on the glass fibre top that came with the hull. i tried to drill out the top but i am unhappy with the outcome .i think it would be better made out of plasticard but compaired to wood the plasticard is very expensive . thanks again for your help .regards sammyk

[BanjomanParticipant @banjoman]

Hi sammyk,

You're welcome!

For my part, I would be very hesitant to build that kind of deck structure out of wood on a diving submarine model! Yes, the materials might be less expensive with wood compared to plasticard, but with wood you will have one problem and one risk that you will not with plasticard.

The problem is of course what I already mentioned, namely that you shall have a fair bit of work to do with filler and/or sanding sealer to make sure that the grain doesn't show through the paint.

The risk, and for me this would have been the main issue, is that wood is sensitive to water – and even more so under the increased pressure you get under water – in a way that styrene is not at all!

If this boat is going to dive, you are going to submerse completely the deck structure, which furthermore is one that allows water to access its surfaces from all sides, as it is set above the rest of the hull. Yes, you will have painted it, but the least breach in that paint film will let water through when submerged, and once the wood gets wet, it will start to swell, with the ensuing risks that the breach in the paint gets even larger, and eventually also that the movement of the wood starts breaking your glue joints.

Obviously it is your choice, and for you to weigh up the (potential) pros and cons, but for my part I would certainly have gone with plasticard, glued the plasticard bits to each other with a styrene solvant glue and then attached the deck structure to the hull with epoxy.

Best of luck with whatever you decide on

/Mattias

[sammykParticipant @sammyk]

Hi Mattias, you are right it should be made out of plasticard and so avoid all the problems with wood.i will just have to get on with it and put other projects on hold. thanks again for your advise ,regards sammyk

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