Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: Sangennaru on 20 December 2009, 11:32:19 PM
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Hi! I'm looking for some good tutorial on painting balsa wood... I know how to do it, but I would like to have some painting scheme for dioramas and high quality stuff... can you help me?:)
thank you everybody!!!
Jack
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Quite often I just give it a wash. The wood soaks up the paint giving natural highlights.
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The biggest problem with painting balsa, particularly with some of the softer varieties, is that it is a paint sponge and, if you're not careful, like a sponge, will expand, opening the grain and ruining the effect. A good prime coat of a fairly dense paint might help. That's one of the reasons why I never use balsa for modelling (other than as an interior support where it can't be seen), particularly in the smaller scales. Basswood is a much better choice - it's denser, finer grained, cuts and sands better, and takes paint or stain very well.
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That's a good point. I tend to use Basswood too, hadn't really thought about it. It's also stronger and cheaper.
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I'll try to explain how I paint the balsa.
I use "lasurfarben acrylic. the more you dilute, the more it is claire.et unless it is diluted, the more it is dark. thereby creating the effect on balsa fairly quickly. just paint the lightest to darkest. ;)
(http://i18.servimg.com/u/f18/12/08/65/30/00216.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1329&u=12086530)
(http://i18.servimg.com/u/f18/12/08/65/30/00314.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1330&u=12086530)
(http://i18.servimg.com/u/f18/12/08/65/30/0091210.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1331&u=12086530)
(http://i18.servimg.com/u/f18/12/08/65/30/0101310.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1332&u=12086530)
(http://i18.servimg.com/u/f18/12/08/65/30/0111310.jpg) (http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1333&u=12086530)
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I've not heard of basswood before, can you get in normal modeling shops?
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I haven't found lind (basswood) in any of the regular modelling stores in Copenhagen (Stoppel, Model & Hobby), except for laminate. The usually stock balsa and pine, but not much else... Maybe the train modelling stores will have some? I've used pine for my CSS Virginia project, but haven't got any experience with painting it...
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I've not heard of basswood before, can you get in normal modeling shops?
not in the hobby store, but in art stores (brand: Lefranc & Bourgeois)
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ah, it's lind, ok I've heard of that, but never seen it. There's a train modeling shop down in Kolding that might have it.
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Hobbycraft in the UK has bass wood. I bought a big bag for £10. Loads of different bits in it from block to loads of strips. I found it a lot cheaper than balsa wood. My local railway model shop has it in stock as well.
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Balsa can be sealed with a coat of thin (ie the cheap and runny stuff) superglue (tho health & safety considerations apply!) or I spray with an acrylic undercoat (ditto re h&s!).
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thanks to everyone!
actually, i was looking for a painting style more for dioramas (E.G. rotten wood or really old one). I know there are some simple and effective techniques (I mean acrylic paints), but I don't know how! :P
don't you have some tutorial or similar? :)
thanks in advance :P
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basswood (Linde in German, Lime? in BE) is usually used for the surfaces of the better, thinner plywood.
being wood from leaf trees, it is more compact than wood from pinetrees and thus more suitable for fine details ar furniture
In Germany at least, You can usually get it in hardware stores or in good modelling stores
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basswood (Linde in German, Lime? in BE) is usually used for the surfaces of the better, thinner plywood.
being wood from leaf trees, it is more compact than wood from pinetrees and thus more suitable for fine details ar furniture
In Germany at least, You can usually get it in hardware stores or in good modelling stores
Hey wait a sec: I'm talking about Balsa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochroma_pyramidale), not tilia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilia)
I hate using basswood, because is really weak and hard to work with.. i rather prefere polilpat or foams!
(http://www.artcanthurtu.com/foamcore_s.jpg)
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I hate using basswood, because is really weak and hard to work with
Maybe you have a different Basswood over there, the stuff we have is far stronger than balsa and not that much harder to work with the right tools.
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sorry, I only wanted to help with the basswood
But Sangenarru is right - Allthough basswood is pretty strong though easy to work on, when cut in very thin stripes it tends to rip up as opposed to balsa, that has a better coherency (tropical wood lacks the growth rings that mark the seasons)
I guess the question is wether appearance or workability is more important, as wall as taste of course :)
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I guess the question is wether appearance or workability is more important, as wall as taste of course :)
I'm for the balsa. Forever >:D >:D
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I built this out of mainly basswood. But some of the smaller details are made of balsa
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13752.msg159878#msg159878 (http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=13752.msg159878#msg159878)
Balsa is a lot easier to cut just using a craft knife, basswood needs a bit more elbow power.
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Sounds like there is a big difference in the two woods on either side of the pond. In the New World, basswood is the overwhelming material of choice for building in wood in the smaller scales. I think that every single one of the hundreds of Model Railroad Craftsman kits includes basswood as a matter of course. If they do include any balsa, it's there simply as a filler or spacer. Considering, on average, it can be up to 4 times as dense as balsa, that makes it much easier to work with and, former user, I've found no tendency for it to rip up. I've had balsa, though, that is so open-grained that cutting it with a razor saw gives it the appearance of shell-splintered beams!
If you haven't seen it, here's some work I was doing on some Western buildings. All wood is basswood.
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?action=gallery;su=user;cat=65;u=1266
Just click on Gallery Name for several photos. (Before anybody asks, no, there is no more progress on completing the diorama. I'm an easy victim to the 'Ooo, shiny!' syndrome. One day...)
Sangennaru - Here's a link to a couple of downloadable articles regarding staining and weathering stripwood that might be of use to you.
http://www.rustystumps.com/HowToArticles.asp
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All the basswood I've seen in the UK is sourced from US trees, so ours is the same at least :)
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no, the point is that you can use the balsa for much more things, and is much better for making rotten wood or almost everything for fantasy and 28mm. for smaller scales is not as good.
thanks archangel for the links, the tutorial will be really useful - thanks averyone! :)
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thx Archangel for the clarification
with basswood I mean very thin layers, thinner than 1 mm
and it surprises me to hear that anyone would cut balsa with a saw and not a knife?
it is natural to use basswood with kits, since these are cut with mechanical saws or "sand jet?" saws and this of course works best - they are also more durable
I think it is up to personal preference - everyone experienced enough will then find his ways to deal best with the material.
For instance I hear all the time of people working with cardboard - I simply hate it, but I see the wonderful results :)
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and it surprises me to hear that anyone would cut balsa with a saw and not a knife?
actually, cutting balsa with a saw is nearly impossible. It tooks some pratice, but usin a knife gives the best results.
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I do normally use a knife if I'm working with balsa but, on occasion, I came across a strip or block that was so dense that cutting it with a knife was virtually impossible. Even the razor saw jammed and I ended up using a coping saw! Balsa hardness can vary considerably, ranging from butter soft to almost the consistency of hardwood. That's another reason why I seldom use it for modelling. You can never be sure you'll be working with identical weight wood and the finished product's appearance may suffer.
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that's interesting
never encountered such a balsa block - but essentially it is about what I said about balsa coherence as a tropical wood
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In the past when I wanted a lot of balsa for a specific project I went to a balsa dealer serving the model aircraft industry and was quite surprised at the extent of the workability differences between the various densities available (with resulting variations in strength and weight).
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Just thought I'd weigh in on this topic. I have worked extensively with both balsa and basswood and prefer basswood by far. It works well with all sizes of builds and is much more stable.Balsa finds its best use in the building of flying model airplanes which need to be light in weight - especially rubber powered ones. For applications where a thinner material is needed I usually use some of the more exotic woods such as mahogany or walnut - which - while a little more expensive - are much stronger, especially when as thin as 1/32". Basswood is prefered by most all model railroaders and professional model builders as it is much more consistent in grain and strength. It is easily stained and aged and there are several product available to make it appear as if its quite ancient. But if you are looking to replicate worm-eaten lumber then balsa is good because of its porosity. Weathering solutions like the ones here : http://www.micromark.com/weathering.html are usually available at most finer model RR shops.