All
I didn't see this posted on this site anywhere, and thought I would add it.
Sorry if it is here somewhere already, and I overlooked it.
Mikey
Hello Everyone,
John's question about using regular wood on ships was a good lead in for this: I have been looking at changing the type of wood for the decks to include in my kits. Currently, 3mm Baltic Birch is used, but the stuff easily available uses a type II glue that is NOT waterproof. This is what Swampy supplied for years, as near as I can tell. I have been able to find some Baltic Birch with waterproof glue, but the facing is B/BB (which includes patches). The marine plywoods are void free and better designed for the abuse we put our ships through. The pieces I am looking at for the main decks are A/B face and either A/B or B/BB for the sub-deck.
My question to all of you is whether you would be interested in me switching to a different wood? The marine plywoods I am looking at are Okoume for the deck and then either Merante or Okoume for the sub-deck. I have pictures of Baltic Birch, Okoume, and Merante samples up on my flikr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/strikemodels/sets/72157623718987599/ . One thing of note is that the Merante plywood is about 25% heavier than the Okoume, but it is not as strong.
A different question to the technical officers of the group. If I go with 4mm deck and 6mm sub-deck, the resulting 10mm is just over the 0.375 inch limit for deck unit. If this arrangement is not allowed, I can go with either a 3mm deck (but the face will not be quite as nice) and 6mm sub-deck, or a 4mm deck (with a nicer face) and 5mm sub-deck. What do you think?
I would appreciate any feedback I can get on this, either to the list or privately.
Thank you,
Stephen Morgret
Strike Models
www.strikemodels.com
stephen@strikemodels.com
510-566-8406