Natural metal finish...need some help with what products to seal it with.

Here is my 1/72 aircraft sprayed with Tamiya. (I used X1 Black as an undercoat).  The picture doesn't show the shinny body, but I don't think it is so bad.

I have another one that is 1/48.  I may try that using Alclad products. 

I haven't found anything better than AK Gauzy for clear-coating metallic finishes, so you're on the right track there.  Something I highly recommend for masking is Tamiya's masking sticker sheets.  You cut those to any shape you want, peel away the backing, and apply them to the areas you want to mask.  They are pretty much infinitely "re-stickable", so you can get the positioning just the way you want it.  The adhesive is hard to explain.  They hold down to the surface VERY securely, but at the same time, they're not so aggressive that they lift your metal finish...and they also don't leave adhesive residue or other discolorations that masking tape can sometimes cause.

I did the masking for the stabilators on this F-4B with them, and had no problems with my different Alclad colors lifting.  Everything was clear-coated with AK Gauzy after all of the painting and "aging" was done.  Just a note on using Alclad.  Alclad's proprietary primers have been known to cause issues by having extremely long cure times.  In my case, the bottle I bought of their black primer must have had something wrong with it...it never cured.  These days, I'm using Tamiya's LP-1, black lacquer primer as my basecoat.  It cures in a little over an hour.  I understand the concerns with toxic fumes from lacquers, but most of them, especially Alclad (which cures in minutes), have extremely short cure times.  The smelly, toxic solvents in them evaporate so quickly that its not really much of a problem.

Here is the bottom of the F-4B stabilator I did with several different shades of Alclad, using the Tamiya masking sticker sheets  No set way of achieving different effects, really, you just have to get a vision in your head of how you want it to look, and slowly work it toward that vision.  You can build opacity of your Alclad very slowly and get things just the way you want them

A couple of R-195 engines for my Su-25M1 project, similar technique, same materials.  The flexibility of Alclad effects is endless.

Thanks,

I was thinking of Alclad II put read about extremely long drying time on the primer and paint, and was also a bit weary about the toxicity of the smell so I prefer acrylic (however I wonder if AS-12 is more of a laquer because after decanting the suff, I have a lot of trouble with cleaning the AB using my regular cleaning solution for acrylic paints -  windex).

I will thinking of just using post-it notes to mask as they seem the least tackiest item.  The wet paper is a good idea also.

Any ideas on what sealing prodcut I can use to keep the mettalic shine when all is done?  I was planning on using the AK Gauzy, but was wondering if there are any other products show better (i.e. AK or others)?

Hey Stuart, I can tell you what's worked for me. I've only used AS-12 on one project, so my experience is limited. However, I can say from that experience, that I didn't have to seal AS-12 for masking. I did spray it over Tamiya's White Primer, so that might have helped. I also stuck my Tamiya tape to my pants prior to placing it on the paint to reduce its "tackiness." 

For all of my other BMF builds, I've used Alclad over their proprietary primers. I have had some limited issues with paint and primer pulling up after masking, but the problems have been rare. I'm sure it's been because of my surface prep prior to painting. One way to avoid that problem is to reduce the tackiness of the tape before laying it down. As long as you spray in light, misting coats, you shouldn't have to worry about bleeding. 

If you're still a little worried about pulling up the paint, one trick I've used that's especially effective, is using wet paper as a mask. It works great for straight edges. 

Anyway, I hope that helps. If you have any other questions, I'd be happy to take a stab at answers.

Good luck!
-O

I don't usually seal a natural metal surface at all, decals usually go down fine over it.  The old Model Master Metalizer paints needed sealing, but there are much better alternatives now, such as Alcad II and others.  If I am unsure of the decals I might use a sealer but it is not my preference.