Finishing Alclad

Yeah, I know that one. Clear gloss acrylic sort of works.

I have decided the only way to get anything approaching a chrome shine is to prime, sand and prime again with a hard gloss enamel.

For a shiny chrome finish, might try a Molotow Liguid Chrome pen.

GMorrison

Yeah, I know that one. Clear gloss acrylic sort of works.

I have decided the only way to get anything approaching a chrome shine is to prime, sand and prime again with a hard gloss enamel.

 

My thoughts exactly. Did you prime with gloss black first? Don’t use Alclad’s own gloss black base. There’s been some issues with their gloss black primer.

Thanks all. In my innocence I did use Alclad's own black gloss primer, two coats, and I was happy with the finish.  I did quite a lot of research on techniques before starting but did not see any criticism of that primer. However a hard lesson learned.  Maybe I can use an acrylic gloss to do something to the finished product.  Any brand recommendations?  Johnsons Klear maybe?

The shine of the finish is highly dependent on the quality of the gloss black undercoat, and which alclad you use.  If you want a very mirror-like finish you must have an impecibly perfect black undercoat, and use the polished aluminum alclad.

Note that mill finish aluminum by itself does not have a mirror-like surface, so even when rolled out of the factory a production aircraft does not have a super sheen.  Museum and restored aircraft are polished to such a sheen.  In the past, when labor was cheaper, airliners and prototypes of military aircraft were polished.

Alclad makes three types of aluminum finish- the above mentioned Polished Aluminum, just plain Aluminum, which has a sort of semi-matt sheen, and a flat sheened aluminum called either white aluminum or airframe aluminum.

I use Tamiya gloss clear over Alclad Aluminum. It gives a reasonable shine without too much gloss. The shine looks more to scale than a real high gloss finish.

Simon Newell

I've pretty much finished spraying Alclad Chrome onto a model exhaust pipe but it's still a little dull.  I want a brighter, gloss, finish.  Previous attempts to polish have just resulted in removing the paint, necessitating rework. It's had four or five layers now.

Anybody got any recommendations for a lacquer or varnish treatment which won't craze?

 

 

So I figure you mean auto chromed pipes? Then use Testors gloss black enamel in the small squared bottle and when dry then use Alclad Chrome over the gloss enamel but, you have to go easy spraying the Alclad cuz you want some of the black to peek thru to get the right metallic effect. Too much Alaclad will just dull the finish and look like silver paint.

plasticjunkie

 

 

Simon Newell

I've pretty much finished spraying Alclad Chrome onto a model exhaust pipe but it's still a little dull.  I want a brighter, gloss, finish.  Previous attempts to polish have just resulted in removing the paint, necessitating rework. It's had four or five layers now.

Anybody got any recommendations for a lacquer or varnish treatment which won't craze?

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I figure you mean auto chromed pipes? Then use Testors gloss black enamel in the small squared bottle and when dry then use Alclad Chrome over the gloss enamel but, you have to go easy spraying the Alclad cuz you want some of the black to peek thru to get the right metallic effect. Too much Alaclad will just dull the finish and look like silver paint.

 

plasticjunkie

 

 

Simon Newell

I've pretty much finished spraying Alclad Chrome onto a model exhaust pipe but it's still a little dull.  I want a brighter, gloss, finish.  Previous attempts to polish have just resulted in removing the paint, necessitating rework. It's had four or five layers now.

Anybody got any recommendations for a lacquer or varnish treatment which won't craze?

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I figure you mean auto chromed pipes? Then use Testors gloss black enamel in the small squared bottle and when dry then use Alclad Chrome over the gloss enamel but, you have to go easy spraying the Alclad cuz you want some of the black to peek thru to get the right metallic effect. Too much Alaclad will just dull the finish and look like silver paint.

 

Yes indeed! I should have mentioned this in my post above  For a mirror-like sheen you have to dial the paint flow on the airbrush way back and put it on slowly.  The thicker the Alclad PA coat, the less shiny it is. 

BTW, this can be used to get some variation panel to panel on an aircraft- make the whole thing shiny first coat.  When dry mask some panels and put a second coat on some panels- repeat if you want for even more variation.

Both those recommendations seem eminently sensible and I now understand the technique and the theory.  I just have to remember for the next time!

Will Alclad buff up like Model Master buffing Metalizer paints do ( I use those metalizer paints) ? I find if I clear coat any old black before spraying on very thin coats of Metalizer, then buff when dry it makes a very convincing and shiny metal finish. Plus you can mist in some dark blue or dark bronze here and there over the black before clear coating and those hues come through in the shine. The key is high gloss under the metal paint, thin coats, thinner the better of the metal paint and then buff to a shine trying not to rub through too much ( if it's a good shiny coat under the metal paint it takes very little buffing anyway).

I use a Badger 200, fine tip dialed way back, fairly low pressure and I use the metal color cup rather than a jar only 1/4 full or so, so I can swish it around to keep the metal suspended ( maybe that part isn't a problem with Alclad but with MMBM it is important). If you let the silver drop out you will get metallic silver paint lol.

Simon Newell

Both those recommendations seem eminently sensible and I now understand the technique and the theory.  I just have to remember for the next time!

 

The good news is you can practice the various techniques described in this thread any time on some plastic spru trees. Just a thought.

oldermodelguy

 

 

Simon Newell

Both those recommendations seem eminently sensible and I now understand the technique and the theory.  I just have to remember for the next time!

 

 

 

 

The good news is you can practice the various techniques described in this thread any time on some plastic spru trees. Just a thought.

 

 

 

A lot of us keep a package of plastic spoons on hand to practice/test finishing methods.  They tend to be a little smoother- better finish than kit sprue.

Don Stauffer

 

 

A lot of us keep a package of plastic spoons on hand to practice/test finishing methods.  They tend to be a little smoother- better finish than kit sprue.

 

I know Don ( I have a 1 gallon freezer bag full of empty prescription bottles I use myself) .  But my thought was spru would be more shaped like exhaust pipe. Plastic spoons are kind of like "the standard" though !

oldermodelguy

 

 

Don Stauffer

 

 

A lot of us keep a package of plastic spoons on hand to practice/test finishing methods.  They tend to be a little smoother- better finish than kit sprue.

 

 

 

 

I know Don ( I have a 1 gallon freezer bag full of empty prescription bottles I use myself) .  But my thought was spru would be more shaped like exhaust pipe. Plastic spoons are kind of like "the standard" though !

 

All good suggestions. Plastic water and coke bottles are also good test mules.

Hi, me again, back on the Alclad trail. 

So, I've now got a nice Chromic-looking finish thanks to all your tips above. However, it's not quite glossy enough, looks like it needs a good polish. I dare not use anything mechanical as this leaves a black scar where the thin silver has polished off. I tried using Vallejo Acrylic gloss varnish at 10psi but that went all orange peel.

Model Master enamel

high gloss is difficult to spray as it is thick and in thinned form it will not dry. 

Anyone got any magic solutions?

I just tried using my Novus kit for the first time for polishing Alclad parts on my F-16CJ project and it worked really well, without damaging the finish.  Might try that.  A Novus kit is essential for canopies anyway, so it won't be a wasted purchase if you don't like the result on the Alclad.

Simon Newell

Hi, me again, back on the Alclad trail. 

So, I've now got a nice Chromic-looking finish thanks to all your tips above. However, it's not quite glossy enough, looks like it needs a good polish. I dare not use anything mechanical as this leaves a black scar where the thin silver has polished off. I tried using Vallejo Acrylic gloss varnish at 10psi but that went all orange peel.

Model Master enamel

high gloss is difficult to spray as it is thick and in thinned form it will not dry. 

Anyone got any magic solutions?

 

Which Alclad did you use, and what undercoat?  The aluminum colors vary in their shine.  For a real polished look I use the "polished aluminum" color.  Even then, the base must be perfect, and the thickness you apply is critical.  I find, with a good base it looks very shiny but dark at first as you begin to apply it (with very low flow rate), then turns brighter, then gets duller again past an optimum point- becomes less is better.

Hi Don

It was ALC107 High Shine Chrome. Base, Alclad Black Gloss, three coats, great finish. I was probably too ambitious, wanting to get a really 'lacquered' finish. I was happy with the chrome look, just a nice amount of black showing through. I sprayed at 8psi.

Simon Newell

Model Master enamel

high gloss is difficult to spray as it is thick and in thinned form it will not dry. 

Anyone got any magic solutions?

 

I can tell you that here on the north east coast of the US that hardware store lacquer thinner is a medium dry solvent and it works great in MM enamels, along with the little Testors bottle. It thins nice, sprays great, flows out awesome, dries reasonably quickly as enamel goes and produces a high shine with the gloss black. Best I can tell you but no idea how that correlates to your product lines over there. Be sure it's not the new generation synthetic lacquer thinner, that stuff is complete junk.

Odorless mineral spirits is good too. A 50/50 mix of odorless mineral spirits and hardware store paint thinner works great but hardware store paint thinner alone will cause cratering or fish eye like separation in the painted surface but the flow is improved over odorless mineral spirits alone. Course then there is always Testors own enamel thinner, some people love that.

And you can thin MM enamel with those ingedients someplace between 60/40 paint to thinner to 50/50 paint to thinner . Test shoot it first.

Thank you. Over here in the UK lacquer thinners are known as cellulose thinners but thanks to our soon-to-be-gone masters in the EU it's not so readily available nor in any gradable form.

I think what you call mineral spirits is known here as white spirit, distilled from oil, not alcohol. I will try thinning MM with that to see if I can improve on previous  results using cellulose thinners.