All of my craftsman kits have been finished with stains of some sort. Now I have a wood gas station kit I would like to have white. I have some white acrylic but I think some sort of sealer should be applyed first to prevent warping. Which sealer would you use? Or, should I get some solvent based paint?
Having been building scratch and craftsman wooden structures for more years than I can count, I’d suggest generally avoiding any acrylic (water based) paints unless the structure is well sealed with primer first. As to how to seal them, I’ve found that an application of simple spray can light grey auto primer works very well and can be accomplished quickly. Be sure to prime ALL surfaces of the structure. I’d allow 24 hours for the primer to dry fully before applying any other type of paint to the surfaces.
CNJ831
Sealing model structures mostly means putting a coat of something on both sides of the wood. If you paint the outside and leave the inside bare wood, the bare wood will absorb more moisture from the air than the painted wood and that leads to a warp. It doesn’t matter all that much what you seal the wood with, shellac, lacquer, auto primer, or plain old paint, just so long as you do both sides, the inside and the outside.
The model paints may not “cover” as well as you like. The lighter shades in particular, may let the underlying wood show thru the paint. The auto primers that come in rattle cans cover exceptionally well. A coat of light gray auto primer will completely conceal the underlying wood and give a uniform gray to which the white will stick beautifully.
Suggestion. Try out your finishing system on some scrap to make sure you like the results.
I will underwrite the previous two responses . . . . . auto primer spray is very effective . . . . . and PRIME THE WHOLE STRUCTURE! or I can gee-go-guarantee you that down the road you’ll come to griefs because of humility.