is this good enough for wood grain on props and such? cost is about $5.00/tube I see the "artist" oils are about $22.00 a tube I guess it thins out with mineral spirits.

speaking as a former studio arts major - windsor and newton are reasonable quality, so don't be afraid of them. the $22 a tube stuff is technically better (finer ground pigment), but for modelers who normally use acrylics (which are quite course), that is way overkill.

there are all sorts of things you can thin oils with - mineral spirits among the more popular (helps it dry faster than say linseed oil).

thanks I am looking forward to trying this out on my Nieuport 17, I am going to practice on a spare part with oil paint, mineral spirits and japan drier...a very small amount

When using oils, paint the part, put it in a box to keep the dust off, put the box in a closet, and leave it alone for at least 10-14 days. They dry slow. Fingerprints and dust always seem to appear on them. And if you have pets, the oils are like pet hair magnets.

When they dry and on the completed model, they look fantastic.

Are you guys spraying or brushing it on?And why is it so good?

Oils are used in WWI subjects to simulate the wood grain common in most structural components and the prop. Oils dry a lot slower and can work over more time than acrylic and emamel paints and allow thw builder to plenty of time to set the wood grain to their preferance.

These types of oil paint are applied with a brush , sponge or rag . As to why they are so so good -like the guy;s have said is the drying time . Making it easy to blend to get the effect your looking for .

I am using high quality mineral spirits and japan drier on test pieces.with the oil paint of course, looks good so far, anyone like the japan drier? now to let dry and then airbrush with clear green and red tamiya paint...