Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Wet Sanding Part 1

A few things to consider about wet sanding:
You can leave wet/dry sandpaper in water, even overnight before sanding. It won't ruin the sandpaper.
I wet sand using water. Some use water with a drop of soap, some even use light oil.

While some have had good results, I don't wet sand filler or primer coats.
Carpenter's Wood Filler is water based, it does not seal wood fins, the nose cone or body tube. Wet sanding over CWF will break down the filler. The water will get into the tube and swell the wood.

  • I usually wet sand after using color coats that have fully covered and sealed the surfaces.
  • I lightly wet sand with 400 grit and finer sandpapers. Wet/Dry sandpaper is black in color.
  • Keeping the sandpaper wet prevents it from getting loaded up with the surface paint that's removed from the model.

You should be able to wet sand a rocket the size of a Big Bertha with one small 1" X 3" piece of 400 grit sandpaper!

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