It may seem strange but I never worked with balsa wood before

Are there some things I should be aware if when I use this material? in the sence of using glue, wat can and can't be done with balsa, how to paint etc.

The more info the better,

Tnx

#:-)

Roadkill
Balsa is a very easy wood to use - it is very soft and easily cut. Those are both the 'pros' and 'cons' of the wood. I use it for a wide range of things. I prefer to use the strips of it rather than the wide 'boards'.
The draw backs are that it is soft and can be easily overcut or over worked if 'damaging' or weathering it. It is very absorbant and will warp easily if you apply to much liquid to it. This is particularly nasty if you apply putty or spackle as a wall cover agent. The spackle has a lot of water and will make it warp and it will ruin the wall.
As you may have seen on posts with balsa as a topic the alternative to balsa is bass wood. It is usually sold right next to balsa wood in hobby stores. Bass is more dense and less prone to warping and to overworking. It is a bit stiffer and a bit harder making it better for carving and shaping. It is a bit more expensive than balsa. If I can I try to get bass wood over balsa (but sometimes its out of stock or not available in the size I need).
I use white glue for both, sometime 5 minute expoxy. I stain both with household stains or paint with whatever I have available, hobby tempra paints (water based) to Tamiya, to Testors. Whatever is there. Balsa absorbes a lot of paint so be ready for a couple of coats depending on use. The grain of balsa can raise a bit after painting/staining, I will rub it down with steel wool to smooth it down again. Then reapply a new coat of paint/stain.
Be careful with white glue application - don't get to much outside your joint. The white glue will not 'look' like wood once you paint it. Any extra glue will stand out after painting or staining. Kinda hard to explain, try taking a scrap piece - put drop of white glue in the middle. Let it dry and paint it you'll see what I mean.
Hope this helps.

Ronnie,
Balsa is very soft and easy to cut, almost like cardboard or paper. I refer to Slodder's post about disadvantages.
For general purpose, I prefer to build with polystyrene. I only use balsa to simulate.... wood !
I only use it for that, but it is excellent for that purpose.
Jan

I prefer Basswood to balsa. It's more dense & doesn't "Frizz" as much. Not to mention my second hobby is woodworking so I have most of the tools to make the size I need.

Matt

I did the structural framework of my conteset dio in 1/8x1/8 balsa strips and all I did was use a Minwax walnut stain, and at first I was using white glue but it took seemingly forever to dry. I moved to superglue which held extremely well, I was surprised at how well the superglue worked with the balsa. But I don't use it as much as many other people so I'd listen to their advice.

You can harden the surface of balsa wood if you have carved something out of it, to make painting easier, by 'impregnating it with large amounts of either balsa cement or polystyrene cement, just spread a big dollop of it over your masterpiece and work it into the wood, which is pretty porous, as it isn't very dense.
As an alternative to actually using Balsa in your finished model, you can use it to carve a mould for 'vac-forming'. Useful for aircraft canopies etc. Simply carve the required shape from a block of reasonably solid balsa, then press it into a block of DAS modelling clay. then you will have a workable 'vac-forming' mould. Attach a sheet of discarded transparent 'blister pack' material to the DAS bit of your mould and secure it with dressmaking pins pushed into the DAS clay at fairly close intervals around the 'entrance' to your mould. Heat up the blister pack material with a hair dryer or heat gun and when it goes soft, push your wooden carving into the mould. Let it cool, take it all apart and hey presto! a 'vac-formed' part! Remember to add a bit to any parts you need to make to allow for cutting waste away if you try this though. I have successfully used this method to produce the nose glazing on a scratch built large scale B17 in the past, which gives you some idea of how useful the technique can be, and how useful balsa is.
Amen to using it for wood in dioramas too! There is no substitute for the real thing! Scorched timbers in bombed out houses, floorboards, dropsides for military trucks, large scale scratch-built figures all these and more are possible with balsa.

Ronny,

for most things I use Abachi - wood (from Africa I believe). It's a bit stronger than Basla. You don't overcut it that easy..... Also when you soak it in water for 24 hours, it's easy to bend in any form.... that can be handy when you want to do things like church arches etc...