Randy: Thanks!!! Did Hawkeye stop producing the entire line!?! I'm normally an acrylic guy and wanted to try the stuff, but as I said I've invested all this money in Alclad products I hate to start on something else now. Still I liked the fact that Talon was out there.

B-17: Did the primer underneath look ok? I forgot what you're using but I've never seen Alclad act like that unless it was the primer or maybe something on the surface that it didn't want to stick to. Hopefully someone else knows what happened there and can help. Gee what a PITA...

I used Alclad's primer and gloss black coat, both were fine.  Its my second time to use Alclad.  Didn't have any trouble the first time around.

Damn B17, thats a horror.  Ditto what Gamera said, cant help thinking something oily or soapy must have got onto the surface before you sprayed the alclad.

B-17: I have had acrylic paint crack like on your wingtip if it dries too fast or at least that's what I think it is. I airbrush in the basement with a wood stove in the winter, it sucks the humidity out of the air and then I used to move the model closer to the stove between coats of paint. I'd lay down some paint like white and yellow really thick and then they'd crack. I started using lighter coats and keeping it alway from from the heat of the stove and the problem stopped.

Not sure if this is in any way related to your problems, as I said I've never had Alclad do this. Other than laying down lighter coats I'm not sure what to tell you. How long did you let the primer coat dry? I don't think the Alclad would craze it but I dunno?

Dried too fast that might be the problem.  I have to paint outside, and its awefully windy today. I got as close to the model as I dared when I did paint.  That might be the problem.  The primer and gloss black had several days to dry before applying over it.

Could be, lighter coats might be worth at least a try.

Good luck!

B17Pilot man thats the pits buddy ! Looks like something I have had happen with Krylon paint when I have tried to add another coat after a week or so. Have never used Alclad so I have no idea what happened.

So I have been talking about getting at least some work done on the B-29 for a while now. I still dont have much done but figured some pictures of what I have so far are way past due. I did use Doogs trick using black for a base coat for interior green and I like the results.

I still need to add another clear coat and some washes to finish it up but its getting there slow but sure.

Oh Gamera his site says he did close it down completely and is looking for a buyer for the Talon SNJ business. Hopefully someone will step up soon.

B-17, I'm using alclads and the same thing happened to me on both of my 51's. i did all the prep work as best i could, had the primer all shiny and ready, and cleaned the surface before spraying anything and i still had this happened in several spots. not too bad on the second go-round though.

i decided it happened in places that i held the airbrush over for too long... once it "pooled" it was all over. I'm sure its just my lack of experience with these paints and airbrushing in general that caused it, and possibly me touching it after cleaning with out a glove on or something... not saying this is what happened to you, just sharing my experience.

luckily the spots on my models are in places where i can cover it up with weathering.

Randy: looks good! I figured not much would be visible so I didn't take too much time on the interior of my B-29. Sad to hear Talon/SMJ is out of action, I remember SMJ as being one of the first companies to put out a NM line.

Guys, one of the things I learned about Alclad is to never allow the airbrush to stand still. Start spraying off the model and sweep the spray across the kit, and then sweep back again. If painting something like a wing start your strokes at the tip and work back to the wing root. Don't try to get good coverage on each sweep but go all the way up the wing, and then go back to the tip and start back up with a second run. The Alclad will gradually build up to a shiny finish.  

Thanks Gamera I am planning to add 4 or 5 figures to the flight deck as I am building it posed  on short final so I detailed it a bit. This way I can place in on the gear for static display, or in the air ( hanging in the mancave) As for the rear compartments you cant see much of them so the painting I have already done will due. The rough part of this build will be the figures, all of them will have to be modified to work, and I have never done this before, should be interesting. Why Revell-O-Gram never made flight crew figures for the big bombers or the small ones I will never figure out. And posing the control surfaces should be fun too, especially the flaps. Anyway thats the plan at this point.

Talon is not out there. They made the stuff to order and quit production in August. Any chance that stuff got into contact with anything that resembles "Flow Aid?" In the right place, and right quantity, it's great stuff, but some paints like Pollyscale will crack right away in contact with it. I used Talon on my Texan and it worked splendidly - course I'm used to spraying at very low psi - almost never get over 20. I'm not sure that you could have the stuff crack because it dried too fast: if the psi was too fast it would splatter over creation. One quirk about that stuff - it has to be stirred to the utter max because the pigment separates very quickly. I used the electric mixer before putting it in the brush and stirred the cup a couple of times. Otherwise I'd wonder about some kind of residue on the primer or in your brush.

I fixed the problem areas, though after finishing up the rest of the plane while spraying the repair a couple of spots did the same thing in the tail, but yeah, I know how to fix it now!

What do y'all think of the repair?

Nose:

Wing tip:

 All in all, not too bad of a repair process.

Looks good to me, seamless! Did you figure out what caused it?

No never did figure out what caused it. But I did figure out that in very light coats you can spray over Alcald in two hours!

I put off building for awhile but it looks like I might actually get some decent bench time over the holidays.  With a month break from college, I may just be able to knock out the P-51B.  Last time I touched it I was fitting the Aires cockpit and just about got it fit.  I got the Aires wheel well to but that thing is a royal PITA.  Next time I'll just modify the wheel well myself.

Oh, and Randy,  I won't be getting to the D, so you can take that off the list

I think I might change the markings too.  I can't find the Eagle Strike with "Geronimo" anywhere, and it's more accurate than the Supserscale sheet with the same markings which is currently available from Hannants.  If I can't come across it on ebay or somewhere else before I get to the painting stage, I'll go with either "Queen Jean" or "Lady Beth III" (I do have these decals).

Would like to join in if its not too late? I've got a 1/48 revelogram P-47 D,thanks in advance Trey

I had to take a little time off, but I had some time today to get a lot done.  All that is left is the canopy and the decals.

Look'n tight DJ!

Looks like a lovely finish on her DJ

I've never used Alclad but let me take a guess at the cracking issue. NMS paints have extremely heavy pigments relative to the agent (lord knows what brew is in alclad but you can bet there's some fancy chemistry). I'd guess that you have to see that they're mixed extremely well - even during a spray. (Hawkeye emphasized that it was vital to keep Talon mixed as well as it could be mixed - recommended BBs in the bottle.) The agent is going to dry extremely fast - it almost has to because if the stuff wasn't as thin as it is the whole approach would fail. An uneven coat due to uneven spraying action or even a slight delay that would allow the pigments to start to settle in the cup would change the relative speed of drying. And with a fragile paint like alclad, uneven drying will break down the cohesion of the film which will lead to cracking or "crazing." I think this could even be effected by the environment. If your surface gets an uneven distribution of air flow one part will dry sooner than another. With that super heavy pigment almost wanting to separate I'd think it would be a really good idea to keep the coat as thin as possible and as even as possible. I'll stand correction on this, but I think cracking and crazing is usually caused by something that's preventing an even drying effect. I had that happen once when I applied Floquil acrylics which dry very quickly over a coat of Golden Fluids which have drying retarders in their mediums to prevent tip clog and to allow "self leveling" which means they dry slowly for an acrylic. (You'll never clog your tip though no matter how long you're painting.) I thought the Golden was dry. It wasn't dry enough so the Floquil film intermingled with the Golden and when it dried fast - instant cracking. You could see the are affected - it looked a little moist. Of course I might be completely wrong. I have Norwegian blood in my veins.

Eric

Worst ive had with alclad is it going dusty through too high a pressure / too far away and a quick micromesh sorted that. I have had runs, damn great pools of it, but never had it crack.

I've been using Model Master metalizer with decent results. Not had the nerve to try my hand at Alclad yet,tho this might be a good project to give it a go on. I've gotten a start on it

Basic Dry fit looks promising

Trying not to go hog wild with a/m goodies on this one so making the most out of whats in the box is a must. First up I gave the wheels a retread and then 'weighted' them,may have weighted them a tad much but I'll roll with it!

Next I opened up the vents behind the cowl flap area

Cleaned up and thinned the aft fuse vents

More cleaning and drilling,will be straying from the oob by adding some tubing here

Razor sawed the cowl flaps ,filed them a bit and thinned the trailing edges

Rescribed and cleaned up the front cowl

on to the office next! cheers Trey

Trey - please tell me you're going to do something about those sad excuses for blast tubes! Love the old Monogram Jug, but those things have to go...

If you've got a Tamiya Jug lying around, you can steal the blast tubes off it and replace those with Master tubes at a later date. Or go with the Quickboost resin ones or use tubing (which I don't like since it doesn't capture the rounded-ness of the P-47 tubes, but close enough for government work!)

Here's an update on the mustangs, one is complete up to weathering, still needs some of that (exhaust stains, gun smoke stains and such). the other is ready for decals. on the image of the wheel wells, you can see the "cracking" i experienced with the alclads. this is on an edge, so that may have had a hand in it, but i also experienced the same thing in areas not near an edge.

Spark - pics are not showing mate :-(

weird, they show for me...? I've never had this problem before.

I see one pic in the email, but none on the forum post.

Are they iPhone pics? I've had a problem with that recently, and found that changing the file name was the only way to fix it (think it's because the iPhone gives photos stupid-long filenames)

DJ: Nice work there!

Spark: Nothing here either, hmmmmmm.