Alclad Paint question

Cadet Chuck wrote:

Having heard great praises for Alclad metallic paints, I tried for the first time to use them and ruined my aircraft model at the first step.  I sprayed the black primer of theirs and it mottled and wrinkled up the plastic and will not dry! Perhaps my mistake was first polishing the bare plastic with Novus #2 polish. What a bummer!  Should I have simply washed the model with dishwashing detergent first, and not polished it?  Any words of wisdom, please?

Their primer may have been too "hot" for the plastic of your particular kit. Some use other brands of gloss black as a primer/base. The Alclad is a lacquer base-very bad for plastic. I don't know if others can suggest a better way of using it. I have some of the alclad but have yet to try it.

There was a period when the Alclad black was bad.  Lots of people with the same complaint as you.  Then the stories started getting better and it was chalked up to a bad batch a while ago.  You may have gotten one of those.  I use Model Master gloss back enamel and let it cure for about a week.

This brings up an important point.  Unless you are using Alclad chrome or polished aluminum, you do not need the black under coat. As far as polishing, yes that is a good idea.  Any minor scratch will stand out like a sore thumb from the Alclad.

Here is the technique I used that I got from a webinar given by master molder Floyd Werner.  Sand all the seams etc. and get the model prepped as best you can.  A primer coat of Mr. Surfacer 1200 is applied and allowed to cure.  This is also a lacquer but goes down smooth and will protect the plastic from the hot Alclad.  The Mr. S is polished with 6000 micromesh.  Believe it or not, a clean coffee filter works pretty well too.  Make sure you have a good clean surface then apply the Alclad.

Get a couple of really cheap models and just build the airframes to practice.  It is way easier than all of what I just said sounds.

Thanks, guys, that all makes sense.  Fortunately this was a simple and inexpensive model that I did not invest a lot of time in building, as I considered this project to be an experiment with using Alclad.  I have seen some really beautiful finishes with it.  But I don't think I'll risk using it again.

Excellent work on those models, Wing-Nut.  That's what I was hoping to achieve....