Can you polish Alclad 2 Aluminum? Swanny, Music City, have you tried this?

I'm not a huge Krylon fan, it's OK and I use it some, but I think that's what I'm going to use for Alclad from here on out. Their primer just doesn't do it for me.

I sprayed a coat of Alclad primer on the cans for my F-15 on a Saturday. Next day I sprayed a second coat. A week later I sprayed the first coat of Alclad, and a second coat the next day. It was another week before I got around to doing anything with them and when I started messing with them I noticed that the paint still felt tacky. If it isn't cured in over two weeks it isn't going to cure. That isn't the only experience I've had like that either, but it will be the last one.

Send me some pix. I want to see how it works out.

Hi Scott-

Thanks for the info! I'll give it a shot on a test model and let you know how it goes. As to Alclad primer- I have been told to stay away from it. I heard the same as you- that it never fully cures, which I imagine only makes the Alclad aluminum coat lift off. So I am staying away from it- a long way. The club buddy of mine has done numerous NMF's with Alclad and used their primer only once. Since then he has been solely using the Krylon. I've shot some (decanted) through the airbrush before and it dries very fast. Like Swanny says, you can usually coat again in 15-20 min, and he says to apply four light coats. So, we'll see how it goes. I'll email you progress shots if you'd like or just post them on the Forum... thanks again for the info on the swirly stuff!
regards,
jon

Jon, I've never tried anything like that. I "Think" (Think, mind you) what I'd probably do would be to do it in the primer. Alclad is so thin that every flaw in the primer shows through so the swirl marks should show up. If you try it in the metallic coat I think it would just scratch right through it.

What you might try is to get a Dremel polishing / buffing pad the right size and tape a small piece of steel wool to the front of it (not the edges, but the front). Than if you put it on the arbor you can lightly spin it by hand (NOT with a Dremel tool!) to get the swirling that you want. I'd strongly recommend you try it on your test model first though.

On a related note, have you used the Alclad black laquer primer successfully? My experience with it is that it never seems to fully cure. It's laquer and should cure pretty quickly, but I have some parts I painted back in July that still feel somewhat tacky. Maybe I just got a bad can or something but personally I'm going to start using something else for the black primer. Not sure what, but I just don't like the results I'm getting with the Alclad primer.