Painting Balsa

[ninjarabbi1997]

Part of a car I am working on involves balsa; does it need any special prep before painting (like a sealer) that pinewood doesn't normally need; or, do I just primer it like pinewood?

Thanks.

[Lucky 13]

I built an all balsa car and I just used primer and the paint job came out good.

[ProQuest]

Hey Lucky:

I toyed with the idea of a balsa car, but when I tried to drill out a place for weight, the wood splinted. I take it you did not have the same expience? Is there a trick?

ProQuest/Steve H.

[Lucky 13]

Steve, I used a router bit in a drill press and went REAL SLOW !! I've also just used a utility knife to remove the wood since it's so soft.

[warthog]

The dremel tool with a sanding wheel carves up balsa nicely. I use the sander to bore out the weight pocket areas when i am working with balsa.

[SpeedGeek]

I work with pine mostly. The 5/16" high speed Dremel cutter works really well also, but only if you slow down the tool speed, otherwise, the chatter rips apart the wood.

[sporty]

I recently worked with Balsa and i got a nice piece from midwest balsa and i had not trouble using a dremel and router bit for the removal of wood for the weight area. I also used the lowest speed setting and took my time.

I am having more of a issue with the looks, fuzz. So the paint and prep are on-going.

Sporty

[sporty]

i am going to try the pine pro wood sealer and see how that does.

[Gravity Steve]

Saw this too late! Ninja, the best way to seal balsa is with a nitrocellulose lacquer sanding sealer. The hobby shops call it airplane dope. You can buy it in quart sizes in the big box stores, for only a little more than the hobby shop will charge you for an 8-ounce bottle. Depending on how porous your wood is, it may require several coats. I use it on my pine cars, because it works so well. It also dries while you are watching! So, build, sand, build, sand, etc, all with a brush. You can have it flat and shiny in one day, by waiting 1/2 hour between coats. Then I just use good spray paint to finish off. Slicker'n'snot.

btw, airplane dope has some wikkid cool colors, too.



CORRECTION: I remember now that nitrocellulose lacquer isn't "flat" like the airplane-dope type sanding sealer. The sanding sealer I was thinking of is still usable, but it is NOT lacquer based, you can use regular paint thinner to clean your brush. Sorry about that.