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[rhino]

Hi folks,
I was wondering if anyone could help me out here. I have just bought a model boat which i am wanting to renovate. It is a model Raf crash tender and has been scratch built. My problem is that the superstructure has been built from cheap plywood and shows all the grains through the paint. I intend to strip off all the paint anyway but how can i get a nice smooth finish once i begin to repaint?
i have used filler primers in the past and never really been impressed with them as you can still see the grain through the paint. Is there a easy cost effective way of coating the ply with something before i primer it to give it a nice smooth finish and to fill the voids and grain in the ply? It is a shame it has been built from bad ply as it lets the boat down.
hope you guys have a good solution for me :)

Chris

[derekwarner]

Chris....a particular Welsh member  will come along the answer... Derek

[Stavros]

And here i am !

2 ways of doing this


1 spray car laquer on it to seal it then simply build up the coats of primer fller rubbing down DRY with 400 keep going till you got rid of it all


2 go to halfords and buy some easy light car filller....dont bother with isopon p38 or wood filler....use easylght.....80 grit DRY more filler quick knock off with same then 180 DRY keep going till you happy with finish them finish off with 400 DRY........PRIMER FILLER  on next rub with 180.......400 and then topcoat it .DO  NOT USE WATER  to rub down as this will get into the wood


Dave

[Peter Fitness]

I am sure said Welsh member, Dave, aka Stavros our resident painting expert, will give you some valuable advice.


I always use filler/primer on ply hulls and have found it to be an excellent base for paint, however, it takes numerous coats and lots of rubbing down to achieve a smooth finish.


Peter.


PS. Stavros beat me to it

[red181]

or use glass cloth and resin, look in here, its your boat. I am the master of cheating, and contained in this build blog are some cheats! post 31 onwards. Personally, I don't do filler, I'm not very good at rubbing it down, don't like the mess, and don't have the patience

http://www.modelboatmayhem.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,39278.25.html

[rhino]

Thanks for your quick response...will all the paint need to be stripped off first or could i rub it down and then use the said fillers on top of the existing paint?

Chris

[Stavros]

Rub all the paint off or paint strip with rustins


Dave

[Brian60]

Or go buy a tin of Rustins sanding sealer- expensive for the quantity you get- about £12 for 250ml but worth it. Put a couple of coats on to let it penetrate the grain. Then rub down with 180grit paper. Another coat and sand again, then primer and away you go.

As it says, it seals the grain and build you a layer to smooth down and give a fine finish.

[Brian60]

Here's another way- go to B&Q and buy a tin of wet rot treatment. This is used on outside woodwork. Its a thin liquid that soaks into the wood and then sets like steel. Two coats of that and sand smooth, it solidifies your base timber and gives a good finish for paint.

[Stavros]

Trouble is the rustins range of sealers are enamel based and then if you put anything like halfords paint on top of them you will get an instant reaction


Dave

[Fastfaz]

  I agree Dave! do not put any of Halfords paint over enamel they are acrylic and will give you a lovely typewriter crinkle finish, I made that mistake on my first rebuild of a trawler and ended up rubbing down and re painting the whole hull. Re sealing the plywood I did a ply deck on one of my tugs and used B&Q's satin water based varnish thinned down rubbed down between coats with 240 dry when the paint was applied bingo no grain and its still looking good. Hope this helps.
     Cheers,
          Peter.

[red181]

hi rhino did you read the link? in there you also have some info regarding stripping paint.  as others have said whatever way you do it all the old crap needs stripping off.  no easy way or magic formula unfortunately but the more effort you put in here the better the results

[Netleyned]

As you can see from the replies, there is no easy fix.
Perfect finishes are only attainable with a lot of hard
and monotonous rubbing down , coating and rubbing
down again.
For some varnish finishes 15 coats.
You have the expert advice here, but don't forget copious
amounts of elbow grease.
Good Luck

Ned

[Fastfaz]

   I as a bit of a perfectionist thought that you need to get everything spot on but I have realised that any working vessel even a new one is not perfect and why should it be, if you get chance to get close up to a tug for example they all show the signs of wear and tear they are also painted with brushes not your car showroom finish. Do the boat to the way that you are happy with I am sure you will be pleased and at the end of the day its yours no one else has to do it. Keep it going.
     Cheers,
         Peter.

[rhino]

Yes I realise that the actual boat would probably have been far from perfect on the finish but I am a perfectionist and I just could not live with the final result if it looked bad. I read the link which was very interesting and has given me some ideas for my refurb    mostly the colour BS631...I had an old Vosper PL4 a few years ago which I refurbished and was searching for the original colour with great difficulty! I am also half way through a scratch build of the Vosper RTTL which I will be painting in BS631 now that I have found the code. I know it does look a little bit green rather than grey but from the pictures of the RTTL that I have seen of the boat at the RAF museum it does have a blue/green tint to it I think, and I wanted this colour rather than just any old grey paint.


As for the deck...well would it be totally wrong to have a planked deck on the crash tender?? I know that the original did not have this but I do love a nice planked deck and I think it gives any model real character.

[red181]

well it's your boat to do as you wish. if you want it right it wasn't planked