Build Diary: IB-4 (first build)

[Pat Rodgers]

Hey, fender3x, I'm not too great with stain either, by my initial results. My plan on staining and top coating come from looking at as many Youtube tutorials as I could stand

I'm about to post my progress from today, it did turn out fairly well after my 2nd coat of stain. I made sure to wipe it down almost immediately after applying it. (I use a fine-pore sponge to put it on).

Sanding is still something I'm shaky on, at least when it comes to how best to correct mistakes like machine marks and enhancing the grain. Once I'm done with a last coat to darken it even more, I will put on 2 or 3 coats of grain filler, depending on how smooth I can get it. I'm planning to use water-based grain filler, so I'm hoping it does not reactivate the stain. I'm going to let the stain set for 2 or 3 days in the hope that it will be okay. Maybe you know of a better way to seal in the stain? If I need to use a spray method, I will, but at the moment I plan to either foam brush it on, or rub it in with my fingers. After that, I plan to put a coat of sanding sealer (again, water based). Once that is sanded as smoothly as I can, then I will put on the water based varnish (2 or more coats, depending on how it goes). I will probably put the decal on right before the varnish.

I'm hoping I can do it all with foam brushing, but if you or others on here recommend against it then I will look at getting a sprayer.

Edit: The "spice" colour looks redder in person and on the Saman web site. These photos don't show it very well. After thinking about it, I definitely want to go darker with it, so hopefully the next coat will do the trick.

Sorry for such a long reply