How do you weather a model ship's decking?

Weathering your ship's decking will provide spectacular results to the overall appearance of the model, especially if it features inscribed planking detail.

The weathering process can be broken down into five steps:

1. Apply a thin dark wash to the unpainted deck. This should preferably be a dark grey not black and will pick out the inscribed plank detail.

2. When the wash has dried, paint with a suitable deck colour, but use thin layers to allow the darker areas to show through.

3. Apply a thinned final wash to accentuate the previous wash's effects and add shading and weathering.

4. Dry-brush with a lighter shade of the main deck colour, making sure to go with the grain to give added weathering and detail.

5. Seal with a matt varnish.

These five steps highlight are the basic stages involved in weathering a ship's decking. The technique, as with any weathering technique, takes a little time to master, so always practice on a test model first.