Painting a wood surface

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Motley
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Joined: May 1st, 2011, 12:01 am
Location: Kent, England

Painting a wood surface

Post by Motley »

I was just wondering, how and what colours do you use to paint a part to look like wood? I dont know how to go about this at the moment but for my build for the Whirli-Birds GB i need to paint the rotors as wood and i dont know how to go about this. Thank you as always for any help guys :)
"When a prang (crash) seems inevitable, endeavor to strike the softest, cheapest object in the vicinity as slow and gently as possible." - Advice given to RAF pilots during WWII
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mattbacon
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Re: Painting a wood surface

Post by mattbacon »

It depends on what kind of wood effect you want to achieve. For light-ish varnished wood ( eg struts or props), I start with a beige base coat, then use a darker brown sparingly applied in "streaks" with an old brush for the grain, and finally varnish the whole thing with coat of clear orange to bring it all together. For props, which are often laminated, use a darker and a lighter base colour in lengthwise stripes before grainy and varnishing. For a more mahogany effect for bases etc, I use a red brown leather or dark flesh colour base overcoated unevenly with Vallejo's transparent reddish "woodgrain". But check your parts are actually bare wood... Post WWI wooden props were usually covered in fabric or protective coating and painted a solid colour.

Best,
M.
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