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can a hull be painted (white) after varnishing?

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RichardT

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May 7, 2013
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I have not done a great job on the hull of my Occre Albatross. I prefer my ships with the look of its wood so I want to try to varnish but if it looks horrible (and this one might) I wanted to be able to airbrush over it with white. I have seen this in another manufacturer's Albatross, and it doesn't look bad.
Is this possible? I have been using minwax polycrylic water-based finish. If painting after varnishing is possible, I would like to give it a shot if necessary.
If there are better products for painting after finishing, please let me know.
If not possible or advisable, I'll have to decide which way to go. I also have the Occre satin varnish but on the container, it says it is a water-based dye... not sure what that means.
Much thanks all,
Richard
 
Varnish (acrylic) can be very smooth and its difficult for acrylic paint to adhere to it. There are two options : 1) which is to use sandpaper to rough up the surface which allows the paint to adhere. The second method is to use a primer over the varnish which adheres well to the varnish and provides a surface for the acrylic paint to adhere. Both work and some people use sandpaper followed by the acrylic paint.
 
I consistently use MinWax matte finish water based polyurethane in my models as both a wood sealer and a finish top coat. I have used acrylic paints over the poly when used as a sealer without issues…the acrylic adheres well and dries smooth. Then after the acrylic dries I add a finish coat of the poly over the acrylic. Works for me…

A caution here…the answer also depends on how you define “varnishing.” Polyurethane is not a varnish and dries very hard. Acrylic may not adhere well to a true varnish…which tends to dry softer than poly and would need a light sanding before applying the acrylic…
 
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RichardT said:
I have not done a great job on the hull of my Occre Albatross. I prefer my ships with the look of its wood so I want to try to varnish but if it looks horrible (and this one might) I wanted to be able to airbrush over it with white. I have seen this in another manufacturer's Albatross, and it doesn't look bad.
Is this possible? I have been using minwax polycrylic water-based finish. If painting after varnishing is possible, I would like to give it a shot if necessary.
If there are better products for painting after finishing, please let me know.
If not possible or advisable, I'll have to decide which way to go. I also have the Occre satin varnish but on the container, it says it is a water-based dye... not sure what that means.
Much thanks all,
Richard
Click to expand...
Richard ,if is water base varnish what you've to do is sand the area that you want to paint , I don't think you will have any problem, but remembe, sand as much as you can and then you will have a better finish.
 
IMG_2279.jpeg
So, this is the way it turned out using Formsby tung oil. Its a horrible photo but it helps hide the faults in the planking. I like the wood look so in my eyes its not so bad that it needs to be covered up, so I will keep it this way. Blown up you can see the lousy patch job but who's really going to look that closely.

I think it would have been better if I had used a satin finish but this is what I had in my cabinet. Amazon has a low gloss formsby tung that I might have used as a third coat but then I noticed that they wanted $150 for an 8 oz bottle. Yes, you heard correctly, $150 for 8 ounces. I can get used to the gloss.

I appreciate all the tips on how to approach painting over a varnish if I were to do that but rather than experimenting on some scrap wood I am going to go on with the build. Sometimes you just want to get on to the next project. After all, the intention was to re-acquire skills before my attempt at a scratch build.
Thank You all,
Richard.
 
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