I get it - the article in the Dec 2017 MR "Building a vintage wooden freight car kit" was a satire, or spoof, or performance art, or whatever...something played for laughs, starting from the <ahem>"letter" from a "W. Howard Snodgrass" (visiting from the 3 Stooges perhaps?) which can only be read in that Monty Python "British officer's letter to the editor voice" ("it seems things have become too easy.") to the Cody-reveal at the end ("Oh yeah, we had an article about updating the AHM model...")None the less, there was a model of the helium car built, and the finish seemed pretty good - but in the "seal and sand" step...what was used to seal the wood? I didn't see anything mentioned in the article itself, and the can in the images was pretty much unreadable no matter how much CSI zoom/enhance was applied. Was it polyurethane, varnish, warm spit, what? Such knowledge could be useful...
chutton01 ...but in the "seal and sand" step...what was used to seal the wood?
...but in the "seal and sand" step...what was used to seal the wood?
You can use lotsa things (I used to use leftover Floquil paint), but the folks-who-know use "sanding sealer".
Ed
Pretty sure the author said he used sanding sealer. Just google "sanding sealer" and several brands (Minwax, Rust-Oleum, Zinsser etc.) of sanding sealer will pop up.
(Sigh) Takes me back to "wood shop" class at West Junior High 40+ years ago....
Built the helium car in about 1969. I used sanding sealer I purchased at the local paint store in a pint can. Ended up basically trowing away the whole can when I moved.
Jim
wjstixPretty sure the author said he used sanding sealer. Just google "sanding sealer" and several brands (Minwax, Rust-Oleum, Zinsser etc.) of sanding sealer will pop up.
chutton01 ...the author claims he got the assignment to build the model because he was out the day the decision was made).
...the author claims he got the assignment to build the model because he was out the day the decision was made).
That's how we used to choose our club President.
It just goes to show how the world has changed. When I was kid, working in the hobby shop, and building wooden freight car kits (late 60's/early 70's), everybody knew what sanding sealer was.
Every hobby shop sold it, for building train models and balsa wood airplane models. The various brands of lacquer based paints used on model airplanes all offered sanding sealer as part of their product lines.
Guess this makes me officially "old"..........
Sheldon
I remembered it from my model raocket days - every rocket I had with balsa fins (most of them - all the new ones seem to use a palstic one piece assembly), I would defy you to tell me they were actually wood and not plstic. It took a bit of searching at what passes for a LHS around here these days before I cound what I was after, since I wanted to do the same level of sealing to Micro Mark woof roof material to make it appear to be the metal roof added to open hoppers to make covered hoppers (true to prototype). I did finally find a jar, and like I remembered, iot needs a lot of stirring as it settles out, and it also stunk just like I remembered. But with many coats and increasingly finer sandpaper, I did achieve the result I was after.
--Randy (also feeling old)
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
rrinker --Randy (also feeling old)
Me too...I got confused and was looking for my ceiling sander.
Wayne
Just last night I was skimming over the directions on the back of a bag of Highball Ballast I've had for a quarter-century or so.
The instructions say to "dilute clear dope by 1/3".
Can you imagine a present-day modeler going to the nearest retailer looking for some good dope!
The times, they are a-changin'.
+1 Feeling old, Ed
* Dope = nitrocellulose. Great stuff to store near the furnace!
And if you ever actually tried to use sanding sealer to make even fine-grained wood look like steel you know what a boring and time consuming activity that is. Eric actually took the time to do it right. Few did back then, I can tell you.
Dave Nelson
An automotive type filler primer would make sealing and smoothing wood parts pretty easy. These heavy bodied primers are meant to fill in small imperfections and, after sanding, provide a smooth surface for top coat painting.
Hornblower
I don't know that that would actually soak into the wood. The sanding sealers I used, the first coat especially really soaks into the wood and actually raises part of the grain. Subsequent coats and sanding operations knock this down in finer and finer amounts until you end up with a perfectly smooth surface that no longer feels like wood.
Yes, this is a very time consuming and boring process, at least to do it right. That's why I'm looking in to drawing and having my roofs 3D printed.
--Randy
This was the first time I heard of sanding sealer. I read the word dope a few times but I didn't know the current name for it now.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
chutton01 None the less, there was a model of the helium car built, and the finish seemed pretty good
Was that the car they had to recall because it kept floating off the tracks?
I was always surprised at how tough airplane wings covered in paper and dope were.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
While researching Reading Cabooses, I came across a picture of them painting the interior (lined with pine) with a coat of shellac as a sealer on the raw wood. So its prototypical.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com