Hello gents,

What products do you use to paint balsa wood? I usually use some redish wood-stain liquid applied with a brush but I wonder if there's something to prime the balsa first and give it a better look and painting surface...

thanks in advance,

Francisco

I use good old fashion everyday, hardware store wood stain.
Just remember to stain before gluing, otherwise the stain won't take where the white glue is, and you end up with a strange looking unstained spot.

That is exactly my problem Dave, I've messed up my latest vignette frame because of that, now I'll have to paint i black. Are there any priming materials for wood? Maybe if I brush painted some white glue all over it...

The biggest problem with balsa, is water products will raise the grain. If you just want to seal it so you can paint it, I seal wood with again, plain old fashion everyday hardware store polyurethane.
Now raising the grain isn't so bad, if you are looking for a weather beaten fence.
I normally use enamel/oil based paints for about 95% of my painting. So really can't give any help if you are using acrylics. But for enamels/oils, I would just try thinning them, and letting the paint soak in, eventually it will fill the pores/grain, and cover the glue spots. (In the old days of building balsa ships, we use to mix baby power and clear dope to seal the balsa, I'm sure they have something already made up for that purpose now)

hello again, Francisco:

Well, Dave O'Meara is right on the money, re the stains from white glue/
Elmer's, etc. etc. To me it is a dirty shame that Bass wood is NOT
available in Europe. It is just so much easier to work with for a hobbyiest.
That said, I would suggest first, before thinking about a stain that you
put a few coats of clear flat varnish on the pieces of balsa wood.

Another thing I will mention is that if you get those whitish areas in a
glued joint (Elmer's glue/white glue used to join the two pieces) where
the wood stain just won't cover. You can use oil paints to match the
color of the stain and cover over that whitish area. I've had to do this a
few times myself.

Francisco,

Micro-Mark makes what I feel is a good weathering agent for raw wood called "Age-It Easy". It is available in brown or gray.

What you can use in Europe is Lime wood, is very hard and fine grained, and moisture does not raise the grain. In fact for me its far more realistic at 1:35 than balsa. Its available from model ship shops

Brian