pingtang wrote: |
Thanks for the help everyone. One last question, do you need to prime with gloss black if using Aluminium #101? or can you just spray it straight over the primer? (like it says on the Alclad site). I've heard some people say that you still need a gloss black undercoat.
Thanks again |
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Hi, Daniel,
This came up excactly two weeks ago, so I'll edit and repost my replys from then:
pingtang wrote: |
One last question, do you need to prime with gloss black if using Aluminium #101? or can you just spray it straight over the primer? |
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For Aluminum #101, spray right onto the primer. This seems to be one of the most prevalent bits of misinformation in this hobby at present. I've been trying off and on to get the word out with limited success. Use a gloss black undercoat for the High Shine finishes only: Chrome, Polished Aluminum, Stainless Steel and Airframe Aluminum. It says that on the Alclad II Website, though they haven't added the newer Hi-Shine colors to the list on their online instructions:
http://www.alclad2.com/alclad-home.html
Chris "saltydog" is absolutely correct about everything else. Surface prep is the most important part.
Remember that Alcald II is a fairly hot lacquer, and prime accordingly. Note the difference on this test shot between the gloss black undercoat on the right and the Mr Surfacer undercoat on the left:
[and from a later post in the same thread...]
Typically I primer with Mr Surfacer 1200, and if necessary, shoot the gloss black on top of that. My favorite so far is the ModelMaster automotive black lacquer, though I've used Scalecoat II, Alclad Gloss Black Base, and even ModelMaster gloss black enamel. As long as they're cured, they all seem to work fine.
The last time I did a high shine finish I used Tamiya polishing compound to rub out the MM Lacquer gloss black base before shooting Alclad Polished Aluminum. I thought it was worth the extra work:
Here's a demo shot of four successive coats of chrome (right to left) over polished gloss black. With the final coat I applied a bit too much and went past the peak reflectivity produced by the black underneath.
I also did a test shot over several undercoat colors to see if there was much difference. The idea was to get variantions in adjacent aircraft panels to look more realistic. The differences between colors was rather subtle, which is good, and varied with the metallic on top. I haven't decided yet if it's worth all that masking.
Regards,
Bruce
"You can't have everything--where would you put it?"