Suggestions for weathering Bare Metal foil

Could have used Alclad instead. Wipe with steel wool to achieve the look you were looking for.

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for the suggestions. I am trying to achieve the following look:

Basically, I want the Bare Metal foil to look like an old, oxodized aluminum light pole. I achieved the appearance of aluminum grain by rubbing the foil with steel wool. I think the grain looks real natural, but the foil is just too shinny.

I tried some tests using a plastic spoon with foil. Painting it with flat cleat paint made the foil look like it was painted with grey paint. All of the grain  disappeared. I tried bleach, the purple stuff and Simple Greeen. None of that worked. Next I'll try vinegar and oven cleaner (the stuff with lye in it).  If none of that works I'll just leave the foil shinny.

Hello!

That's the thing I wanted to write right on - spraying the foil with clear coat - gloss, satin or matt dulls the foil down increasingly. Hope it helps, good luck with your project and have a nice day

Paweł

Ah ! Black Sheep !

   I wish I had the picture .I built the MONOGRAM " Century Series " F-100 and used BMF on it .The Decals stuck just fine .Of course I clearcoated it with Semi-Gloss afterward . That is the one I've spoken of, that my students sent to Washington ! T.B.

Personally, using Bare Metal Foil is a waste using on aircraft. Why not simply spray it on instead. Keep in mind, BMF finish on WW2 aircraft were never clean. You would have been better off spraying it with Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver paint instead. It's not shiny and it looks more realistic plus you can weather the crap out of it. Another consideration to think about is whether or not decals will stick to Bare Metal Foil.

i use artist oils

I put some foil on a plastic spoon. I then rubbed the foil with steel wool to simulate the natural grain in aluminum extrusions. I then  sprayed it with flat lacquer. Unfortunately, when the paint dried it looked like I painted the foil with grey paint. All of the grain was lost.  If you zoom in to my photo you can see the grain in the foil. I also put foil on a second spoon and rubbed it with fine grit sandpaper. That tended to polish the foil.   I would like to just reduce the shine without loosing the grain. I'll try using vinegar, that may kill  the shine.

Good question !

 Now here's the answer ! I use Vinegar on the foil then wipe it off and do this with a damp paper towel .The Vinegar microscopically etches the foil allowing paints and washes to stick . T.B.

The first thing that comes to my mind is buffing it with a super-fine-grain sandpaper.

You're going to need to gloss-coat it before putting the decals on, so you might also give it several layers of flat paint for the final coat.