Jonners Posted September 6, 2018 Share Posted September 6, 2018 Hi folks, This is a very esoteric question about a pretty 'niche' subject! I am scratchbuilding something that purports to vaguely represent an Avro Bison in 1/144. Once it is completed, I would like to display it on a small wooden base with a representation of a section of period flight deck. The problem, however, is that I haven't been able to find any description of what materials were used to make the surface of a British aircraft carrier flight deck in the late 1920s, or what colour it would have been. Can any of you BM experts help me, please? Jon (eternal optimist) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Britman Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 That's every inch a Bison and jolly well done too. I would assume the deck would have been wooden at that time . I have a stash of wooden coffee stirrers that I imagined would be quite useful for such a base. Thank you for sharing the build. Keith. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 Quite certainly they were wood, but it's been so long that I have been regularly looking at 1920s/30s FAA pictures... Just guessing but they may have been natural teak. I can have a look at some FAA in Focus this evening, and I also have Chesneau's Aircraft Carriers - which may give some more info and pics. AvNews had a Warpaint feature on the Bison in the 21 Feb 1986 issue with Ian Stair drawings and some pics, which may be helpful (I happen to have scanned the drawings for another member some time ago). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 Thanks for the replies. I had assumed that they were wooden, but wasn't sure about the finish. Britman - copied about the coffee stirrers; I should be using strips from medical tongue depressers in a similar way. Tempestfan - natural teak is a good point, and info you might find in your books would be much appreciated. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junglierating Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 You thought about contacting the moosem at VL? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tempestfan Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 FAA in Focus I states Illustrious was the first with an armoured deck. Which does not necessarily imply all decks before were wooden. Not a single Bison in sight, must’ve been in one of the other volumes. I‘ll keep looking out. —- Found Pt. 2, Post war mainly. I could have sworn... FAA in Camera has a pic of Darts on Eagle captioned as ca 1928. Deck looks grey, with no visible planking. P.49 Eagle looks to have broad (1.5 m?) longitudinal plating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iang Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 None of the British interwar carriers had wooden decks - they were all steel decked ships. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonners Posted September 7, 2018 Author Share Posted September 7, 2018 Good stuff - thanks, folks! I won't be using those tongue depressers, then... Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now