Alclad and acrylic basecoats

Alclads do not need thinning, they flow like water. If you are getting a rough finish it's because you either have a grainy and rough undercoat or you sprayed on the Alclad too thick. Alclad goes on thin and light. If sprayed too much then it looks like regular paint.

I have never heard of tip dry when using Alclad. Go here for lots of great and helpful info:

http://alclad2.com/

Fotofrank, out of curisity, if you have some black acrylic you may want to use it on a panel, let it cure, and try Alclade on it. My primers are either Mr Surfacer or Tamiya. If I am useing a color, like silver, as a primer, it will be a lacquer base. My top coats are usuely acryic, mostly Tamiya.

I shot the black wing on the Mustang with Alclad Aluminum this morning. The spray went pretty well. I may have had an issue with the Alclad drying in the tip of the airbrush. I kept having to hit the tip with a Q-tip wet with lacquer thinner to maintain the spray. The finished wing isn't as good as I wanted but better than the first time out. Coverage could be better and the surface seems a little rough, not nearly as smooth as I expected with the smooth Testors black enamel primer. I shot the left wing upper surface with the Testors black enamel as primer after I painted the right wing with the Alclad. Tomorrow I'll try the Alclad Aluminum on the left wing and try to get a smoother finish on that wing. Should I maybe thing the Alclad Aluminum a little more than it already is?

I've got a testbed to play with.  Have scuffed it down well with a gray scotchbrite and washed with wax/grease remover and will see if that helps with the MM primer, along with a light scuff after priming. 

I know it does well that way with MM acrylic without priming and doing multiple colors so far for me.

jelliott523

I have seen some people have issues with the acrylic primers not adhering to the plastic. I would tend to imagine that in these situations, it is a case of some type of contaminent on the plastic not being removed prior to priming. I like to wipe the entire surface down with 91% ISO before spraying and wear gloves when painting.

 

Done all that in prep for MM Acrylic primer and it still lifts when the masking is removed. It's simply junk and does not have any bite into the plastic. I have heard similar stories about Vallejo acrylic primer. 

Never get any lifting when I use solvent type primers like Tamiya, Mr. Surfacer or even Krylon. 

I have been using Stynylrez as my "go-to" primer lately. I have Alclad over it with no problems. I have also used AK Xtreme Metals over the Stynylrez with no problems as well. I typically let my Stynylrez primer cure for a couple of days before painting over it in most cases. I have seen some people have issues with the acrylic primers not adhering to the plastic. I would tend to imagine that in these situations, it is a case of some type of contaminent on the plastic not being removed prior to priming. I like to wipe the entire surface down with 91% ISO before spraying and wear gloves when painting.

I would attach some photos, but due to the issues with PB now I'm waiting until I find a new photo hosting site.

One secret of Alclad use is to put on a very thin coat, building up slowly to the effect you want.  Because you use so little on anything other than really large scale models, the cost isn't that bad. I find a bottle of Alclad ordinarily gives me about three aircraft builds.  I spend more money on the black undercoat!

My first Mustang build recently became a hangar queen. I'm now using it to test paints. I just now shot the right wing upper surface with Testors gloss black enamel thinned 1-1 with Testors enamel thinner. I'm going to let the paint cure over night and through tomorrow. Tuesday morning I'll shoot the wing with Alclad II aluminum to see how well that works. I've also started using the paint cup on my Badger 200 instead of the siphon bottle. I hope by using the cup I don't waste too much of that expensive Alclad paint.

goldhammer

I know most modelers use black enamel for a base.  Has anyone played with using acrylic primer and acrylic gloss black as a base for Alclad?  Results?  I also have a bottle of Alclad's gloss black base ALC305 as an alternative.

Also what do you use after Alclad and prior to decals so you don't mar it?

 

I have used Alclad's black lacquer as a base, but still prefer the enamel.

Also, I don't use anything over the Alclad nmf- I just handle it carefully.    Also, I don't use anything over the decals. I find decals really adhere well to Alclad.

The one thing I have learned that really harms Alclad is CA accelerator! It really stains Alclad. If you have to add any small detail parts after Alclad finishing, let the glue set naturally, do not get accelerator on that finish!

hypertex

I haven't tried it myself, but I have read in more than one magazine that Alclad can be applied over an acrylic gloss black. Yes, lacquers can be applied over acrylics. I would test it first on some scrap. Just be sure to spray the Alclad in very light coats.

 

Yes I remember reading something about that a while back. I also forgot to mention that I spray Testors Flat Lacquer over cured Future without any issues. Lacquer dries super fast when sprayed in light coats.

I haven't tried it myself, but I have read in more than one magazine that Alclad can be applied over an acrylic gloss black. Yes, lacquers can be applied over acrylics. I would test it first on some scrap. Just be sure to spray the Alclad in very light coats.

A black base coat is only necessary before using their high shine products like chrome. Any primer will work with the rest of their shades. I would avoid using an acrylic primer because most of the Alclad line is lacquer based and therefore potentially not compatible. I've had great results using Tamiya spray can primers and for the high shine products have used spray can Tamiya gloss black.

Even though Alclad recommends using a sealer over the high shine colors prior to decaling, I haven't used any sealer and had no issues even when using Solvaset.

I have not used acrylics as a primer but read somewhere that Future can be used as a primer.