I didnt say it didnt work for me. It did, but I found no advantage for me personally. That is all I am saying. AND, be ready when you put a water based product on your balsa plane. I followed it but I had to wait a while before sanding and it got rock hard to the point where it was alot of work to get it completed.
I did not have the blistering problems that Curt ran into. That sounds like moisture under the finish and the heat activated the poly or something of some sort. Who knows.....
And I will go one step further that if I outlined the way I do it start to finish people might try it and not like it for whatever reason. We all have our ways of doing it. We all refine it as we go. Making a change to what you are doing should be calculated with a certain reason for doing so. Then specific attention is paid to make sure that the reason you changed is accomplished or not....
Sparky going for lighter finish in this case is going to be darn hard to beat what he does now. To get the finish lighter, dont know why that would be a concern of his at this point, just do less to the plane. No pilot, no cockpit detail, no gear skirts, less filler on the bottom of the plane, no panel lines, no extra trim scheme paint, use dark colors that are NOT transparent (get one coat coverage, stay away from white!), no blocking color under main color, no extra colors on the bottom of the plane, go from grey primer or whatever primer color to finish trim scheme (primer becomes your main color saves weight), apply all sprayed material with the exception of clear with an airbrush (Ah la Gieseke), dont use butyrate dope colors they have gloss hardener in therm makes them heavy, apply clear with a circle pattern (not a large fan) at a low pressure (9-13lbs) from an HVLP gun and make small movements, thin clear with Urethane thinner (10% or more), only two coats applied no matter what....things like that make for a lighter finish.