LPW18 - Wooden Deck Darkener Liquid Pigments Washes

Wooden Deck Darkener — darkening a wooden deck

This Lifecolor liquid pigment from the Liquid Pigments Washes range is pigment mixed into a carrier fluid; once dry it leaves behind a pigment deposit that stays on the surface and can be rubbed out further. The Wooden Deck Darkener shade aims at a single job: knocking the too-fresh and too-yellow tone of a new deck back toward the color of wood that has been walked on.

Lay it on along the grain, not across it

With wood the direction of the stroke decides. First shake the contents of the bottle thoroughly, because the pigment settles at the bottom. Then lay it on with a narrow brush along the length of the plank, not across the deck, and wipe in the same direction — the streaks that form then follow the figure of the wood instead of crossing it out. Always work a few planks at a time, not the whole deck at once.

Do not do all the planks the same. A real deck is not uniform: some planks are darker, others lighter, and by the entrances and the hatches the wood is more worn. If you go over one plank in five twice and the neighboring one only once, the area comes alive at once.

The difference from a classic wash

A wash on a deck would flow mainly into the seams between the planks and leave the face of the plank almost untouched. A liquid pigment, by contrast, works on the face — which is why it suits darkening a whole plank, while you deal with the seams separately in another step.

Use

• Darkening ship decks, whether of engraved plastic or wooden veneer.
• Telling the individual planks apart by a graduated number of layers.
• Weathered wooden areas on vehicles, such as beds, crates and floorboards.
• Muting a base coat on wood that is too fresh in tone.

Who the color is for

Above all for ship modelers, but anyone who deals with wood on a model will use it. The technique is undemanding and forgives mistakes, because you work over small areas and in layers.

Keep out of the reach of children. Stir the contents again before every application and close the bottle carefully after work. On veneered decks, try the procedure out on an offcut of veneer before you touch the model.