buffing vs non-buffing metalizer?

Metallizers are somewhat of a PITA to mess with. They are extremely thin, so build up slowly. They do dry pretty fast though. For the non-buff, I still do a little buffing, there seems to be a bit of a powdery substance, and basically, I'm just rubbing this away. For the buffing type, you want to buff for quite a while to remove all the powdery stuff and polish. Handling these finishes a lot will tarnish them, don't play with them a lot!!! You don't need a gloss coat to do the decals, as this finish is already glossy. If you do want to clear coat, dull coat will ruin the effect and gloss will lessen the effect, but still looks good(better than just spraying silver). A word of warning, ANY imperfection will be amplified, surface prep is critical!!!

 I haven't tried priming with a gloss color first(just bare plastic), not sure how that'd go??? I have discovered though, that you can mask off all but a few panels(that youwant a different color tone on) and prime with a flat color. The flat "base" will change the texture, and you get a diferent shade of NMF, with only one application of the NMF. You can see here on this Tony, the center section of the wing was primed with flat white, ailerons were done in flat grey. For a little bit of variation on each panel, I used a buffing wheel in the Dremel on high. It doesn't take much. This one was sealed with metallizer sealer(gloss laquer)

 As far as masking goes, the only thing that I have found to work, without pulling up the finish, is post-it notes. A major PITA over curved areas (not sticky enough to stay), you have to get creative with tape, making sure that the tape doesn't touch any NMF. For this particular build, I masked off the belly and sprayed the top(left off the tail plane), then masked off the top to spray the belly. For others, such as a P-51, I mask off everything that is going to be NMF then spray any other colors, ie. anti glare, nose or tail...whatever, then these get masked for the NMF. Hope that helps, I was on my own for the learning process with this stuff!!!

The buffing one is just that. It can be buffed to a highly polished shine with a soft cloth. The non buffable stays exactly as it is sprayed onto the kit.

The buffing metalizer leaves a powder-y coating that needs to be buffed off with a soft cloth.the more you buff, the better the shine. The pressure you use also effects the finish. The non-buffing...you don`t have to buff..lol. I love the stuff but it does get tricky when you mask over it. I found that if you seal it with several coats of their metalizer sealer or Future , you can mask over it. I also suggest you use a very low-tack masking product. It is a glossy finish so, if you don`t have to mask for anything, you can decal without a sealer. I like the metalizers better than Alclad, just think it`s easier to use and I personally never had much luck with Alclad metals. One last thing...I like the buffing better because you have a little more control over the finish one the fuselage and wings but I use non buffing for the "fiddly bits"...hard to buff out a 1;48 scale MG!

I`m sure you`ll get quite a few responses on this topic. Fermis just did a Ki-61 and figured out how to get different panel shades without masking. Pre-painting with different colors gave the metalizer sprayed over different tones. Pretty cool stuff! Skater X mentioned another product, Rub and Buff. I PM`d him for more info...maybe he`ll post it here!? I never heard of it but sounds cool. You have to try`em all to see what`ll work best for you! Good luck, hope this helped.

Len

On this F-80, the first kit that I ever used Metalizers on, I only used the Buffable type. I buffed out certain panels and areas such as the wing leading edges to get the varied effect. One point though is that the decal film eventually begins to show with age as they are not sealed.

On this P-51 I used non buffable on the wings (the wings were supposed to be lacquered, not bare metal on NMF Mustangs) and Buffable on the fuselage.

I've used both methods on a 1/48 B-29.  You can get some great effects on different "skin" tones showing slightly different metal panels sucj as below.

or

THis model was complete back in 2004 and has running lights as well as interior light through.  I used a mixture of Testors and Alclad buffing to get teh different effects.

Jake

This is a Williams Brothers, 1/72 scale C-46 that I painted with Testors buffing Aluminum Plate.  I buffed certain panels and portions of panels with a Q-tip to get the varying effects.  I put a coat of Future over the whole thing to seal the decals and this significantly reduced the differences from one panel to the next.

Darwin, O.F. 

Thanks for the pics and suggestions, everybody!  Sounds like I need to get some of each kind and try them out.  A question about putting a gloss finish over the NMF and losing some of the shine:

Would using something like a clear laquer instead of Future let more of the shine thru?  Has anybody experimented with this?  From what Sikpusher said, you need some kind of a sealing ocat or the decal film starts to show thru with age.  Ideas?

Thanks again!

John

Testors makes a clear sealer for the Metalizer line... But I have only used it on items that were not decaled and not with any I have decaled. I did not care for the final results of the sealer. Maybe on an upcoming NMF build I will try it... of course it will be years before I see if the results are worth it...

John, I've used the buffing metalizer.  The metalizer finish was great, but I would definitely not put Future over it again - it really dulled the nice shiny finish. I also have not tried the Testor's metalizer sealer, so can't speak to that.  Just my  .

Ken

I haven't tried priming with a gloss color first(just bare plastic), not sure how that'd go???

I hadn't either for many years...Never even heard of doing it, as a matter of fact...

 When I finally did apply a gloss black undercoat, the result was quite startling.. Definately will continue to do so in the future (for highly-polished NMF birds that is, operational aircraft on the other hand, not so much. For those, I want the finish to be rather dull to depict the oxidizing that bare aluminum shows )... That little tidbit I learned here changed forever the way my NMF finishes can look... 

As for using Metalizer Sealer or Future (phooey), or any other type of clearcoat... All of them will change the "tone" of the finish, and dull it a bit. To what degree depends on the type of overcoat. 

Clear gloss will be shiny of course, but will also shift the "brightness" to an extent that the effect you liked prior to the application of it will, "Poof!", disappear, much the same way pastels do if you spray a fixative on them...  The only way I can see to keep the bright "mirror" finish is to leave it alone after it's on, and to handle it with gloves on...

I personally use metalizers. I find Alclad II a PITA. Never can get the finish I want. Always grainy. No need to seal the kit if you want a shiny finish. Decals stick perfectly to metalizers as well.

Finished  this 1/48 F-84G about 15 years ago with Aluminium plate.

Note that Testor's recommends that you use metalizer on bare plastic, no primer.  I have found you can't buff it to a decent sheen if you put it over primer.  Also, I would recommend sealing it with Testor's Metallizer sealer.  If you put the sealer over decals, it will act like a decal solvent.  The decals will wrinkle up and look awful, but if you leave it alone overnight the decals will be nicely snuggled down into panel lines, just as if you used Solvaset or any other decal solvent on them.

As far as masking over metalizers, try wet newpaper. Wet the newspaper let the excess water drain off and put it where you want. It will stay, don't know about complex curves never had to try it on them. I have the sealer designed for the metalizers and it does dimish the shine of the metalizers but at least you can handle the model without worry.  

I would just skip the Testor's metalizers and use Alclad.  As long as you put down a good primer, such as their own micro filler, its fool proof.  Heres a couple sporting Alclad finishes.

Joe 

Any metalizer products when sealed will loose its shine.A gloss sealer is its own shine.A method I use is to apply the decals w/a small drop of decal solution to the side of the decal .When dried wipe w/s damp cloth.Next rub very lightly the area w/a mild wax.the result will be great.Practice w/a sample part.