Simple wood paint on a cheap plastic propeller

Hello everybody,

I wanted to share something I tried while building the FT Pietenpol!

"How even nicer would it be with a wooden prop?"

You will need:

• a cheap plastic propeller (color white is better)
• a brown spray paint can
• a piece of paper

How to do that:

1. Fix your propeller on a stick. Use the center hole for that and keep all the rest of the prop accessible for painting. In the video I'm using a rolled up piece of paper as a stick, so I can adjust the diameter and hold the prop nicely
2. Paint it with light coats as always.
3. Before the paint dries scratch gently the surface with a random piece of paper. Starting from the center to the tip will give a nice wood vein.
4. Don't forget to paint the back of the propeller.
5. Then let it dry 
6. You can add some finishing like painting the tips and making it even cooler! (for that use some masking tape)

This technic works pretty well, but remember to apply very light coats of paint, you really don't want to get some bubbles or even unbalance the prop... try to be consistent with the paint.

Another thing to remember when you scratch the paint to create the wood effect: try to start scratching from the center of the prop! Try also to follow the curve of the blades. That way you will obtain nice wood veins. As this step needs to be a bit rushed it's important to keep that in mind. May be try to practice the gesture before.

I think that a light brown works better, but that's only my taste. Using a white prop is the easiest way I believe. You might need to try various paints and experiments before you are happy with it.
It might work with a colored one, but it might need a white primer or a first layer of a brighter brown.
You can even go crazy and try with a green prop and some purple or black paint, this might work to create a crazy wood effect... 

Don't be affraid to kind of "waste" props, Even if it's ugly, you'll learn from it. If it's really ugly use it for stunt projects... And if it's really really ugly, remember that it's just a cheap prop. 

I really hope you like it and want to apologise for my bad English, since it's not my native language. But watching FliteTest's shows helps to improve.

I also wanted to thank FliteTest, you made me felt into the hobby and since then, I'm enjoying it so much!