Alcad

Tom,

First, an admission. If you're talking about polished AL or Chrome Alcad I'm a total klutz. If you're talking about other Alclad paints this is what I do:

1. For primer I've used MM gray and Vallejo light grey or black - worked for me.

2. For cleaning AB after spraying Alclad, I put a little lacquer thinner in the cup, swish it around with an old brush, dump, clean cup with a tissue, then a little more thinner and spray. There isn't alot of solids in Alclad and a single cleaning seems to work for me.

I've had fits of frustration with Alclad primer (worst clog I've ever had with an AB) and with their gloss black base coat but the lacquers spray just fine and seem to clean easily with a little lacquer thinner. BUT, I'm sure not an expert with Alclad.

I both prime and use an undercoat.  For a primer I Iike Krylon primer.  The primer is to ensure paint adhesion.  I use black gloss enamel (Testors gloss black) for the undercoat.  The undercoat isused to get a nice uniform appearance, since Alclad is best applied with a single, very thin coat.

I solve the problems by avoiding Alclad entirely.

what do you use for bare metal finishes then? I am at a loss my SNJ all set up.....probably sat on the shelf too many years ....seperated into 3 layers,...

looking for a good durable metalic finish for some WW 2 planes my Dad flew..... Any recommendations

Testor's Buffing Metallizers work pretty good.

Except when you want to mask them, then it pulls or at least it has in my experience.