I’m taking a break to work on my Fubbs for a couple of days.
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Sanding, sanding, over the bounty main!
Kurt Konrath
Kurt Konrath
Just make sure you don't Fubbs up something there while thinking of this project in your head....
I think I got my logs mixed up on that last entry. Just as long as I don't mix up the two ships I'm working on!
I decided against using bass wood for the sides. What I bought wasn’t long enough or pliable enough. I will cut about 2/5 of it off from the bottom. I’ll scab where needed to strengthen the hull first. 
I’m looking at ways to close up the pores of the wood after I sand it. Any ideas?
Latex is easier. That’s something I’ll have to discuss with the owner. He might be interested in using an air brush. I don’t have any experience with that yet.
I’m clamping on the bow piece. It took a fair amount of faring to line it up. Pardon the pun.
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I have never used a wood sealer. I use paint instead. I like the Tamiya primer paints, but any rattle can or brush applied flat paint should work. Paint it and sand, additional coats, until the grain disappears. You will remove nearly all of the first couple of coats. Before priming, you will need some high strength “goo” to fill those vertical seams between mid body and fore end, and I assume at the stern. Otherwise expansion and contraction will cause cracks to reoccur. I would use thickened epoxy.
Roger
Roger
I agree with Roger about the thickened epoxy for the deeper seams, however I would recommend a thinned out epoxy to fill the pores in the wood grain. After this treatment give it a good sanding and when you are happy with the surface consider a primer and paint combination.
Jim
Jim
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Jim has a point as I have not used balsa as a modeling material since high school era tissue covered airplanes. Thin epoxy will help to strengthen the hull structure. Epoxy is also considered to be compatible with both oil based and acrylic paints.
Roger
Roger
I’ve had good results with artist’s acrylic gesso as a sealer/surfacer for wooden ships
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The hull of the model that I’m working on now was sealed with a two part epoxy tank liner left over from painting a fiberglass sailboat hull.
Roger
Roger
Thank you all for your suggestions. I do cherish this site and its helpful members.
So, how will epoxy sand?
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I’ve never had any trouble sanding epoxy.
Give it a couple of coats of dope to seal the wood. Sand smooth and paint.
Epoxy will sand but it's a lot harder than the adjacent wood. You usually end up taking too much wood and not enough epoxy. I would never use epoxy over wood but that's just me. One exception is to dilute epoxy 50% and slosh it around inside your hull. Fills in all the gaps and helps make the hull water tight if it is to go in the water.
All of my ship hulls over the past 20-25 years have been built the same way. Whether for office display models for customers or RC for myself. The hulls have been framed up, planked or sheeted with what ever type of wood ( pine, birch, balsa,) I choose. They were then covered with a thin layer of epoxy and very light fibreglass cloth. After everything was dry and trimmed I applied two to three coats of epoxy finishing resin with light sanding in between coats and then painted. This method has served me well for a perfect hull every time , but the big secret is to never think you are going to cover construction flaws with final coatings of anything. These are some of my finished hulls;
