Re: [ATM] painting plywood

[Guy Brandenburg <gfbrandenburg@yahoo.com>]

I find that painted softwood plywood works fine. Just
doesn't look as wonderful as varnished Appleply.
Otherwise, no difference at all. You can re-paint as
often, or as seldom, as you please. And if it's cheap
plywood, you won't care so much when it gets that
first scrape or ding.

There is also no reason not to paint little stars or
stripes and such, nor to 'applique' cartoons and such,
if you want. Hey - it's your scope - decorate it the
way you like. If you have money to burn, you could
take it to your local shop that deals with airbrushing
designs of nearly-naked girls (or boys or angels or
whales or whatever) on the sides of Astrovans, and
have them compose a masterpiece on the sides of your
scope. (If you have such places down Undah.) Or else,
after using some light-colored paint, you could write,
uwing a magic marker or a fine paintbrush, little
tables that give you exactly the magnification you
will get from each of your eyepieces, so that
information is easily available. Or, you could even
have labels saying "look here" or "this is a
finderscope" or "the mirror is down here". If you
want. Here in the eastern half of the US, it's
important to have a paint or varnish that will repel
dew. Donno if that's a problem in your part of
Australia.

But the most important thing IMO is to make it a good
telescope to look THROUGH. I know some prefer a scope
that is good to look AT, but IMHO, that's less
important.

Guy

--- Ken Hunter <atm_ken_hunter@yahoo.com> wrote:

> Rod...
>  
> I would suggest that you save the costs and
> frustration of trying to improve cheap plywood and
> use that money saved to buy some premium grade wood.
> Sometimes economy doesn't save you any money.
>  
> Ken Hunter
>  
> 
> 
> Rod Brackenridge <rjbr@lycos.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I am building a flex rocker for a 12 inch F5 and
> using Structural grade CD ply. I think it would be
> best to paint the ply rather than varnish it due to
> some voids and surface roughness. I have used gloss
> enamel before but found it chips easily. Do you
> think a water based paint (such as used on house
> exteriors) would be adequate for this job? If not
> what would you suggest?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Rod Brackenridge
> Mt Martha
> AUSTRALIA


Guy  Brandenburg
Washington, DC
My home page:
http://home.earthlink.net/~gfbranden/GFB_Home_Page.html
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