strange Alclad reaction

I can't tell from the picture, but is is just tone or is there a definite texture difference?

On a few occasions, with my sabre, I had similar issues. When fixing blemishes, If the pressure was too high and airbrush too close, it would have a smudgy tone, Ie, the alclad was too concentrated in a small area. I fixed it by backing up a bit and lowering pressure slightly then blended it in.

I've also noticed a similar result as that when alclad is faded, at an angle. It seems to like a direct angle, especially with airframe or polished.

Defenately a texture to it, not just the angle.

You can see it on the lefthand section and upper right hand section of the very shiny pannel.

Theuns

The texture you are seeing is the lacquer Alclad "eating" into the enamel base.  You need to undercoat Alclad with a LACQUER base coat.   The thinners used in Alclad are too "hot" to be used over enamels with the possibility of the results you see there.

I have never used Alclad yet; however, I am wondering if there wasnt possibly some adhesive left behind after you masked the area prior to painting?  I've seen this similar type of thing when I've masked off an area and then painted it, there was some adhesive left behind from the mask.  Granted I wasnt using the highest quality of tape as a mask either.

I haven't used Alclad yet, but I got a few bottles not long ago.

I am very wary about using this as it is an unknown to me so I have a few questions.

1. Just what should I use as a primer?

2. What is the correct pressure and distance for airbrushes?

3. What is the recommended cleaning substance?

I primarily use Vallejo acrylics and so am wary of this stuff, but I have seen some of the finishes done by members here and so I thought I should learn how it's done and have a bash myself.

It is my intention at some point to build Trumpeter's 1/32 EE Lightning F1a for a family friend who was the RAF Test pilot of the aircraft. I do want to do a "proper" metal finish and this is the way to go I think.

Thanks for any answers.

James

That's what I heard years ago. You can't spray lacquer over enamel but you can spray enamel over lacquer.

I've noticed most guys here use the gloss black enamel because the Alclad gloss black lacquer is so bad and stays tacky. It seems to work out, at least the majority of the time.

Looks like Bronto nailed it?

Snapdragon. My personal recommendation for primer is alclad, since that's what they have formulated anyway. Either the Gloss black, if you are going for a more robust, shiny coat. Or, the Grey otherwise. They also have a white and a clear primer, though I have no experience with it. It does take a while to dry but is more forgiving in light coats.Same with their clear coat sealers.

Alclad recommends 15psi, which seems just about right. I use 12-15psi, at about 2 to 3 inches.Though I have used it close in with far less pressure. It's very thin, so not much is needed to get it out the nozzle. If you are going to mist a coat (duraluminum over airframe aluminum, etc.) to drive down the shine, etc. I use 20psi and back up 5 to 6 inches. Just be sure you shake the bottle up really well every time, so no pigment is sitting in the bottom of the bottle, which happens in no time at all.

Laquer thinner to clean.

You can use lacquer (such as Alclad) over Enamel. I use Testors gloss black as a base under Alclad regularly.

The trick is you need to make sure the enamel is fully cured. I let enamel cure a week before I top coat with Alclad or Testors dullcote. If you don't, you get a wrinkled finish that looks just like that picture.

Something that I have tried recently (and it seems to work well) is Testors Model Master gloss black lacquer. It goes on very nicely and only appears to need 24-48 hours to cure.

The thing that tickles me is that the rest of the airrame allu went over the enamel beautifully.

The affected area lookd exactly like the rest of the airplane BEFORE I shot the pollished allu over the airframe allu.

SOmehow the pollished allu ate through the other alclads and enamel to foil the plastic.

I have in the meantime masked and sanded back the area, will re-black it and then try again.

Theuns

More recently I have used Testors Model Master Automotive Lacquer Gloss Black.

Dave is absolutely right...If the base coat is fully cured, you should have no problems spraying Alclad over it.

Thanks for the answers and help chaps.

When priming, as in the photo above, do you also prime the inside too in case of overspray with the alclad or just mask off?

I think a visit to the Alclad stand at Telford is on the cards now and a cheap kit to practice on. It's time this old dog tried a couple of new tricks!

A cheap airbrush as well for testing purposes, Veda maybe!

Hmmmm..... Bare metal 1/32 lightning.... Bare metal 1/32 Flying fort....... OOOOH!!

What could go wrong? ..... knowing me I will probably melt half the house!

One thing you can do to make different shading on panels without changing which type of Alclad is to vary the thickness of application.  This is especially true with Polished Aluminum.  If you are putting it over a good, shiny black base, and you put it on very thin, it has a real high gloss.  Then, mask off panels with Post-it notes or really, really low tack masking material, and go back over some panels with a thicker, second coat.  Do some panels with a really heavy coat.  The thicker the coat, the more matt the appearance.  A really thick coat of any of the Alclads looks just like aluminum (or whatever) paint.

What Don said.

The  dark panels are the same airframe allu just a few coats less.

Theuns

I might just have saved it LOL

This time pollished allu over alclad black base.

Great. Congrats!

I wonder if you might have just gone a little heavy on the polished aluminum. The lacquer is pretty hot, and I wonder if maybe it ate through.

Anyway, I'm glad it worked out in the end. Nice recovery.

Quite posible I might have "flooded" the area as it is very hard to tell while spraying the pollished over the airframe allu how much you are actually putting on.

Anyway, lessons learned :-)

Theuns

RadMax8

I wonder if you might have just gone a little heavy on the polished aluminum. The lacquer is pretty hot, and I wonder if maybe it ate through.

Luckily it is very thin straight out of the bottle, so you can use low air pressure.

Theuns

The thing that tickles me is that the rest of the airrame allu went over the enamel beautifully.

The affected area lookd exactly like the rest of the airplane BEFORE I shot the pollished allu over the airframe allu.

SOmehow the pollished allu ate through the other alclads and enamel to foil the plastic.

 I'm just curious, how long did the enamel cure before you applied the Alclad?

The enamel was about 5 days old in hot weather, so it must have been my application tecnique.

Theuns