Primer/Silver ????

neilc wrote:

I don't know 100% about models, but if you have a silver car you would use a black undercoat under the silver top coat. I'd suggest you'd get a better silver finish with a black primer.

I gotta try that next time!

I have some 1/72 aircraft that are to be "natural aluminum "so I might do one "as usual" (where I use a grey primer for the silver) and one with flat black as an undercoat to compare.

I usually pick up a couple extras at Hobby Lobby when they're 50% off to experiment on so I do not mess up a nice (and more expensive) 1/32 scale kit I am working on.

  Tom

Mist086 wrote:

Thanks guys.  I wanted to try the silver primer trick after seeing a couple of WW2 birds.  I've tried the bristle brush, but i wasn't completely happy with it.  Plus i want to try new things.  How long do i let the base coat dry before i put the masking tape on?  Any help is appreciated.

Depends on the type of paint and masking tape you are using.

For instance, regular adhesive tape that works OK for enamels will peel acrylic paints right off of a plastic surface, so you would want to use a tape with less adhesive qualities, etc.

Since it looks like you want to use silver as a base coat, I would test a piece of masking tape on an area (or a spare part, or a crummy model I decided I did not want to finish, painted as a test piece) where it did not matter first to make sure all will work well.

OK?

Tom

Yes, it can be the primer. Use laquer or enamel paint for best results. These will bond better to plastic and 'behave' like primer. Or, Tom's idea is a good one as well.

 Andy

For weathering with silver, I simply dab it here and there with a small bristle brush where I left unpainted spots in the base coat.

That way, if I decide to touch it up with more base coat, or another color,  instead, I don't have a silver undercoat to deal with.

  Tom