Natural metal finish - my attempts with alclad

I love the looks of the NMF on these aircraft and I would love to give it a try; however, I have to admit that it scares the bejeezus out of me to go there, I'm not one big on failure.

TUG your stuff is definitely inspirational!!  Awesome

Hi Guys - glad you liked it, many thanks for your comments.

Dean - Most of the runways are created using a water based powdered wall crack filler - Poly-Filla in the UK.

It's about 3-4mm thick - the area is defined by laying down two layers of masking tape and cyano 'tacking' 3 - 4mm balsa strips to act as a guide. The filler is layered in and scraped off with a straight edge to the thickness of the balsa.  There's a point as the water evaporates when it's perfect for grooving the edges of panels and contouring the surface texture. The one issue with this method is that it's very difficult to do individual panels so the contouring can be carried over one panel to another which doesn't quite look right once noticed. It does take acrylic paint extremely well and will absorb white spirit based oil paint 'oil stains' quite realistically 

On this F-100 I tried a different approach using 'mount board' as used in picture framing. I cut out several 'slabs' to a uniform size, sand ing the edges at a slight angle then 'scratched' the surface with coarse sandpaper stuck to a flat block. Each panel was painted separately with acrylic before being stuck down with spray on contact adhesive. The bitumen sealer was replicated using Humbrol satin black laid in with a fine pointed brush. I was concerned that the white spirit based oil paints used for staining afterward might seep through and affect the adhesive but no such problems occurred.

This proved to be a much easier method than using Poly-Filla.

Hope that's of use Dean, to you and others of course

Regards - Tug

Dave, I was typing as you posted.

Glad you like the Marauder - it's a particular favourite of mine - I do wish there was a state of the art kit available for it. There was talk at one time of a 1/32 example coming (along with the A26 Invader- another favourite) but that seems to have died a death.

I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't have any other source than on here as this is the only plastic forum I post on.

Jelliot - don't be - just try it out on an old kit first - panel by panel. Try different techniques with it too until you are happy with the outcome. The big thing is not to spray (Alclad) at too high a pressure nor heavy coats - let it build up slowly. Though many favour the technique I never put it over gloss black just the Alclad grey primer.

Regards - Tug

The runway on that Mirage diorama looks like it's moving,  like the focus is on the plane. Were you trying to accomplish that,  or is that my imagination?  I should try to achieve that look on one of my builds.

Steve

Thanks TUG, I use polyfilla as well, I'm only a short trip away I'm guessing being in N.I. myself, I never thought of using white spirit to creat oil stains on the surface it's a really good idea. Also I was wondering on your 1/32 F-100 did you use any after market accessories? I have heard many complaints with the kit and yours is inspirational to me it's fantastic. To me the model looks right, but I don't know anything about the aircraft so that's why I was asking.

Hi Dave - yes I used the Aires cockpit, U/C bays and exhaust nozzle. Well up to Aires usual great standard the cockpit fitted exceptionally well as did the nose U/C bay between the cut out and the underneath of the intake tube. The Main U/C bay was very close too though not quite 'perfect'. The nozzle - 'Aires at its best' inside - needed some additional plastic card supports. No connection with Aires - just a consistently satisfied user.

The kit overall was not too bad. The worst problem area was the radome cover which is separate and made from two halves. Were I to do it again I would put strong location strips around the edges of the bay to hold the cover out to the fuse edges - there is nothing locate it on the fuse parts. I had to shave the surrounding raised areas on the main fuselage and remark the rivets. The other slight discrepancy is inside the intake - despite lots of dry fitting it did not locate well at the lip when gluing and there is a slight witness.

The wing fitting is marginal - much the same as the 1/48 version but using a 2.5mm diameter ali wing 'spar' kept every thing aligned and rigid. Apart from these points though I had no real issues with it.

I'm on the east coast of the UK - if you are going to Telford come and say hello - I shall be with the Norfolk Scale Model Group.

Regards - Tug

Tug, what you're doing is truly amazing!  You've given me some good ideas for my next build as far as weathering. One thing, and I may have missed it, so I apologize if I do.  Are you masking the lettering and surraundals too!?!  If so, I'd love a play by play on how you do that...  What you use (I saw Tamiya tape) method ect.  I'd love to be able to get away from using as many decals if I can...  Raymond

I'm 66 years old and being retired, I have time to re-enter the modeling world.  I've been at it for about a year now but I should live so long as to create such wonderful looking aircraft such as yours.  .  Simply stunning work !

The finish on those aircraft is outstanding!

Mike

Now ,That's what I mean .

Those look great .The fact is they look like unpolished in service working birds . Not show birds or prototype or advertising birds  .Civil aircraft on the other hand don't get let go that long in the looks department  .Working Birds don't have time to look pretty . But look great they can .Kudos , young man    T.B.      P.S.   I like your very subtle weathering and aging .

Jay Jay

 I should live so long as to create such wonderful looking aircraft such as yours.  .  Simply stunning work !

^^^^^^

This!  Amazing builds, one and all.

Gary

Awesome work. I am considering starting to dabble with Alclad and indeed have some bottles already.

I would like to know what's the difference between the primer and the primer with microfiller. Which one should I use?

Thanks for the info TUG, out of curisoity how did you get the finish of the planes to look like aged metal, I mean some Alclad finishes do look like real metal but it often makes the planes look like metal models rather than the real thing, you have managed to get the metal effect just right, did you use a matt coat? Or is there a specific Alclad paint we should be looking for?

That French Hun looks fantastic. Great work Sir.