Hi Steve,

By now you are probably wondering who is correct, well let me throw in my two words. I have the Fine Art Models of the U-995 Type VIIC. The deck was painted gray. I questioned Fine Art about this and they indicated what they did was correct. Maybe Rainer Burns will step in and give you an answer. I as many others value his opion. If you got to their web site they show the proto type model with brown wood deck. If my memorie is correct Rainer told me they basically coated them with what ever, most of the time with oil based paint etc. Remember materials such as wood type, paint etc. was in short supply. Hope this helps, I also hope after spending big bucks on my model that the gray deck is correct, who really knows..........