Painting graphics on plywood - advice

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Benjamin Maggi
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Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

I purchased one of the bulkhead riding kits and assembled it over the past month or so. Then, I painted it with two coats of Sherwin Williams all-surface enamel oil paint. The coats went on exactly a month apart, as timing would have it. The second coat has been on for 10 days. It is sitting in my garage in NY, which gets pretty toasty during the day. I figure the heat from the summer will help "bake" or set the paint. I purchased some reverse paint masks from Connie Miracle, which I will use to add some white graphics (lettering) to the car. I haven't ever used them before and I have a couple of questions.

How long should I wait to let the second coat of oil paint cure? I was thinking 3 weeks total.

I was going to apply stencils to both sides and mask the rest and then build up the white with several light coats of Krylon Gloss White (their spray can tips are so much better than Rustoleum tips) but I haven't ever done this before. Does this sound reasonable? After the final coat of white, should I remove the stencils immediately or let the white cure? And how long should I wait between coats of white spray paint?

I figure those of you who have built freight cars already have these answers. Thanks!
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
FLtenwheeler
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by FLtenwheeler »

It should work.

I use One-Shot paint for most of my stenciling. But I have also used PPG ALK200 for my latest project.

Tim
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makinsmoke
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by makinsmoke »

How much area are you talking about?
Can you use a stencil brush?

An airbrush or even Duplicolor from the auto store I think would be preferable to Krylon or Rustoleum. They go on pretty thick and more than one coat and drying time might make removing the stencils a job.

Just my two cents.
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by Kevin S »

I would wait roughly 15 between coats and remember to keep the coats light. You can remove the stencil about an hour after apply the last coat. You want the paint to be dry but still soft.
_Kevin S.
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

Can't use an airbrush as I don't have one. I could use a regular brush but I think I would bodge it up. I will use a spray can (rattle can), but if there are better brands than Krylon or Rustoleum I don't mind paying more. I only need one can total, so money isn't the issue. I just know Krylon has those nice tips ("EZ Touch") that seem to work really well.
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
pat1027
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by pat1027 »

The old HO guys always told me to wait until the smell was gone off the paint.

Harbor Freight has a cheap air brush. Stencil brushes are a few bucks at Hobby Lobby. A rattle can might spray a bit heavy for a stencil.
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Greg_Lewis
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by Greg_Lewis »

As others have said, pull the stencil before the paint is completely dry. I learned this the hard way and spent too much time with an Xacto knife cutting the paint away from the stencil at the edges of each letter.
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jcbrock
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by jcbrock »

pat1027 wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:06 pm Stencil brushes are a few bucks at Hobby Lobby. A rattle can might spray a bit heavy for a stencil.
This is the way I would go. Use a stencil brush. If you've never used one before, you hold the brush perpendicular to both your palette and the paint source. Dab it into the paint source with a tapping motion. You want to almost dry-brush it, so then tap the laden brush a few times on some scrap. Then tap it into the car side making sure to get it overlapped onto the stencil so the lettering is completely filled. You might have to come back over it several times to make it opaque, but you don't want to put a lot of paint on at one time because it'll increase the chance of bleeding under the stencil edge.

If I were spraying, I'd put the stencil on, then respray another layer of the body color so that fills any leakage spots, then come back and spray the lettering color. But really, I'd use a stencil brush. This is what they're for.
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chiloquinruss
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by chiloquinruss »

When doing stenciling over a wood base I use a very, very light coat of rattle can CLEAR to help seal the edge of the stencil. Let that dry a little then do whatever color paint method you like. If there is ANY bleed under the stencil edge it will be CLEAR. Russ
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

Thanks Russ. That sounds like a great idea!
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
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makinsmoke
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by makinsmoke »

B,
May be late, but here is a post on painting stencils on wood:

http://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vie ... 9&start=12
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Benjamin Maggi
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Re: Painting graphics on plywood - advice

Post by Benjamin Maggi »

Thanks. As an update, even though the painted plywood feels pretty smooth the vinyl stencils wouldn't stick. Whenever I tried to peel off the backer paper the blue vinyl stencil came off too. Metal would be smoother and allow for a greater bond, but not here. I will need to come up with another idea.
"One cannot learn to swim without getting his feet wet." - Benjamin Maggi
- Building: 7.25" gauge "Sweet Pea" named "Catherine"
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