Lacquering the Deck
Once the decks were completely clean, I applied a coat of semi-gloss lacquer (varnish, varathaine, etc). After drying for 24 hours, they were lightly sanded, cleaned thoroughly, then re-coated. This was repeated until they had received three coats. For the final sanding, I used 0000 steel wool.

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Chain Runs
I am not sure what the actual name for these are, but there was another layer of deck planks that the anchor chains ride on. This photo from the construction of SMS Deutschland shows these runs which allows the chains to come out of the hull, loop around the chain winch, and then down to the bow or stern to the anchor. There were two on the bow, and one on the stern. This photo is of SMS Deutschland during construction.

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Laying the Chain Runs
After trying several times to draw the chain runs, I gave up and cut templates from a photocopy of the SMS Deutschland drawings by R.M.A. Plankammer. The chain runs were cut from veneer and laid in position, then given the same treatment as the deck: sanding, cleaning, lacquer, light sanding, cleaning, and re-coated.

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I decided to stop here so I could release this chapter, as I am waiting for some deck details to arrive from Modelbau Zinnecker in Germany. Once these parts arrive, I will finish the deck with all the details in another chapter. So it looks a little bare, but it looks good. Click next to see how it turned out......
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Deck Intro / Cutting the Planks / Planking / Lower Decks / Sanding / Water Gutters / Chain Runs/ Final Product