Ive tried making floats loads of times, its very interesting but ive found the materials you buy in model shops are nowhere near as good as the stuff Hillbilly and likes use. The balsa gives inconsistent shotting and all of the paints I used never gave a decent water tight finish. When it comes to humbrol blaze flourescent paints they are not really that bright your better using hollow plastic bristles as someone has mentioned. The most success I have had with homemade floats is making pellet wagglers, I balsa cement 2 inch of bamboo skewer into a 8 inch long 1cm balsa dowell then use a drill as a lathe and glass paper the wagglers into desired shapes, any further info inbox me.