Got a piece of scrap balsa yesterday and gave it three water based coats of under-coat, sand-papering inbetween coats. Finally I gave it an oil based top coat. Unfortunately you could see the brush strokes, so I bought an air brush as in picture. Specification as follows :
Specifications:
Spray pattern adjusts from l/4" to 5" for maximum versatility.
Includes fine head airbrush, 5ft. vinyl hose, 2oz. Jar, with cover,attached 3/4oz.
jar, propel regulatorand adaptor (I/4" air hose from the compressor to the smaller air brush hose.)
Standard Nozzle Dia.: 0.8mm
Operating Pressure: 15-50psi Price US $5-99.
Would you please advise, if I should use water or oil based paints? What undercoat would you recommend to fill the balsa grain?

Originally Posted by joneswag

Got a piece of scrap balsa yesterday and gave it three water based coats of under-coat, sand-papering inbetween coats. Finally I gave it an oil based top coat. Unfortunately you could see the brush strokes, so I bought an air brush as in picture. Specification as follows :
Specifications:
Spray pattern adjusts from l/4" to 5" for maximum versatility.
Includes fine head airbrush, 5ft. vinyl hose, 2oz. Jar, with cover,attached 3/4oz.
jar, propel regulatorand adaptor (I/4" air hose from the compressor to the smaller air brush hose.)
Standard Nozzle Dia.: 0.8mm
Operating Pressure: 15-50psi Price US $5-99.
Would you please advise, if I should use water or oil based paints? What undercoat would you recommend to fill the balsa grain?

Joneswag...Nice airbrush kit do you have a compressor? I use sanding sealer
about three coats I like deft sanding sealer it's lacquer based and has a strong smell but drys really fast it's what the pro's use for wood working and has a high fill content
as far as the paint I've heard people using all kinds of things in this hobby
house paint latex and oil base what I use is rustoulem if you get the basic colors
you can blend any color you want. for example red and yellow make orange more
red and the darker the orange less red and more yellow the lighter the orange.
rustoulem is fuel resistant and a very tough paint.
the other thing I do is after sand sealing I prime w/ rustoulem high fill auto primer
it comes in grey dark grey almost black and a rust color and you may find some in white but it's harder to find when you don't see any grain then you can paint the color.
you have to sand in between coats this is why most people use fiberglass and then paint less steps as long as you do the glass work the right way, people don't like to sand I have been doing it for over 30 years and it doesn't bother me I'm use to the dust and it's good for your arms!

Bruce

And just for the point Joneswag.. That airbrush can/will drive you nuts!
Its a nice glass jar though :-)

Originally Posted by ctrout

And just for the point Joneswag.. That airbrush can/will drive you nuts!
Its a nice glass jar though :-)

OH yea what he said if you keep it VERY CLEAN AFTER EACH USE you should have less trouble I use mine for the small parts mostly and use rattle cans for the primer and my small auto touch up gun for big areas but it will work for painting a 1/8 scale model just be slow and take your time.

Bruce

Yep, like many of us you will learn to love and hate your airbrush. I would not run primer through it as it will clog easily. You should be able to get high build automotive primer from your local paint shop in a spray can. Far cheaper and easier and cleaner.

Keep it going Bruce.All moved in to the new home,building board all set up,Mrs still pissed offMossie on the go.Fuse first.[ATTACH][ATTACH][/ATTACH][/ATTACH]

Motrio ... glad to see your back at it and she's looking good.

Well I glued the firewall back in this side the left I put in at 0 degrees the right side will get 3degrees this is how Ziroli does his tail draggers, after gluing it in I reinforced it and cut away the extra bits then cleaned it up so it didn't look like a after thought.

Then I installed the throttle servo I went with the KISS method have a look I need a break!!

Bruce

Yep, that'll do it! Nice one.

Thanks toast...I moved on today to the fuel tank and filler,
I didn't want to mount the filler in the cowl so I put it where it really goes on the full scale plane, there are four fuel fill spots on the wings two will be real on this model.

At first I tried to hing the cover and that's just not going to work very well so I made it removable w/ a screw I'm going to make new ones though because the first one I sanded down trying to make the hing work and I'm also going to get a hex drive screw that counter sinks.

There will be a hatch on the under side of the wing where the filler is and there will be the servo for the flaps at this same place, this is not scale but it has to be done.

The fuel tank cradle was fairly straight forward and simple and it's easy to remove for repair or if you should need to get to the throttle servo.

The fuel tank is turned around to make it a shorter distance to the filler the line to the carb will come from the filler,and the tank has an angle toward the klunk.
so check out the progress.

Bruce

I love the little touch with the fuel filler!Impressed!Sorry back to popcorn.lol.

Been looking through the build threads that you,PeterF and Rob have submitted,Im just going through the throws of building the first half of the fuse.Noticed you and Peter reinforced the front and wing area with extra stringers.Great idea.Looked at Robs thread and saw what happened when he dropped it.Keep up the good work!

Progress today.Half fuse ready for sanding then planking!

Bruce, nice work on the fillers! Must remember that trick...

Have you modded the tanks so the clunk is still at the back of the tank? This is very important as if the clunk is at the front it means an almost certain engine failure towards the end of the flight on a climbout - usually on a go around. about the worst possible place

Motrio ...it's looking really good looks like you got some really nice laser cut parts this time, I can see why the missis is not happy w/ you your in her kitchen!

BRAVE MAN yea if you think it needs reinforceing do it any place where the wing meets the fuse.

Your doing it in two pieces like I did? (RIGHT)
are you going to glue the second side straight to the first side?
joneswag has done that and I would if I had to do it over trying to line up the two haves is a real pain in the and should be avoided!!

God luck looking forward to some more progress shots.

Bruce

Need some help again please. Have started to have a go at building the tail wheel assembly, but cant work out how area 1 - 1A are supposed to work , Also the wire path is difficult to follow in this area. Finally area 2 is the wire recessed into the balsa?3 and 4 are the parts I have made so far,
Re painting, I have decided that I will use " rattle cans " as you call them for the undercoat and leave the decission on the final coats till later. We in Australia just call them "spray paint cans" prefer your term for them