I am building an old "Quality Craft" wooden model car kit. This is my first endeavour at a wooden model and am not familiar with the many new products available. Specifically I am looking for a filler for the wood and a sealer for painting.. It looks like basswood and balsa. I will be using acrylic paint via an airbrush. What should I use in these applications?
It has been a while since I did my Quality Craft/Gloor 50-foot Santa Fe superinsulated reefer. Since acrylic paint is water based, it would be a good idea to seal wood first, you have the right idea. I am not sure of presently-available materials. I remember I used a brush-on sealer, and then brushed on a solvent-based paint.
Now I am going to try to be both helpful and hurtful at the same time. This forum for "Prototype information" is mainly for information about specific real railroads and railroad equipment for modeling purposes, and real railroad operations for operating schemes, etc. People who come to this forum are looking for this kind of information, not general model building techniques. Your type of question would be more likely to be seen by someone interested in this issue, in either the model railroad "general discussion" or "layout building" section.
Get a can of Testors Dullcoat, or go to your local mart and grab a can of clear sealer, often used in the arts and crafts segment. Recently, i've switched to thinned down clear varnish, heck just as the prototype did! Whatver you choose, apply in mutliple coats with a .000 steel wool rubdown between coats. The number of coats required I leave to you. Don't forget the nooks and crannies, i've resorted to masking off all gluing surfaces with blue painters tape and coating every possible wood surface.
Dave