I figured this would be an easy one, just google for some model car boards on polished wood dashes. However, the Google Gods did not look favorably on my endeavours, so I turn to here.I'm familiar with the softening or dulling effect of distance (thru atmosphere) on the look of gloss finish or items. However, these items will be foreground, so nice and shiny and smooth is the order of the day.Everything starts with a smooth white primer finish.So far, I can think of several methods, each with plusses and minuses:Primer + base coat + several layers of glossPrimer + base coat of min-wax finishPrimer + glossly base coatI assume (rather, I hope) that there are more techniques I haven't thought of.The issue is that polished furniture is by definition smooth, so I am not sure what the best base coat would be to reproduce the following highly polished woods:Walnut, Maple, Mahogany, and Oak. Would it make sense to paint the furniture a light tan, then apply a wash (or Min-Wax stain) of the desired color? Sadly, Floquil stains are pretty much an academic exercise nowadays. What about the gloss finish - gloss coat (from a rattle bomb)?Suggestions, please.
I am confused, are you referring to dashboards on model cars? If so, who would ever see such a thing on alayout. Something tells me that we are talking about two totally different things here.
woodmanI am confused, are you referring to dashboards on model cars? If so, who would ever see such a thing on alayout. Something tells me that we are talking about two totally different things here.
If you plan to have plastic reprsent fine finished wood, my suggestion is to treat it quite similar to the gel-staining or the old antiquing kits. A base coat of flat tan/ tope w/ reddish hues, brushing on mahogony stain and practice the variation to gain a believable grain and wood finish. It may require a second coat as it starts to dry, while brushing thinner/ stain mix. I wouldn't go to much to real high gloss, as most furniture is more semi-gloss. The piano top may need sanding between multiple clear coats to gain the smooth finish desired. You will be seeing this through a storefront window, so doesn't seem that you should go to extremes on the job.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
Future floor polish? Have not tried it myself, but seen it mentioned in the scale model mags.
I'm going to take the contrarian angle and ask if its worth the effort. I live in one of those parts of town that's full of botique antique stores with fancy antique furniture all over the place, so I walk past a lot of antique stores. Nothing ever seems "shiny" like polished furniture at more than 20 or 30 feet.
From the distance you would never see furniture as shiney, espescialy though a window.
If you are using wood material, I would suggest that you also use specific polishes and a natural substances. I for example using Favor Furniture Poish with lemon wax, and usng it for my teak wood furniture like this one http://www.javateakoutdoorfurniture.com/products/deep-seating-2/.
andrewwinstonIf you are using wood material, I would suggest that you also use specific polishes and a natural substances. I for example using Favor Furniture Poish with lemon wax, and usng it for my teak wood furniture like this one http://www.javateakoutdoorfurniture.com/products/deep-seating-2/.
Well Andrew, thank you for responding to my OP of several years ago with your first post (that's kind of neat, actually, assuming it's not a sales pitch for that furniture). While the furniture in your post looks fine, it seems to be 1:1 (prototype) scale - for me, I was talking much smaller items here - the size of your thumbnail or less.In the event, the original parts I mentioned (which were plastic BTW) were painted a light or dark brown color (glorious Testors!), and then given a semi-gloss (satin? well, somewhat shiny) finish. As pointed out above, since they will be posed behind clear styrene "window shop" glass and not in a display cabinet, the result is good enough.
Attempting to use minwax stain on a small painted item with micro-brushes left an annoying spotty finish, so I'll leave the minwax and furniture polish* to the 1:1 woodwork.Thanks anyway.*OTOH, if we can ever decide what version of Pledge matches the old Future floor polish (Pledge with Future doesn't seem available anymore), then that'd be great - Future polish was a really nice gloss top-coat, useful for producing smooth decal-ready surface, or to brighten up styrene windows (I think the polish fills any scratches in the plastic).
Since "scale" wood grain would be difficult to see, just spray these items with a gloss paint or a gloss clear over the color coat.
Hornblower
In our scale (HO) unfortunately, you won't be able to see it anyway. I've spent countless hours on detailing interiors to the point of insanity, only to find out that most times you can't see it from most viewing distances. Cases in point...spending time putting real wood floors in structures, with them stained and polished and unless you have Your nose up to them, you won't see it. Furniture is the same, even with real wood in certain circumstances...maybe out in the open. I use a lot of Northeastern Scale lumber for floors and wainscotting in ships cabins and buildings, that is really just scribed wood siding for wood reefers and boxcars. It comes in many sizes and the wood grain shows up nicely when stained. I have been using Testers Createfx enamel stain. You do not need a sealer when using it and a little goes a long way. I only brush it on. If I want it to be more glossy, I'll just use some gloss brushed on also. The Barber shop in one of the pic's has a backwall type dresser with mirrors that is a white metal casting kit, as is the bench. After assembling, I did not primer it, I just airbrushed Tamiya Acrylic semi-gloss Red Brown paint on it. The semi-gloss give it a slight shine, but not overpowering. I then painted all the drawer handles etc. with gold leaf and that really made it sing. The counter top was painted with Tamiya Acrylic Deck Tan, I then used Createfx Grey stain on top of that to make it look like Marble, which came out really well....but to go back to My original statement.....You can't see it anyway! But I'm nuts....so I still do it. LOL
Some of the pic's are a little blurry, sorry, but newer ones are better......got a better camera......
Take Care!
Frank
zstripe
Very nice! I love detailed interiors.
Many furnishings are not particularly shiny. I've been around antique
furnishings all my life & a high gloss finish is rare.
One man with courage is a majority!