Advice on staining

[Thomas]

For the colour portions of my previous builds, I've always used enamel paint and used masking tape to keep unwanted paint off the timber sides of the ship. See attached picture.

For my current build, I am using stain which unlike paint has the consistency of water. I'm concerned that because the wood is so absorbent the stain will spread even if I've masked off the sections I want to stain.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to manage applying the stain so I can only put it where I want? Thanks very much!

Thomas

 

[Thomas]

Sorry here's the pic of what i'm talking about

 

[Y.T.]

I just stay away from staining altogether. Why would use stain? I use only acrylic paints and acrylic transparent lacquer.
My view is the staining is for fences, furniture and so on. We deal with miniature ship models trying making them looking nice. I see no room for staining.

 

[Philski]

For the colour portions of my previous builds, I've always used enamel paint and used masking tape to keep unwanted paint off the timber sides of the ship. See attached picture.

For my current build, I am using stain which unlike paint has the consistency of water. I'm concerned that because the wood is so absorbent the stain will spread even if I've masked off the sections I want to stain.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to manage applying the stain so I can only put it where I want? Thanks very much!

Thomas

If you're going to use stain, then consider using a gel stain. It's not runny like thinner liquid stains. Most stains require an application for a period of time, then are wiped back off. Best try it on scrap material first.

 

[Thomas]

I just stay away from staining altogether. Why would use stain? I use only acrylic paints and acrylic transparent lacquer.
My view is the staining is for fences, furniture and so on. We deal with miniature ship models trying making them looking nice. I see no room for staining.

That has been my philosophy (and should have continued to be) but for this build I wanted to keep the timber look and show the grain.

 

[Thomas]

If you're going to use stain, then consider using a gel stain. It's not runny like thinner liquid stains. Most stains require an application for a period of time, then are wiped back off. Best try it on scrap material first.

Thanks Phil--I've been having a play with gel and by being super careful and highly controlling the application (Qtip or tiny piece of cloth) I've been able to do the job. There is a bumper that will divide the stained and nonstained sections so it doesn't have to be perfect.

 

[Don Case]

If you are using thinned acrylic paint as a stain how critical is the mix? Should a person mix enough to do the whole ship so it's all the same?