Hi im in the process of building a dio, and i plan on making a small wooden fence, as well as a small wood shed out of balsa wood.
I am looking for any tips on how to paint and weather the wood.

Would you first use a laquer?

Sorry I can't help you M8, I do know that you can make quite convincing "wood" from styrene though...

Faust did a nice article on it here

Hope this helps

Yo Jake,

Lifecolor has a nice new set on the market for painting and weathering wood...

Six unic and great colors to create some woodcolors.

Greetz Nico

would those acrylics work on raw wood though? would a stain be more appropriate for balsa wood, i dont want to lose the grainy texture that the balsa wood already has

I've been able to get good enough results for attaining neglected wood fence by making it out of unfinished balsa, roughing it up and scoring it, giving it a pretty heavy wash with diluted acrylics (it soaks up into the wood) and then dry brushing remaining color that has either faded or chipped away. I'd also recommend a second wash afterward.

Most stains are warm reddish/yellowish colors, while aged untreated wood is gray to almost black in places - I'd stick with making your own "wash". Next time you are doing an oil wash - do some dabs on scraps of balsa until you get the effect...

Also, company that makes Rustall, also makes a solution for aging wood - have seen it in the stores but hasn't had a chance to try it.

This is the woodwork i made from balsa. Gave it a black wash, a burnt umber wash (all oils) and drybrushed with white acrylic.

I've built wooden items and distressed them using acrylics plenty of times. You can combat the absorbency of the wood by sealing it with a coat of thinned PVA (probably could use scenic cement) brushed on with a stiff brush. You won't lose texture but you will be able to control the paint better. I generally prefer to skip ink washes on wood as they don't tend to respond quite as expected. Drybrushing and some careful blending usually take care of it. I'll try to take a detail photo of a makeshift fence I built for the paintball dio to demonstrate.