What is the best model paint color to use for painting a flat car deck to give it that wood look?
That depends on the service it is used in, but generally you would want a color that matches closely with the deck of the prototype, some are wood others are metal. If going for a wood look I usaully study the prototype car for the use that my model is made to copy and go from there. colors can be anywhere from tan for a new deck to light or dark gray for a old weathered, dry deck that has seen better days. colors of weathered decks can vary quite a bit as well.
From black for something that hauls grimy,greasy equipment to dark gray or rust for a metal deck. There are several good books on the subject of painting and weathering, I’m sorry but I cant think of their names at the moment and I have put most of my books into boxes in preparation for an upcoming move, but you can find a lot of them in this very website. I am sure there will be others posting with replys on this so just keep a lookout as there are people on this forum that are wizards with weathering things. Keep it on the high shiny stuff Neil
I have an old all-metal flatcar that I plan to use as an “idler” car in car float operations. I used real wood, a thin model sheet with boards scribed on it, intended for siding or decking. I stained the deck with an India Ink wash.
I completely removed the deck and floor from this Athearn Blue Box 50’ flatcar, then replaced it with a new floor cut from .060" sheet styrene. This was installed with its top surface flush with the top of the car’s sides. I put the Athearn underframe into my box of spare parts, and by constructing new bolsters from styrene, was able to lower the ride height of the car, as seen in this photo:
Next, I added bulkheads from the Walthers GSC 52’6" gondola, then constructed a deck using Kappler 3"x6" and 3"x8" scale lumber. The wood was stained using various colours of thinned Floquil paints, (some with more thinner than paint) then installed using contact cement. I also cut and gouged the finished deck, using an X-Acto blade and a screwdriver, touching-up most of the damage with more stain - flatcar decks take a beating. The moulded-on “board” detail on the bulkheads was brush-painted with colours similar to those used on the deck, but applied over the base car colour.
Because the Walthers GSC cars ride nice and low, I used the plastic decking that came with the kit, painting it with similar colours. Part of one can be seen here, the flatcar acting as an idler for an over-length load:
I also have some other Athearn flatcars with wooden decks in MoW service, finished similar to those in the first photo, but with new replacement boards in some areas. Unfortunately, no photos available. []
Wayne