I would say that charcoal, dark grey and 20%wood / 80%dark grey are all correct for a U-boat at different stages because a U-boat\'s deck would change as it was exposed to the elements. All the advice suggested has been valid. The differences in opinion occur because two U-boats sitting side by side had differences in the appearance of their deck.

This means there is a great deal of licence in this area. In 72nd scale or larger, I think it is essential when replicating a weathered deck that one uniform colour is not used. It should be patchy, and I think that careful drybrushing can create an acceptable result. In smaller scales it is much harder, perhaps impossible, to achieve the same result.

Yesterday I recieved the Vom Original zum Modell book of the Type IX. It has two excellent close-up colour photos of U128\'s deck. These validate much of what has been stated on these threads. I\'m going to scan them in on my father\'s scanner in a week or so. If anybody wants to see them, I\'ll by happy to email them through.

My comment that there might have been patches of green slime might not be accurate. I have recently learned that the addition of green algae was more commonplace in warmer waters. So maybe there wasn\'t any green slime on the decks. Certainly it is not present in the colour photos.

Best regards,

Dougie