Wooden deck planking.

This how I paint mine and I will say no one comes out the same, which in a way makes it look more realistic I suppose.

A lot of my techniques involve the 'what if' principle and that is I start with an idea and perhaps it doesn't look right so I will try something else instead - the 'what if' principle.

Now this is fine but many times I start out with great intentions of noting what I do for future reference but in most cases the enthusiasm takes over and when finished with the result I was looking for end up saying - how did I do that!!!

That luckily isn't the case with timber as it has taken me many a year to get the results I was after so here they are:

Paint: Lifecolor Wood Weathering

         : Vallejo Black Grey, Old Wood

1.Basic model with deck painted Cold Base Colour and using a pin vice with a needle in the plank joints are scribed both to highlight and clear out joint.

2. Now don't panic as this looks very odd but random individual planks are painted in Warm Base Colour, Warm Base Shade and Cold Base Shade - paint along the plank length and don't worry about getting the covering to even.

3. A wash of Cold Base Shade - about 50/50 mix with water over all areas.

4. Black grey wash (same mix) painted on over all areas but finished off with a cotton wool bud to work the paint in.

5. At this point there was a few areas I was not happy with so I went over each plank in question with either a Cold Base Shade or Black Grey wash applied along the plank.

6. Then using a propelling pencil with the lead sharpen to a point this was dragged along the plank joints to both clean and to add depth

7. This was the end result of the previous tasks but still not looking right.

8. At this point the 'what if' principle was applied and the whole area was given a stiff brushing which tended to pull the effect together plus I started to add Dark Earth powders to the perimeter of the areas using the brush in a circular motion to drive the powder into the corners/edges. 

9. Additional coats where added of the powder, some of the plank joints redone with the pencil.

10. At point I turned my attention to the bulks of timber supporting the load

They where painted in Old Wood with Black Grey washes applied with a final one applied at about 75/25 water mix lengthways.

Metalwork painted in a suitable metalwork type colour in this case Steel and Black grey mix...

Bit more Dark Earth powder worked in edges and on some of the planks to give tonal variation

The end result is as I envisioned it and I suspect when the load gets added most of it will be hidden. 

Hope this is of help.