i am currently replacing the roof on a walthers lakeside shipping transfer house kit with a new one that is to be made of balsa-anyone have any suggestions as to how to fini***his off/make it look good?
I think that I would seal it on all sides with a coat of clear shellac,then you can use any type of roofing that you please.Gravel,tar paper,whatever.
I would use bass wood. I think that balsa is not going to hold up, it is very sensetive to humitity (you know, moisture) and warps very easily. Northeastern siding works very well and will last a long time.
Whatever you use it needs to be sealed with sealer or paint - completely.
Have a happy new year
Bob
You definatly need to seal the wood as balsa is a very light and brittle wood. I used to build the rubberband powered model planes when I was a kid and you had to “dope” the spars in order to glue the tissue paper fabric to the framework of the plane. I would check the LHS in your area if they sell planes they could possibly order or have this product instock lindberg used to make it but I don’t remember its actual name (sorry) but once yuo’ve “doped” the wood you can glue your favorite roofing material on the building with white or wood glue, my fav is campbells roll roofing I feel it looks the most realistic and it can be easliy painted and weathered with water based acrylic paints. Good luck hpoe this helps. Trolleyboy