Painting Lead Foil

SAme as painting any other metal... Primer, then paint..

Careful though.. The foil will bend easily and cause the paint to crack, no matter what you use...

Unfurled flags that are "flying" or being help up by troops (like air recognition flags and panel-markers) are better constructed from epoxy putty, roled out thinly and painted normally.. They won't bend while you handle them..

Unless you are an exceptionally good artist capable of painting absolutely straight lines and perfect circles as well as being able to transfer those lines and circles to the compound curves and shapes of a flag/piece of cloth, you'd be better printing out your flag from an online image, treating it with thinned white glue and drapping it according to your needs.

While Will was mentioning he wanted to paint it, I had great luck with decaling lead foil and then lightly bending it for that 'air-flapped' look.  After decaling, trimming and bending, I touched up the metal edges with paint to match the flag.  It worked wonderfully on my Revell Schnellboat.

Gene Beaird,
Pearland, Texas

I used testors enamels to paint the lead foil harnesses I recently made. It worked great. True, you have to be careful when bending, as it will crack the paint.

If this really is lead, be careful where you store it after you are done. Lead is very reactive and if its in the wrong environment you will see white corrosion products forming on the exposed metal. Stay away from wooden cabinets in particular as the wood released acidic vapour.

There's always using Archer Transfers, transferring the flag to a piece of aluminum foil.