Old kit and dry wood ?

[T.C.]

I have a bunch of old craftsman kits, Cambells, FSM, Torus, Evergreen Hill, Builders in Scale ect... and I seem to keep buying them when I see them on Evil-Bay.Don't know why, I think it's a sickness ?Anyway I have noticed that some of them if not all of them, the wood is dry.My question is: do the professionals approach a kit like this differently than a fresh kit ?I do like the way the dry wood sucks up the stains as I get some really neat affects when it wicks into the wood .I guess I'm just curious to know if there is a down side to the older kits?Thanks for any input or adviseT.C.

[Oldguy]

No problems from me.  I'm building kits that were bought 30 to 45 years ago.  Granted, they have all been stored in basements and for awhile in a building that the humidity was at 100%.  So, I can't imagine wood drying out.  It would be the same as the room that they are being stored at.  Now if you live in the desert . . then maybe?

[T.C.]

Thanks for the reply:Maybe it's my imagination then, or maybe the last kit I built was out from desert country?My kits are all stored in the house in a closet and I do live in Fla. so it's not real dry very often.Thanks, just thought I would ask.T.C.

[Keep It Rusty]

I think basswood tends to be dry, generally speaking. I've only ever had issues where a piece was always fragile and somewhere in its many years has broken or snapped. Otherwise, as you say, it works in your favor

[S&S RR]

I believe that the older drier wood takes stain differently and consider it a good thing.  I like to add some fresh wood to the mix for decks, floors and siding for board on board builds which gives me more variety in the stain color.

[postalkarl]

Hey T. C. :

I've been building old kits for years without any problems.

Karl

[T.C.]

Thanks for the replies:
As I said I do like the way stain wicks into the dryer wood, I guess I was thinking the wood may be weak or something? (most of my kits are over 40 years old)
Also you guy's build a lot of kits and may have tips or techniques that you would use on dry wood as opposed to fresh wood?I guess it's all trial and error as wood from kit to kit is going to vary even if it's from the same manufacturer.
T.C.

[Keep It Rusty]

TC, I've never noticed a difference when painting/staining between a hot-off-the-press kit I've just bought and a kit that's been in circulation for 40 years.

[ACL1504]

I've never noticed a problem with older wood kits either.

Tom

[T.C.]

Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean it was a problem it wasn't my intention.
I actually noticed it with a Campbells kit that I recently built, the wood really sucked up the stain. (alcohol and powdered guitar tints) When applied to a the front of a wall It soaked through to the back side on a couple pieces.

I did use it to my advantage and I like the affect.  I was just wondering if youall did anything differently with dry wood.
Thinking about it I guess there are a gazillion ways to stain and assemble a kit so as they say "results may vary". lol


Thanks T.C.

[Rail and Tie]

Hey TC,


You might find that some of the Campbells kits were made from Sugar Pine. That wonderful smell that was there when you opened a Campbells box lingers in my mind anyways!


I have found that kits made from white or Sugar Pine wick up stain faster than basswood.  The basswood that I have worked with tends to have a tighter grain than the pine boards and therefore basswood soaks up stain slower and more evenly.

As for old dry wood vs fresh. All the wood we use a modelers is kiln dried and will stabilize to what ever humidity level we are in no matter how old it is. It's about swelling and shrinkage. Ever notice that when you soak a wall in stain that it swells and warps. especially scribed siding. It will usually go back to close to its original size and shape when dry with a bit of help and pressing, but it really doesn't. The grains have been damaged by the stain and some have burst, so when it dries and shrinks back, it cant go all the way because of those burst cells. This then stresses the grain and makes the wood more brittle and a little larger than it was before staining or painting.

As of late, I have been tending to "rub" on alcohol stain rather than soaking the wood in the stain. I like the effect. I do this with a soaked sponge and run it against the grain and then along the grain on both side of the board. For strip wood I hold the soaked sponge and pull the strip wood through the sponge, squeezed between my fingers. That way it does not completely drench the wood and wind up getting less warpage and pulled grain which makes things fuzzy. You need a slightly stronger mix of AI and it is a little more messy on the hands (use rubber gloves).  When we soak wood in IA we are really damaging the grain bond, which is not really a problem for us modelers as we are not using the wood for strength for the most part.


Long story short, we use basswood in our kits as it provides the most "scale" like appearance with even grain and working properties.  If you have pine boards, several dryer coats of stain, drying between coats should even out the look. Either option for wood is fine, you just need to learn how to work the properties of each.


Cheers!


PS. My advice above is worth exactly as much as you paid for it!

[T.C.]

(QUOTE) As of late, I have been tending to "rub" on alcohol stain rather than soaking the wood in the stain. I like the effect. I do this with a soaked sponge and run it against the grain and then along the grain on both side of the board. For strip wood I hold the soaked sponge and pull the strip wood through the sponge, squeezed between my fingers. That way it does not completely drench the wood and wind up getting less warpage and pulled grain which makes things fuzzy.


That's exactly how I have been doing most of my staining, I didn't think about the sugar pine your probably rite about that.

Your talk about staining one side and then wood bows reminds me of my "U-controll " airplane building day's when I would wet the balsa on one side with water and ammonia and used rubber bands to hold it onto the form until dry so it would hold it's shape.WOW those were the good ole day's.
Thanks for the replies !
T.C.

[Rail and Tie]

(QUOTE)
Your talk about staining one side and then wood bows reminds me of my "U-controll " airplane building day's when I would wet the balsa on one side with water and ammonia and used rubber bands to hold it onto the form until dry so it would hold it's shape. WOW those were the good ole day's.
Thanks for the replies !
T.C.

Yup, windex and clamps works on basswood as well when you need a curved piece of wood!
... and I still build RC aircraft the same way with Balsa. Windex is a littles less vile to smell then straight ammonia. So the good ole days are still here!


Cheers!

[NEMMRRC]

I wonder does plastic get too brittle with age... You know, in case we want to hold on those Jordan kits for the next 30 years or so.


All the old FSM kits I've built did great. Of course some would say the way I build then they get old before I ever finish them 


Jaime

[T.C.]

(Quote)  I wonder does plastic get too brittle with age... You know, in case we want to hold on those Jordan kits for the next 30 years or so.
I would say it's a good possibility back in the late 60's-70's the plastics weren't like today's plastics .  I do sewing machine repair and the older Singer's with plastic gears will split and fall off the hub or turn into like a wax you can sink your finger nail into and just pick a tooth off.I cant really say about kit plastics like styrene though?

Although, I've had a few steering wheels and dash boards that got really sticky for some unknown reason?

"Quality Control" ..........HA!
T.C.