Woodgraining Dash etc., need advise/materials

[Kenwood]

I have a 1931 SW 4 DR that needs to have the interior metal trim,/dash done in wood grain or whatever it is supposed to be. I'm not afraid of doing it myself. One reason is the car is just a driver so it it turns out to be a 7 out of 10 job it's better than contact paper that is on there now Looking for material to do the job and or colors or advise.
Ken

 

[Charles Coe]

Your trim and dash should be a mahogany wood grain. Grain-it technologies sells the supplies to do it yourself: www.woodgraining.com

Here's a link that TinCup recently posted showing the graining he did on his coupe using Grain-it's method. http://www.soonermodela.org/apps/photos/photo?photoid=188075735

 

[Ed in Maine]

Hello Kenwood, I have done some woodgraining in the past using a chopped up paint brush and with a little practice you can get something that is very acceptable. Maybe not show quality but for a driver, very good. Be very careful with your selection of the clear coat. I would use the same clear coats used by Grain-it Tech. I didn't! I was very happy with my job but now over the past winter (very cold in Maine), the clear coat separated from the base grain coat. The dash is all blotchy with lifted clear coat. I hope I can remove the clear coat without damaging the graining. I would spray sample coats to verify that the clear coat is compatible. Ed

 

[Tinbasher]

Here's what I use to do my woodgraining. I prep the part for paint and use a spray bomb of red oxide primer. You can get this colour in urethane these days instead of lacquer. Then I will finish the prep with 600 grit wet paper and get it nice and smooth. You now have your base colour. (RED) Then I take black bae coat and reduce it 200 - 300%. This will make it like water. then using a old ratty 1" brush, I brush out the brush on a piece of cardboard until it's almost dry. Then will smooth brush strokes I lay down the black in very thin coats until I get the effect I want. I find if you run the brush across the mldg. at about 30 degs. to the length it will give you a better look. After about 10 minutes you can apply your clear coat. 3 coats is usually best as it will give you a coat to flat down before you polish the finished pieces. I learn't this by watching a guy we had come into the shop to do the woodgraining. A little practice and you'll amaze yourself. The trick to really make it look like wood is to flat and polish the mldgs.

Hope this helps: The Old Tinbasher

 

[Mike V. Florida]

Look here for some methods,

http://www.goldcoastmodela.com/techtip.html

http://www.fordgarage.com/pages/woodgrain.htm