1934 J-Class Endeavour painting advice

[JamesG]

I'm currently building the Amati 1:80 Endeavour and have completed the hull and mast so need to apply paint and finishes. Does anyone who's built the kit before have advice for what paints I should be using? I was wondering if a basic spray can primer with some sanding work well enough, on top of that I don't know what sort of paint I should be looking for, enamel or acrylic, and matt, satin or gloss? I'll also be going with the natural wood on the lower half of the hull, so far I've considered tung oil and linseed oil, or is there something better I could use? Should I also use some sort of clear top coat to cover the whole hull after painting?

 

It's a lot of questions, unfortunately I've not been able to find a lot of information through my own research.

[vossiewulf]

The only problem with spray cans is they distribute paint in firehose fashion, nearly impossible to get a light wet coat like you want with them, it always seems to turn into a very heavy coat for me.

 

So I'd recommend an airbrush if you have one. If you don't, go with the spray cans and try to use as much control as you can.

 

Any paint will work, and preferences vary even more than glue types people use. First, sand the hull out to 400 grit. Spray primer, give it a week to dry. Take 1500 grit and go over everything lightly until you have a nice smooth base. If you burn through the primer in a few places, not a big deal. Then paint and sand, and clear coat, sand, and final clear coat. Sanding between coats is very important to a good level finish. 

 

Since you want a very smooth glossy finish for a racing boat, you can spray several clear coats, sanding between. After the third coat you should be able to fully level the surface. Once the surface is levelled, start using finer and finer sandpaper, working up to 2500 grit or so. If you want even more gloss, you move from there to polishing compounds, either for car finishes or jewelers have all sorts of polishing compounds also. With a little patience, you can make things quite shiny. Below is a glider I made for a friend's son using these methods.

 

[JamesG]

Thanks for the advice, sounds like a good method for me to try! Unfortunately no airbrush and I would prefer to hold off on one until I have more experience, this is only my second model. If I go with spray cans I'll definitely be careful with how thick it gets, otherwise I could invest in a good quality wide brush. Thanks again, much appreciated.