Painting and lacquering a model ship.

Don, Jim is quite right - paint pens are thin watercolour and they will fade over a comparatively short time. The fading will also tend to be patchy, so it will look terrible.

I tend to do most of my building in Boxwood, and with a minimum use of paint. The paints I do use are the Admiralty models range, and for bare timber I use a chemical based wood sealer (not water based). The boxwood is unlikely to lift the grain, and rarely needs to be re-sanded.

Ted
 
THANKS JIM AND TED, MY UNDERSTANDING IS THE ECONOLINE ARE NOT PAINT BUT INK THAT PENETRATES DEEP INTO THE WOOD THE OTHERS ARE PAINT THAT DOES NOT PENATRATE DEEP, IF I AM WRONG PLEASE LET ME KNOW. AGAIN THANKS. Don
 
ECONOLINE ARE NOT PAINT BUT INK

Sorry, Don that is not correct. Those particular pens you got are watercolor pens. Not ink, not paint. They are water soluble and will wipe off easily if not sealed. The true artists "paint" pens you are thinking of cost about $10 each and are typically xylene, permanent acrylic, oil, or india ink type products. These can be found in art supply stores or online. A couple brands I use include: Molotow, Diagraph, Zig, Craftsmart.

Hope this helps.
 
THANKS MIKE I GOT IT WRONG on my sample, I sealed it with tung oil 2 coats and thinking about one coat of wipe on poly would that help , i will look at the sites you sugested, i whatever i decide i still will finishit with tung oil unless you sugest some thing different and i may not use any and stick wit good woods a nd tung oil but using some itemes that need color and i will not, will not use conventional paint it is against my DNA, let me here Don BTW this is not for my LE ROCHEFORT BUT A SMALL ITEM FOR A CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR FAMILY
 
Hi Mike CAN NOT FIND WHAT I AM LOOKING FOR ON THE SITES YOU SUGGESTED MOST ARE JUST MARKERS WITH PRICES VERY LOW LIKE A BUCK OR TO, HAVE YOU GOT A LINK FOR THEM SORRY TO BOTHER YOU. Don
 
Adding to my comments above concerning the finishes on the 2nd planking. I experimented using several test pieces made out of the same material as the hull planking. This included using wood varnish on an oil basis on a test piece and on another test piece shellack mixed with methylated spirits. After drying I rubbed each test piece gently with very fine steel wool, grade 0000, although a sanding pad of a very fine grade would produce similar results. I achieved the best results using shellack. After slight buffing with the steel wool, I achieved a smooth finish with a slight sheen, hardly noticeable. The next step was to test the adherence of superglue to the test pieces. I experienced problems with the test piece varnished with oil, but none at all with the shellack. Just wanted to share this with you. Stay safe.
 
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