Alclad alternative?

Someone recommended Krylon's Silver Foil Metallic a few days ago.  You can get it at Hobby Lobby, Home Depot, etc.

I have not tried it, so can't speak from experience.  Test it on some scap first to see if you like how it looks.

It's only about $6 for a big can.

Are you able to buy SnJ aluminium over there?  I've found that it, along with the polishing powder, can produce a very realistic NMF.  You might be able to order it from Hawkeye's Hobbies.

http://www.hawkeyeshobbies.com/

Gary

You might try aluminum foil - I've seen photos of some really nice looking NMF finishes that were done using foil. I have no expierience with it yet, but am planing on tryin it in the near future.

Decanting rattlecan paint is very doable. The paint will even be all airbrush ready! Only thing to really watch out for is giving the freshly decanted paint some time to sit as it will be saturated with gas from the can.

Richard

I did this with the Krylon Premium Silver Foil rattle can paint:

Dang the 17 looks good!

Thanx for the reply guys. I will try to see what we can get here in darkest Africa, I have seen rattlecan silver chrome used on other materials and it really is shiny. I was not sure if it had some or other "extras" in it that might damage the styrene. Will try it out on some scrap first.

Do any of you lads know what clearcoat will be most compatable with the silver? If it is a lacure based thing I recon an anamle like Tamiya or Humbrol thinned will eat it??? SO maybe Tamiya clear acrylic then??

The decanting idea is actually a good one as I think the effect of the finer spray out the airbrush will be better than a can-nozle.

Thanx

Theuns

How do you "decant" from a rattle can?

Thanks! Chris

With the krylon paint you can ONLY use acrylic paint on it, any others will destroy the finish(as in it will mix with what ever color you try to paint on it). If you shoot a clear oy use acrylic but it will dull the shine on it.

Acrylic it is then, thanx.

I have "decaned" some rattlecan into a little plastic cup by spraying it at point blank range into the cup. It is rather messy though. Otherwize you could hold the can upside down and depress the nozle untill all the propellant is depelted.As the pick up for the paint is at the bottom of the can it will only spray out what was in the line and then no more paint will flow. 

Then you could somehow make a hole in the noe de-presurized can and take the paint out into a smaller container.

Theuns

I have used Duplicolor Silver, an acrylic straight from the spraycan. Works fine, I use matt coat to seal the decals and tone down the finish.

here are som examples:

flat coated

Shiny finish

WZ2

How do you "decant" from a rattle can?

Decanting Spray Paint - Part One

Decanting Spray Paint - Part Two

Texgunner

Are you able to buy SnJ aluminium over there?  I've found that it, along with the polishing powder, can produce a very realistic NMF.  You might be able to order it from Hawkeye's Hobbies.

http://www.hawkeyeshobbies.com/

Gary

 

  If you can get your hands on the metal powder(s), DO IT!  I love the stuff and the powder will cover countless planes.  I bought my one and only bottle of SnJ aluminum powder back around 9 years ago and I'm still using it.  A little bit goes a very long way.

Eric

You can give our Talon Series acrylic NMF a go, easily ordered and shipped to SA.

You might want to check a craft store for wax-based, rub-on metallics. Biggest names stateside are Rub 'n Buff and some other name I can't remember (excellent branding, that). Looks very, very good on a finished aircraft. This Spit IX from the local contest last fall was done up with wax-based metallic - pewter I think it was.

That looks amazing!!

I tried the Krylon silver foil paint over a sheet of Poly, prepared with Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1200 gray primer and polished to a mirror surface working up to 12000 grit cloths.  Sprayed the Krylon and got a shiny coat but with slight orange peel texture.  Trying to sand off the orange peel with 12000 grit only turned it gray, I think it removed the silver right down to the primer.  I was not happy with the results so guess I will stick with Alclad, or perhaps SnJ, although I have no experience with that.

Cadet Chuck

I tried the Krylon silver foil paint over a sheet of Poly, prepared with Gunze Mr. Surfacer 1200 gray primer and polished to a mirror surface working up to 12000 grit cloths.  Sprayed the Krylon and got a shiny coat but with slight orange peel texture.  Trying to sand off the orange peel with 12000 grit only turned it gray, I think it removed the silver right down to the primer.  I was not happy with the results so guess I will stick with Alclad, or perhaps SnJ, although I have no experience with that.

You must of been spraying too far away from your piece. There is a happy medium with that paint where you have to spray close enough otherwise it will not coat right. My B-17G turned out amazing with the paint.

Thanks, pzl66.  I'll give it another try!  Your B-17 really looks great!

Thanks! You will have to spray close enough to where you think its almost too much at first and then it sets right. Practice on scrap though. Also you will have to wait at least 48 hours before you start handling the model sometimes longer depending on humidity and temperature. But once you get past that it makes a nice finish. You can also ask hans about the paint since he gave me the info on it.

pzl66:  Roger that.  Following your instructions, I sprayed a rather heavy coat, close up, contary to the instructions on the can, which tell you to spray 2 or 3 very thin coats 15 seconds apart., from 6" to 8" away.  That did not work, gave me the orange peel effect. 

Then before I saw your last note, I made the mistake of touching it after a couple hours, and that really messed it up.  A 48 hour wait is probably what I needed to do.

Conclusion- this stuff is too fussy for me.  For a few bucks more, I think I will use Alclad II.

Thank you for your help!

Chuck

There is also another paint you can try not as shiny as the silver foil paint. Model Master L

Aluminum Plate paint works really well, easy to paint from the rattle can. Quick turn around time and when it is dry you can buff (more like whipe) with microfiber cloth and comes out with a nice look!

*sorry Model Master Aluminum Plate buffing metalizer

Theuns,

You have some options available, but imho, Alclad2's metalizer's are so easy to use and hard to beat.  Once I started using Alclad, I retired my Testors metalizers.  What part of the USA are you in?  Most of the modelers I know have no trouble obtaining Alclad products. 

Check out these distributors and contact any one of them. 

http://alclad2.com/buy/us-retailers-distributors/

If you're still having difficulty, this particular HobbyTown always has Alclad in stock:

http://www.hobbytown.com/About/ContactUs/

I'm primarily a "train guy" but am also fascinated with aircraft and have built a number of Boeing passenger aircraft. 

I hope you guys don't mind, but here's one of my threads where I "Alcladded" a Budd passenger rail car on another Kalmbach Forum:

http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/200454.aspx

=====================================================================

Theuns

Hi all.

Here in SA it is near imposable to get hold of any of the series of Alclad paints as the supliers do not bring it in atall.

I want to do a 1/72 F-104 in the USAF sceeme that had the highly pollished alluminium fuselarge but any "non- metalizer" paint will just not give the right feel.

Has anyone ever successfully used some of the "rattle-can" lacure tipes from hardware stores on models?They do make a chrome that looks pretty close to pollished allu.

 

Thanx

 

Theuns 

I think he is in South Africa (Old UK territory)

Cadet Chuck

pzl66:  Roger that.  Following your instructions, I sprayed a rather heavy coat, close up, contary to the instructions on the can, which tell you to spray 2 or 3 very thin coats 15 seconds apart., from 6" to 8" away.  That did not work, gave me the orange peel effect. 

Then before I saw your last note, I made the mistake of touching it after a couple hours, and that really messed it up.  A 48 hour wait is probably what I needed to do.

Conclusion- this stuff is too fussy for me.  For a few bucks more, I think I will use Alclad II.

Thank you for your help!

Chuck

 The "orange-peel" you're talking about is a visual defect, not a texture...    "Orange-peel" is actually a wrinkling, bumpy-feeling texture of the surface of the paint, and while there are many causes, it's generally the result of either improper paint viscosity (not an issue with rattle-cans, unless you don't shake them properly), not enough thinner/reducer (which causes the paint to start drying before it has a chance to level out, AKA "pebbling"), too low of an air-pressure which cause improper atomization,  improper spray-technique, ot any combination of the preceeding...  

First, you gotta shake hell outta the stuff... The aluminum powder in it has to be thoroughly suspended into the carrier.. It also needs to be warmed to atomize properly (I set the can in a pan of hot water for about 5 minutes)

 Then it's thin coats, and if you get the "orange-peel" just shoot another coat, never try to "buff" it out... BTW, All gloss  enamels will have what's mistakenly called "orange-peel"... It's not.. Enamels applied properly will always have a texture upon close examination..

South Africa - "old UK teretory"

Yea right! Just like you lads in the "colonies" we kicked the Imperail UK's butt big time with a far out numbered band of " non- profetional farmer soldiers". We didn't take to kind to being told by the Queen what to do with our own gold!, we are just hard headed that way LOL!

But now we are all friends worldwide hey.

No one in SA brings in Alclad, it is just to expensive and the market is way to small.

Theuns