Bob Cleek

3M "Fine Line" masking tape is an excellent purpose-designed solution. This polypropylene tape guarantees razor sharp edges on curved surfaces. It's a staple in the automotive painting industry. It comes in a variety of widths. Paint the white boot stripe, let dry well, then apply the tape in the width to match your boot line. Spray the black above and the red below, using regular masking tape on top of the fine line tape to mask the top and bottom colors. Remove the fine line and you'll have a perfect white boot line. Sold by all body and fender repair supply houses. https://www.amazon.com/Scotch-Fine-Line-Tape-Sand/dp/B00548SEWO/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=3m+fine+line+tape&qid=1590569745&sr=8-6 It's a bit pricey, but a roll will last you a long time. As with all masking tape, an opened roll with the cellophane wrapper off of it should never be laid on its side anywhere. It should live in a ziploc plastic bag and never come out except to be used and then immediately replaced. Laying a roll of masking tape down on the edges of the tape will cause it to pick up dust and dirt on the edges, some of which can be practically microscopic. That dust and dirt will guarantee runs under the edge and "bumpy" demarcation lines.

That sounds exactly like the way it's done on full sized decks! In real life, the tar is heated, just like "hot mop" roofing tar, and placed in a purpose-made ladle with a long spout on it, or a #10 tin can with the edge bent to a spout if you don't do enough of it to make buying a paying ladle worthwhile. The hot tar is poured into the seams with a bit of overflow around the edges. After it solidifies to a rubbery consistence, a sharp broad chisel or even a razor blade in a scraper, is run down each seam to trim the excess stopping off level with the plank edges. If the job was to be done "Bristol fashion," the deck would then be sanded or holystoned to clean up the decks where the stopping had gone over the edges. Otherwise, it would just be left to wear off. On smaller yacht decks, we'd tape the seam edges, if not the entire deck, which solved the problem of the stopping getting all over the deck. On big ships in the old days, they didn't bother with that. The really nice thing about marine glue is that if for whatever reason the stopping pulled loose from the edges of the planks, it was a simple matter to "spot heat" it so it flowed back and stuck to the plank edges. With the modern polysulfide goops, you have to clean out the whole seam and refill the stopping.

Yeah, but was organic, water-based, and environmentally friendly! Not that nasty old-fashioned stuff made out of tree sap, vegetable oil, and chalk. Doesn't that give you a warm satisfied feeling that you're saving the earth?

It is indeed disappointing, but such errors are one of the drawbacks of kits generally. It's very difficult for anyone starting out to discern which kits are the really good ones. Fortunately, MSW contains a lot of information on kit quality that is invaluable in that regard. Kits provide valuable experience to one degree or another and, at some point, one realizes they've built enough kits that they can "ride a two-wheeler without training wheels" and start seriously kit-bashing and scratch-building. In the grand scheme of things, it's a very small detail. Frankly, nobody other than an eagle-eyed modeling wonk is ever going to notice it and I'm sure to uninitiated eyes it will appear just as it ought to be. In fact, from an artistic perspective, the exaggeration of something that's supposed to be there but otherwise can't be seen at scale may well satisfy the eye of the beholder. Don't let it discourage you! Our first models are never out best. Modeling is a process and it would quickly get boring if each successive model we build doesn't pose new challenges and new opportunities to "beat our personal best." Perfection is probably impossible, but the exercise of pursuing it offers continuing satisfaction from a hobby that can keep one interested for a lifetime. Do the best you can with her, as you obviously are. The care you are taking with this one shows you've got what it takes. Models are like a lot of things. You'll always cherish the memory of your first one, but you'll get a lot better at it the more you do it.

I must say that seam stopping ("grout" is plaster that is spread between tiles) does look extremely realistic, the out of scale grain figuring notwithstanding. How did you accomplish this effect? I can't imagine you cooked the "tar" (the actual term is "marine glue," actually, though it's not a glue at all, but a concoction of tar and rubber) and then paid the seams with the resulting liquid out of a tiny seam stopping ladle! https://www.fisheriessupply.com/davey-and-co-jeffery-s-no-2-black-marine-glue-deck-caulking-compound

"The included instructions had me pencil in the lines and dots before the shellac went on. I don't really want to completely refinish the deck, (unless you think its a good idea), so I will try and scrape/sand it off first, or ill try the Goof Off. Can you explain what you mean by "reconsider your planking length and butt spacing?" Again, I am just following instructions. Did I do something poorly?" It's good that you shellacked over the pencil marks. That will prevent the pencil lead from smearing if you try to remove the tape adhesive with solvent. I'd try the solvent, Goof Off or acetone, first. The adhesive will probably wipe off easily. If not, then try scraping. Scraping is the more radical option. If you need to, you can always scrape and sand the surface down to bare wood and refinish the whole thing. You wouldn't be the first of us who's done that. (Don't ask me how I know this! ) Well, it's not that big of a deal, but black dots don't represent the appearance of a laid wooden deck. Metal fastenings through the planks into the deck beams are always covered with a wooden plug of the same species of wood used for the planking, or fastened with trunnels (pegs) and, from a distance, are virtually invisible. I don't know why the instructions would have one represent deck planking fastenings with a black pencil dot. Metal fastenings are always set deeply into the deck planks and plugged with wood so that fastenings, which were often iron on older ships would not rust and would not stand proud when the deck wore down some. If trunnels (wooden pegs) were used to fasten the deck planks, they were wood-colored and not black. (Trunnels were often made of a slightly darker wood of a different species, frequently of locust.) The wood plugs or trunnels also permitted the decks to be "holystoned," that being "sanded" clean with flat stones having a hole in the center which permitted a long handle to be inserted so they could be swung back and forth like a mop. This kept decks, which were often covered with tar dripping from the rigging aloft, particularly in the heat of the tropics, clean, but at the cost of considerable abrasion of the wood over time. Holystoning wouldn't be possible if nail heads were standing proud of the surface of the deck. As for the planking, I'm not certain of the scale of your model, and it is a somewhat esoteric detail which may not matter to you at this point in your modeling, but there are scale considerations with plank length. How long would the average deck plank be on your vessel? The longer the better. Planking stock was rarely longer than twenty-four to thirty feet long because that was the limit of what could be gotten out of the tree. A deck would not be planked with six foot planks. The distance between the planking butts (ends) should be somewhere in the range of 18' to 24'. On the model, that should be reflected in the applicable scale size. The length is significant because it affects the butt spacing in the same way bricks are laid so the vertical joints are staggered. If the plank butts all were placed on the same deck beam, that would be a very weak deck at that point. If the planks are staggered "like bricks in a wall" so that the butts are all as far apart as possible on each deck beam, that will yield the strongest deck structure possible. There are methods of laying out the deck planking to "stagger the butts." The below thread explains the methods of laying out deck planking in great detail. This is a small detail and failing to do it correctly doesn't "ruin" a model at all, but it is good to remember that a model is a collection of small details which make up a whole. The more small details that are done right, the better the model.

I think that is very true to some extent. I've restored a couple of old apparently sailor-made models and have one "in the on deck circle" in my shop right now. I believe it's of the Archibald Russell, although I haven't gotten around to researching it enough to be sure. It's my impression that it isn't so much that the sail area is proportionately larger, but that the rig is perfectly accurate in terms of overall scale and the run of the lines, but details like blocks are over-scale, and the detail of the hull is wanting, particularly below the waterline. Sailors didn't often see the underwater parts of their ships, of course. While their work aloft gave them a good recall of the run of the rigging, but in the top hamper deprived them of an overall sense of proportion of various details, like blocks. I'd say, though, that however crudely executed the model might be, if the rigging is right, it's probably a sailor-made model.

1. The problem of securing planks to deck beams can be addressed in a variety of ways. a) You can drill a small hole in the plank where a trunnel would be set and use a push-pin through that hole to temporarily hold the plank against the deck beam until the glue dries. Then plug the hole with a tiny wooden peg of the same material as the plank. (Drilling a small hole first prevents splitting when the tack is placed.) b) You can use a small dot of fast-curing CA adhesive ("Super Glue") on each deck beam with wood glue on either side of it to "tack" the plank to the deck beam. The wood glue will then dry while the CA holds it and will provide the primary bond. c) You can glue the planks as you have done, but also drill small holes through the plank and into the beam and drive scale trunnels into the holes to hold the planks down. The trunnels have to be sized to fit tightly into the holes. When water-based wood glue is applied to the small trunnel pegs, they will swell slightly when the water is absorbed and hold the plank fast. This method is tricky and will take some experimenting to master. d) You can glue the planks as you have done with wood glue and use a plank bending iron or similar heat source to heat the top of the plank above each deck beam. The heat will cause the wood glue to harden and hold very quickly. Care must be taken not to scorch the top of the plank, of course. I'm not sure what sort of tape it was that transferred to the deck planks, but it's adhesive is probably soluble in acetone or "Goof Off," a solvent sold in paint stores to remove paint splatters. "Goof Off" is great stuff for modeling purposes. It will remove most paints and varnishes and works well for cleaning air brushes, etc. It is much less aggressive than acetone and won't eat down into painted surfaces below the paint you want to clean off of them. Try a bit of "Goof Off" on a soft cloth and see if that removes the tape adhesive that has transferred to the deck surface. It that doesn't work, exercise the "thermonuclear option" and wipe it off with a soft cloth with acetone on it. Do this in a well ventilated place and be aware that acetone fumes are explosive, so keep it away from open flames. Lighter fluid can also be used instead of acetone. (Carbon tetrachloride ("cleaning fluid") also works great, but it's not readily obtainable anymore due to its toxicity.) The dried shellac should be impervious to these solvents, but you should take a scrap piece of planking stock and shellac it, then test the solvent on that piece when the shellac dries to make sure the solvent isn't going to damage the shellacked surface. Also, if you put the pencil marking for the seams and fasteners on after the shellac, test this in a similar fashion to make sure the solvent won't spread the pencil lead all over the deck surface and make a huge mess. If there weren't so much pencil lead on the surface, I'd say that the tape adhesive could easily be removed along with the shellac beneath it by simply applying alcohol to the shellacked surface and wiping it all off and reapplying the shellac, but I fear doing so would end up spreading a mixture of alcohol, shellac, and pencil lead all over the surface which would probably end up requiring the whole surface to be sanded clean to repair that mess. Alternately, you can lightly sand, or better yet, lightly scrape with a sharp edged blade, the deck surface to remove the tape adhesive and see if that works. Additional thinned shellac can be applied over the scraped area. This will take some care. You can also sand or scrape the entire deck, removing the pencil-marked plank butts and fastener "dots" and refinish the deck entirely. This would permit you to reconsider your planking length and butt spacing, which can be determined by use of standard construction practices. (Use the search engine here to find discussions on plank length and plank butt spacing.) Plank fasteners would never be black, as you've depicted them, but rather would be wooden, being either trunnels (pegs) or metal fasteners (spikes or screws) in counterbored holes covered with wooden plugs. From a scale distance, these would be invisible. Their appearance can also be faked by using a piece of scale metal tubing (the diameter of the plug you want to mimic) with its edge sharpened. The tubing is tapped with a small hammer to create a light circular indentation which appears as a plug on the face of the plank. Some obsessive-compulsive modelers have gone so far as to employ this technique using hypodermic needles to obtain very tiny "plugs." 2) There's no problem whatsoever with excess glue in places where it doesn't show. In fact, the structure of a bulkheaded model can be considerably stiffened and strengthened by applying generous fillets of glue or epoxy at all hidden joint angles where the backbone and bulkheads meet anything else, particularly the sub-decking. Hope this helps!

That's a good point. Scale distance is a major factor in coloring. Subtle is good. It's a matter of the modeler's taste and judgment. You can be sure I've seen my share of planked decks from every angle. Indeed, I've paid more than my share of deck seams. Some of the most common errors in today's models involve over-scale details like deck seams, timber joints, trunnels and plugs, and copper plating tacks.

An artist's jet black sketching pencil often looks better than the grey lead of a writing pencil, which often looks like, well... a pencil line.

Tung oil does have a nice aroma. The "boiled" tung oil, as with "boiled" linseed oil, isn't really boiled. It has Japan drier (cobalt, manganese) added to it to speed polymerization.

Quite astounding. I also am interested to know the history of the model. I note that it's a waterline model and appears to have casters on the bottom. Might it have been built as a movie prop? There was a television series, The Gale Storm Show, which was about a cruise director on the Cleveland or Wilson, but I can't recall which. That show ended in 1960. She was later used in other films, as well. I remember my father mentioning when they would make movies aboard her. My father worked for Dollar Steamship before the war and then for Dollar's successor, American President Lines, in all for over forty years. He was an accountant in the home office in San Francisco. As was the custom of the time, he got me summer job working there as well in high school. I was aboard the President Cleveland, President Wilson, and President Roosevelt, APL's passenger liners, many times. When I was in grammar school, when my father had the "weekend duty" and one of the liners would come in, he'd go down to the ship and clear the purser's books on board and he'd often bring me along. An ice cream sundae in the galley was the highlight of those trips. When I worked in the summer for APL, another fellow and I would make the run from the foreign exchange bank to the ships and bring the foreign cash aboard for the foreign cruises. You might think it was a high security job with lots of armed guards, but in fact it was just two young guys pushing hand trucks with nondescript metal boxes on them from a van and up the gangway. It was very low key, so nobody really knew who we were or what we were doing until we were aboard. I still have a champagne ice bucket with the APL logo on it off of one of the liners. As you probably know, the Cleveland and Wilson were laid down by Bethlehem Steel in Alameda during the war, designed as very high speed troop transports for the Navy. The builds were cancelled later and they were then redesigned as passenger liners. APL operated them on a charter for MARAD. They were great ships and, in my opinion, quite beautiful. Please do keep us up to date on your project ! As I remember her. She'd carry passengers' cars on the Hawaii runs, seen here parked on the dock after off loading from the forward cargo hold. Note the cargo nets over the side. This photo was in the days before intermodal cargo containers.

You need a bigger workbench! Or not. Get two tables the same height and spread them as far apart as you want. You can also simply clamp a plank longer than your workbench to its top and put your ropewalk ends at either end of the plank. Or am I missing something here?

The thicker the thread, the thicker the rope. The easiest is to buy heavier thread for your layup. You can also double or triple the number of threads you attach to each hook. Just make sure the tension of the multiple thread strands is equal on each hook. If you read this section on ropemaking, you will find charts of formulae, recipes, if you will, for making different thicknesses of rope.

Try shellac and see if you like it. It dries in less than 20 minutes and less if you blow on it. It is not toxic at all. It's edible, save for the denatured alcohol, and used in candy manufacturing. It sands easily once dry and a perfectly smooth surface is easily obtained. It's also used as a fine furniture finish. Not to mention that it's far less costly than any of its equivalents. Tung oil is fine for making traditional varnish, but in raw form, it takes a long time to dry. (It doesn't really dry. As an oil, it "polymerizes," if that's the right term for it.) In order to speed drying, "driers" are often added. These are seriously hazardous heavy metals, although less so in the small amounts used for that purpose. I agree that there are many options and that "technology has moved on, " but often while that technology may offer ease of use or other consumer-enticing qualities, its toxicity, compatibility with other finishes, and longevity may be in question. Just sayin'. Everybody's mileage seems to differ these days, it seems. Pick your poison.

Probably because a lot of plastic kit builders don't realize that and keep searching for "chain" in the scale of their models. Maybe they found that "doing the math" to convert "links per inch" to various scales was above a lot of their customer's pay grades.

Beyond what I said above, I've got no more information on David Goodchild. These days, I have to remind myself more and more frequently that people I've known for years are getting older, too. A lot of them were older than I in the first place. "Whatever happened to Charlie?... Oh, he died a couple of years ago." is sadly a common experience for me these days. The last time he "dropped off the radar" a few years ago, some of us who had done business with him over the years were hoping somebody would take over his business. I think it's pretty much a "one man show," but his catalog was amazing and from all indications was always thriving. Also, I believe he did not maintain any inventory of printed books, but rather produced each reprint on demand as it was ordered. I'm not sure how what technology he used, but his books were not photocopies of the original, but rather separately typeset bound volumes. The process was that an order would come in and he'd have the copy printed and bound and then sent out. I'm not positive, but I don't think he was doing the printing in house. It's also entirely possible that the local pandemic restrictions shut down his printing operation. He lives, or used to live, in the suburbs of Philadelphia, as I recall. I don't know what the pandemic situation is there right now. Like a lot of businesses, he may simply be shut down due to the pandemic. Your order would have been right around the time the "lock downs" started and it may have been stuck in the pipeline. If it's any consolation, The David Goodchild I know would never take somebody's money and skip out. There's got to be an explanation there somewhere.

I've used WordPerfect in my law practice since the mid-eighties. I'm now using version 7.0, IIRC. It has been expanded greatly over the years and remains head and shoulders above any other word processing program. There are no longer any translation problems with MSWord, although formatting is sometimes problematic. The only complaint I have is that I'd memorized all the DOS commands to operate it and then they went to a "windows" icon-based control model. There is, however, an option for operating the new versions in an "old version" mode if one wants to keep using the DOS commands. I went over to the icons gradually. It does so much now that it's not humanly possible to remember all the old keystroke commands (which still work in the newer versions.) It's a great program. It will now automatically generate tables of contents and indexes if you want it to.

Check this site: http://www.dngoodchild.com/ David Goodchild operates The Press at Toad Hall, part of which is The Shellbacks Library. I made David's acquaintance perhaps twenty-five years ago. His publications are beautifully done reprints of out-of-print works. The Shellbacks Library contains his maritime offerings, including many books on ship modeling. David's website went down a few years ago and I heard several reports of orders not being shipped. It later turned out he was reportedly very ill for some time. He reappeared last year with a refreshed and expanded website and appears to be back at it. Perhaps you can connect with him through his main portal above. Keep in mind that with the pandemic right now, shipping has become quite a bit slower than before. Within the US, there are fewer planes in the air and the carriers are shipping by truck. What used to take two or three days to get is now taking two or three weeks sometimes. David's a very nice fellow and very knowledgeable when it comes to maritime books. I do hope he's well.

Okay, I'm sure this won't violate any of Chuck's trade secrets: The big question is "Does anybody know where to get the best price on tiny point cutting roundover bits? Amana makes them in radii of 1/8", 3/32", 1/16", and 1/32", which will give you blocks with rounded ends of twice that, or 1/4", 3/16", 1/8", and 1/16", although I doubt anybody would have the nerve to try to make 1/16" blocks! (At 1:48, a 1/4" block would have a sheave diameter of a foot.) https://www.amanatool.com/products/router-bits/grooving-router-bits/point-cutting-roundover-router-bits.html The problem is that these suckers average around fifty bucks a piece, so to get a range of the larger three sizes (forget about 1/16",) is going to cost about $150. It would take a lot of block-making to justify that cost. Does anybody know of a "hack" for getting the same result without paying fifty bucks for a two inch by one quarter bit? Can small bits be made in the shop? Could the shape be made by a scraper? Any thoughts are welcome!

I covered the same ground some time back in an attempt to "reverse engineer" "Chucky blocks" and had some questions. I ended up PMing Chuck to ask where his tutorial was. He explained that it had been lost in the "Great Crash" along with a lot of other forum data. He apologized graciously when declining to divulge his "trade secrets" and I assured him I completely understood his position. Chucky blocks are, of course, his "rice bowl." I did eventually devise a method producing similar results to his, but I can't imagine my process could ever serve for large scale production manufacturing of the little buggers. It's a labor of love and no way to make a living the way I devised to do it. While I don't know Chuck's secret, I can share that there are a couple of very clever block mass-production methods set out in great detail in Antonio Mendez's William Frederick's (1874) Scale Journey: A Scratchbuilder's Evolutionary Development, a book well worth buying for the very reasonable bargain prices it's selling for these days. https://www.amazon.com/William-Fredericks-Scale-Journey-Scratchbuilders/dp/0975577204 Like Chuck's method, or what I was able to see of it in the available posts, Mendez's approach requires construction of boxes and jigs for each size and type of block. Mendez's method, at least for a bit larger blocks (1/2" scale,) provides a method for shaping near-true elliptically-shaped blocks as well as blocks with curved cheek faces if you are interested in those. All of Mendez's blocks contain working sheaves, too, although his process is easily adapted to just drilling holes for faux sheaves. (A lot of Mendez's book is about techniques for building working sailing models.) Mendez uses a blank-holding box magazine on a disk sander to shape the radii on his blocks. Chuck uses a round-over bit in a mill. (Or a drill press with an X-Y table or the shop made equivalent.) That's the basic difference in their two methods. No matter how you cut it, making blocks is a tedious process. Chuck's real secret is how he manages to do it on a production basis and make enough to sell that it's worth his time to make them. You won't ever appreciate Chuck's skill until you try it yourself!

Yes. Finishing wood has become one of those things like mousetraps, everybody's trying to market a better one. At best, they haven't come up with much of anything better than the old tried and true methods. (Although some of the polyurethane "bar varnishes" are remarkably durable.) Norm Abram was always touting Minwax's "wipe on poly" finishes on his New Yankee Workshop, along with all the newest Delta stationary power tools. The show's sponsors were, you guessed it, Delta and Minwax. Nothing wrong with Minwax wipe on poly if you don't mind paying the same price for half as much expensive material cut with cheap paint thinner. That kind of marketing would get a dope dealer whacked in a hot minute. Woodworkers are more easily duped than junkies are, I guess. By the way, I seal all my wood and card material on models with shellac. It's a very good moisture barrier which minimizes wood movement when the ambient humidity changes. Softwoods like basswood can be sanded after sealing with shellac and will not leave a "fuzzed" surface. Shellac stiffens paper and card stock and prevents adhesive "bleed-through." It's what confectioners use to make jelly beans and M&M's shiny, too. Shellac has lots of uses.

IIRC, Chapelle's Boatbuilding has an appendix of sorts with reproductions from the Wilcox-Crittenden or Merriman catalog showing the sort of blocks used on yachts for the first half of the Twentieth Century. They were internally bronze-stropped with ash, oak, teak, or lignam vitae cheeks and bronze sheaves. Workboat blocks were similar, but of rougher finish. They had galvanized steel strops, sometimes external, and galvanized sheaves and ash or oak cheeks which weren't as rounded over on their edges. For a variety of reasons, often economic, rope stropped blocks of various shapes continued in use as well, as they have to the present day. Cast bronze blocks in quite small sizes as well as cast bronze cheek blocks were also used. They weren't used in larger sizes due to safety and weight-aloft considerations.

To summarize, there are different approaches. The easiest and most fool-proof is shellac. Varnishes and sealers are messy and can leave brush strokes if you don't know what you're doing. Most cost a lot more than shellac and denatured alcohol and have much shorter shelf-lives. Do this and you shouldn't have any problems: Get the Zinsser clear shellac and a quart or gallon of denatured alcohol at the paint or hardware store. (Save the Amazon shipping.) Stir the shellac in the can before use. Use a brush to apply it. Apply full strength out of the can to some scrap wood of the same species as what you intent to seal on the model. Just apply generously, or even just dip it in the can and shake/wipe off the excess. It is the consistency of water and will soak right into the wood. Let it dry (a few minutes) and see if it looks okay. If you think it's too thick, add some denatured alcohol to some shellac and repeat the testing process. Make sure the surface is totally clean before applying any finish. Use a "tack rag" from the paint or hardware store to pick up the dust. Keep the tack rag in a zip-lock plastic bag and it will last a long time. You can also use a bit of masking tape to pick up dust with the sticky side. When you have it like you want, apply to your model with the brush. If you have properly prepared the wood surface prior to applying the shellac, you shouldn't need to do anything more for the finish. If it is too glossy (applied too thickly,) the excess shellac can easily be removed at any time with denatured alcohol. If the surface was dusty, you can rub the sealed surface with rottenstone and pummice, bronze wool, or a scotchbrite pad. (Bronze wool avoids the rust problems of steel wool, for a price.) Clean your brush with denatured alcohol. Take care in cleaning the edge of the can and lid and replace the lid well. If your shellac ever thickens, you can easily thin it by adding more denatured alcohol. There's no risk to your health using these materials. You should have no concern about adhesives sticking to a surface sealed with shellac. In any event, all parts of a wood and metal model should to the greatest extent possible be secured not only by an adhesive, but also by some sort of mechanical fastening. This is usually a small peg set with glue into a drilled hole. Shellac is also very good for sealing rigging knots and stiffening rigging lines and coils of rope so it hangs naturally on the model. An application of denatured alcohol will easily soften the dried shellac to permit untying if need be. (Unlike other adhesives!)

Shellac can also be used as a filler if one doesn't mind rubbing the built-up gloss down with rottenstone and pummice, fine metal wool, or a Scotchbrite pad. Note that "orange" shellac will darken as additional coats are applied. "Clear" or "bleached" shellac remains clear regardless of the number of coats. I'd be hesitant to put plaster of Paris into shellac to produce a filler unless one were going to paint over it. The plaster is white. Like Jaager, I'm also very partial to shellac for all its versatile uses in modeling.