I actually did test a piece of wood, but my suspicions are that the varnish didn’t take to glue spots, and whereas the stain looked good on a small clean piece of wood, it looked hopelessly dark for ‘scale’ on the real thing.

As you say, they'll be days like this...and hey, my second attempt at the cabin will have the benefit of lessons learned.

Loved that video, Stephen.

David, From page 4 of my Spielberg Movie with a Shark Mouth, "For the weathered wood effect, I thinned Grumbacher Raw Umber Oil Color with 90% Isopropyl Alcohol. The Iso evaporates quickly and won't warp the wood. It doesn't stink as much as Mineral Spirits either." Repeated coats make it darker. I find better control than varnish. I see the glue prevented the varnish from soaking in, but maybe try this technique on your next go round.

If you used white PVA glue and it dries on the wood surface, you can try wetting it to dissolve the glue and scrubbing it with a scotch brite pad or sandpaper to expose the wood grain. Too late this time, but for future reference.

And remember, "it could be worse, it could be raining".

@lgardner - boy you hit the mark with Python’s holy grenade. That said, no harm, no foul. Puts me ‘fourth down and inches’ with my schedule, though.

Modelling is always like this! It’s great because we can’t control everything! Show me the modeller who has built a single thing that didn’t throw them a curve-balI at some point and, well you know the rest. I was sad to see your setback, but am beyond confident you’ll deal with it and this will turn out even better for the experience. Kudos again for taking on something outside your comfort zone. When I see the efforts of the small group of people on iM that build from scratch, even in part, I think it is the pinnacle. Just keep swimming (I think - given your subject).

Another thought for abase sealer, if you’re willing to paint the wood texture, would be artist gesso. I used it to seal basswood decoys for years and it works great.

I don't remember the deck color of Orca - suspect most of the rest of the interior was painted but that the deck wore down to wood showing through worn paint. I did try a new "wood grain" technique on a build recently with oils, and did a demo of it at our last club meeting. One advantage is that you base coat with a good paint (I used Tamiya), so whatever you used to glue the wood doesn't matter. Take it or leave it, but I've created a PDF of the process I found on the web, uploaded to dropbox, and here's a link if you want to have a look: https://www.dropbox.com/s/gtguusgfogbm2w4/Woodgrain%20Painting%20Technique.pdf?dl=0

I am glad the neocortex won out over the limbic system in the little tug-o-war that ensued!

That's a great tutorial, Greg. I am definitely going to experiment with that; clear, straightforward and effective.

"I am glad the neocortex won out over the limbic system in the little tug-o-war that ensued!" - that is EXACTLY the little psychodrama that played out.

Thanks for such a thoughtful and helpful post, Greg.

@gkittinger

Ah, a gift from Davis - what could this well timed bounty be...

"He can't stay down with three barrels...not with three barrels he can't".