To Stain, or Not to Stain the Wood on Flatbed Trailer?

[KAF1]

Good day to all, I just finished building most of my Tamiya Flatbed trailer kit and only needs to lay the wood down for the deck. The wood planks for the deck looks do nice that I was wondering if I should stain them to protect them or not. I know that staining the would make them darker, but I don't mind. I just wanted them to be protected from stain like dirt and so forth. Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Ken.

[Snochaser]

Use polyurethane to protect them the best.

[KAF1]

Will do Snochaser. Thanks for your help, Ken.

[CustomRCmodels]

you still may want to stain that wood , to get a better , more real looking color of that wood , before you use polyurethane
me personal I like to make the wood look used :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/customrcmodels/albums/72157631253686572

[TRUCKMAKER]

This sounds like a plan. The trailer kit I built at Indy this year is already coming apart and being modified so I guess this is a good time to stain and seal the wood.

[Snochaser]

Something that may look pretty authentic is to distress (beat it up) the wood, paint it black then sand it off so the "marks" in the wood retain the color........then stain it followed by urethane.

[kaptain Jack]

No need to make things complicated, just dubb some liquid coffee over the wood.

[Gator]

Thanks captain Jack for the coffee tip. I just purchased the Tamiya trailer and was wondering how to give it that look.

[KAF1]

Yeah, thanks fellow for all you suggestions. I greatly appreciate it.
Ken

[KAF1]

Hey guys, I stain the wood planks for my deck an I came out great. Thanks for all your suggestions. Ken.