Scale decks burning/staining

T

TitanicTim

Joined
Nov 28, 2022
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Hello everyone,
I'm wondering if anybody has any helpful suggestions as to what I can do about these burn marks/staining (see near cut lines) that are on my Scaledecks pieces? They appear to be a result of the manufacturing process as they were like this from the moment I opened the package. Ive already tried emailing and messaging John from Scaledecks about this but he hasn't responded, not sure if he's avoiding me or just busy. Any suggestions you can offer are welcome.
Thanks
Tim PXL_20221201_052038343.jpgPXL_20221201_052009862.jpg
 
I tried both of your methods on some of the burnt offcuts but no go. Scraping and sanding removes the printed planking look, and the burns go all the way through the sheet so I can't remove them. I've included some photos of the back side of the decks.



Has anybody here ever dealt with this product/company? Is this typical?

Thanks
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Try staining the decks. Use a light oak wood stain…that may blend in the burn marks while giving the decking a nice tone. Experiment if you can on the back side or a piece of scrap decking…
 
The laser cutting of the individual parts burns the wood. It’s usually superficial so I’m surprised it’s not coming off easily. Try narrow fine grit sanding sticks from a hobby shop and sand between the deck lines if you have to. There’s a tool I used to use way back when I did some drafting… it’s a small thin stainless steel sheet with various shapes and sizes of holes in it. The holes were placed over pencil lines so they could be erased without erasing adjacent parts of the drawing. I’ve found it handy on my hobby bench on occasion. Use the edge of it or the edge of one of the correct size holes to cover the deck lines while you hit the charred areas with fine sandpaper. Might be a pia but if all else fails….
A little charring along the edges could add to the aged look of the part.
 
TitanicTim said:
Hello everyone,
I'm wondering if anybody has any helpful suggestions as to what I can do about these burn marks/staining (see near cut lines) that are on my Scaledecks pieces? They appear to be a result of the manufacturing process as they were like this from the moment I opened the package. Ive already tried emailing and messaging John from Scaledecks about this but he hasn't responded, not sure if he's avoiding me or just busy. Any suggestions you can offer are welcome.
Thanks
Tim View attachment 343768View attachment 343769
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Burn Marks are common , you will not get them off , so what I do is find a wood stain close to burn mark color and stain them ...... when the laser cutting machine is working to do perforations, the heat from laser will burn the wood ..... GK
 
Thanks for the suggestions everybody. I'm hesitant about a stain as the burning is quite dark and the decks were supposed to be yellow pine, which is quite light. I actually have the drafting eraser shield that was mentioned in post #6 (leftover from my post secondary) I'll give that a shot on the offcuts with an eraser and then sandpaper before I attempt a stain. I was hoping the manufacturer would respond to me but he seems happy to ignore me until I go away. I have seen his photos of his product and user's photos of his product and no burn marks are present, so it seems as though there was an issue with the laser.
 
FYI, you should not sand or stain a Scaledecks deck. The wood grain & individually colored planks are applied to the underlying wood veneer using extremely high-quality inkjet printers. No liquids, paints, abrasive materials, etc., should be applied to the deck surfaces. The production process is described on their Web sites as follows:

"Our manufacturing process utilizes Inkjet Printing combined with Laser Cutting; we don't merely "burn in" the planking pattern which results in thicker, brown lines. Our plank lines are grey and extremely thin. We lay down a plank pattern in a variety of tones that simulate individual plank color variations. This produces an amazingly realistic effect in scale."

I've used several of their decks & have never seen any laser burning as appears on your deck set. It would appear the laser was running too "hot" when your deck was cut. I can tell you from experience that Jonh is notoriously difficult to get ahold of. He's basically a one-man shop & never seems to check his email, FB page, or Web site. He hasn't even updated the scaledecks.com Web site to reflect the relocation of the company from California to Tennessee (I'm not even sure the telephone number on the site is correct). I might suggest contacting the Scaledecks located in Germany. They have a Contact form located on their Home Web page & you may be able to forward your problem to them, along with your contact information, & ask them to have John get in touch with you for resolution. You can find the form at scaledecks.eu. Good luck!
 
F-105Thud said:
FYI, you should not sand or stain a Scaledecks deck. The wood grain & individually colored planks are applied to the underlying wood veneer using extremely high-quality inkjet printers. No liquids, paints, abrasive materials, etc., should be applied to the deck surfaces. The production process is described on their Web sites as follows:

"Our manufacturing process utilizes Inkjet Printing combined with Laser Cutting; we don't merely "burn in" the planking pattern which results in thicker, brown lines. Our plank lines are grey and extremely thin. We lay down a plank pattern in a variety of tones that simulate individual plank color variations. This produces an amazingly realistic effect in scale."

I've used several of their decks & have never seen any laser burning as appears on your deck set. It would appear the laser was running too "hot" when your deck was cut. I can tell you from experience that Jonh is notoriously difficult to get ahold of. He's basically a one-man shop & never seems to check his email, FB page, or Web site. He hasn't even updated the scaledecks.com Web site to reflect the relocation of the company from California to Tennessee (I'm not even sure the telephone number on the site is correct). I might suggest contacting the Scaledecks located in Germany. They have a Contact form located on their Home Web page & you may be able to forward your problem to them, along with your contact information, & ask them to have John get in touch with you for resolution. You can find the form at scaledecks.eu. Good luck!
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Thank you so much for your sound advice. I was hoping to get a response from somebody who's dealt with this company. I've sent an email to the scaledecks.eu email and hopefully they are better at responding than John. My next plan with him was to call him through his other company's contact phone number, but this is definitely easier and less expensive than a long distance phone call.
 
I contacted the Scaledecks.eu rep who was very responsive and very helpful. He has arranged for replacement decks to be sent my way and they're already in the mail. Amazing! I'll post an update once I receive them.

Thanks again for the suggestion!
 
TitanicTim said:
I contacted the Scaledecks.eu rep who was very responsive and very helpful. He has arranged for replacement decks to be sent my way and they're already in the mail. Amazing! I'll post an update once I receive them.

Thanks again for the suggestion!
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Very good news - modelers are getting very happy, when the after sale service of a company is working well.
 
I received the new decks today and they're fantastic. What an improvement over the older style that I had. There are colour variations added into the planking to give it a warm and realistic tone (the photos make it appear darker than it is) and there are no burn marks to speak of! It was a bit of a work around to get them but in the end I am very happy.PXL_20221220_055121790.jpgPXL_20221220_055147328.jpg
 
Tim, I am so glad to hear that my suggestion helped you out! I was really hoping that the long-distance contact approach would work for you. And based on your pictures, the deck inkjet printing looks sooooo much better than the first deck set you started with! Thank you very much for posting the outcome & the very best of luck to you with your Titanic build! Merry Christmas!
 
Tim, I can't seem to find the contact info for the scaledecks.eu rep. Can you please send that to me? I'm trying to find out if the 1:96 decking is still available. It's not listed in either the Ebay or Amazon stores and (like you) I'm not getting any response from John here in the states.
Thanks in advance!
 
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