Al Clad

Alclad is easy to use, but you must also use their black base first. Just airbrush a light coat of their black base, and then airbrush LIGHT coats of Alclad. No need to thin either of them, as they are already thinned. It dries very quickly, and the chrome looks brillant. Preparation of the surface is important. The smoother you can polish it before airbrushing, the better the result.
Go for it, and good luck.
Clogwog.

Alclad is great for metal finishes. The chrome and highly polished aluminium shades need a gloss black enamel primer to give the best results. Black is used to reflect more light through the paint to give it a better chrome appearance. Regular shades of alclad (any shade other than the two above) can be primed with any acrylic or enamel paint. Doesn't have to be black. The reason you prime for alclad is mainly to protect the plastic from it (it's a lacquer paint and can harm the plastic if it's not protected). Future can definitely be used as a primer as it will create a good barrier between the plastic and paint. Just make sure you let anything that you use as a primer dry thoroughly before spraying the alclad over it. Like Warra48 said, it's important to get the plastic perfectly smooth and scratch free because any imperfections will stand out like the dogs bits. If you take your time with it, you'll love it.

hope this helps.

You can get Alclad in the UK from a number of sources. I get mine from GP Models - they stock the complete range..

http://www.grandprixmodels.co.uk

You wouldn't need Klear as a primer with enamels such as Humbrol and Plastikote as they won't react with the plastic.

You can use it as a barrier on smaller parts if the paint is going to cause a reaction but I would have thought you'd be better off with a plastic primer for the larger pieces.

Good luck

Thanks for the good advise and the link to the UK supplier. I`m very new to air brushing, although I`ve been brush painting trucks for longer than care to remember.
I`ve had many great results with the brush, so I`m wondering just why I`m now going down the air-brush road? Human nature? Not satisfied with what I`ve already acheived? Sure beats me! LOL

Halfords is probably your best source for body paints in spray cans (it can be decanted if necessary). They do a plastic primer too in three colours. Good range of paints - lousy for real cars but great for models!

as a matter of interest can alclad be brush painted as opposed to sprayed ?

It's not supposed to be brush painted and doesn't work very well - fine though on small parts (door handles, bonnet catches and that sort of thing) if you put it over a black gloss.
If you try it that way keep the bottle well stirred and dab it on rather than stroke it.

The door handles and running lights on the sides of this model were done that way but I can't say I've tried it on anything much bigger.


(click to enlarge)

Cheers - Martin