can anyone help....i have built a floor for the miniart factory corner out of balsa wood and need to get a polished wood floor affect....your help will be greatly appreciated

Well never having done it, but it I did. I would use Elmers Wood filler, water down as the first coat. After it dries, I would sand until some of the wood shows back through, then stain. After the stain dries, gloss coat it.

Just my thought.

In all honesty, balsa is not really the best wood to use for modelling. It gets dusty and thready, when it gets wet/painted. Sanding it doesn´t really work. If you´re gonna use wood, base wood would be better ... slightly more expensive but worth it. I prefer plastic profiles instead .... give them a good sanding with rough sand paper, and you get the best scale "wood effect" that paints up nicely.

I agree with Frank, I had some "bad experince" with balsa wood...

If I were you I'd apply on the floor several wooden strips, then I'd paint with a gloss varnish

Just my opnion anyway

I haven't worked with balsa for a long time but there used to be a sealer for it (maybe try railroad hobby stores.) Otherwise, if you could I would recommend another type of hobby wood. Other types take stain better and then you could give it a coat of a gloss product, here in the States there is a product called "Bar Top" that gives stained wood that high polish you see on bars (think of all the western movies where some one slides a beer along the bar.)

Do you mean the clear dope that is used as a sealer for balsa in flying models? Sometimes referred to as "sanding sealer". It's essentially a lacquer based product that partially soaks into the balsa, giving a hard but sandable base.

"Dope" it was. Rocketry, balsa planes, et cetera.

Ooooo....memories.

Balsa, tho easy to work with is not the best for wood. Birch I believe is the wood of choice, or Poplar.

Mike

Since you've already built the floor out of Balsa, you really need to seal it with a lacquer based wood sealer you can get at any hardware or paint store. Apply, let soak in and dry. Then sand to a smooth finish. May take two coats to work on the Balsa.