Gamera Looks great buddy !! The markings are really  eyecatching, and gotta say love the noseart.

B17Pilot Sweet man ! Thats what I was lookin for, it looks like a thunderbolt now ! Did you preshade the panel lines on this one ? I really like the way they came out. Great save on the paint mishap too it looks flawless. The front page has been updated with your finished build and your badge is there too.

Theuns Nice to see ya back man That Mirage is gonna look great in NMF, been waiting to see it too.

Dogfish7 your ummmm huge P-51D is in and welcomed. Cant wait to see this monster. You are offically on the roster.

Italian Starfighter Welcome to the group You have a nice start on your build, I too like your cockpit and floorboard work. You are also offically on the roster.

Nice to see so many excellent builds still going. I am actually doing anorher nmf plane but in the vietnam gb. If i had thought about it i could have done it here instead. Ill be watching to pick up more tips from you guys so keep posting :-)

Hi, Can I join up? I'm building a P 38 in NMF. its quite a bit finished, but, I didn't start until Christmas Eve 2012

Thanks

Mr. V   while I am working on the Mirage and waiting for some Alclads to come it from the States, I started a 1/48 Otaki P-47 d I want to use to practice some NMF skills before going onto nicer models.

Is there space for it aswell?

Thanx

Theuns

Guys, I would like to get a few tips on Alclad please. I have the basics down I think.

On the two P-47 featured the previous page, what color did you guys use for the basecoat? I assume it was airframe allu that was used as a final?

I know that some use black and light grey for different shade before the airframe allu goes on, but I also asume it has to be gloss like with pollished allu?

I am going to try and "stain/shade" some pannels with very thinned down artist oils like I saw in an Alclad dvd, but it is also nice to get some first hand know how from the experts here :-)

Do you guys seal the decals afterwards, does it not affect the alclad look?

Thanx

Theuns

Theuns: Doogs found this technique and had great success so I 'borrowed' it from him.

1). Undercoat of gloss black

2). Alclad airframe aluminum

3). Post-shade (paint centers of panels) with plain aluminum

4). Light misting of aluminum overall to dampen the contrast

The airframe aluminum is more shiny and slightly translucent showing the black though slightly so it's a little darker. The plain aluminum in the centers is lighter giving a pre-shade effect.

You can also just as said paint the different panels black or grey and then spray everything plain aluminum and you'll get slightly different panels. There's a lot of different things you can do with it, I find the Alclad very easy to use- it's getting a good smooth perfect undercoat that's the problem for me.

I've been sealing the model with Model Master Metalizer Sealer but here lately I've noticed the NM looks kinda dull and off so I may stop using it. You don't have to cover the Alclad with anything. I will spray a little matte varnish on the decals if they're shiny, not sure if they need protection though.

Don't spray the whole model with matte varnish though- it makes the Alclad turn really dull and look like cheap silver paint. I found out the hard way!!!

I did the Otaki Jug and it's a nice kit for the era. Don't know how it stacks up detail wise, but it certainly has the character of "jugness."

Eric

Morn'n Lads.

I was a little dissapointed this morning apon seeing that the primer I sprayed on the Jug has nearly filed the pannel detail. The scribed pannels on this Otaki kit is really fine! The paint wasn't to thick , maybe I just laid it on to much (1 light and 1 med coat)

Anyhow, I will mask off a few pannels in the grey of the primer and paint the rest black ready for the alclad to go on.

Pix to follow

Theuns

Hi all......same up dates.....it needs only a light van *** washing....before to close the fusolage......Ciao Enrico.

Nice work! Great job all around.

very nice looking pit!

P-47 in primer with some panels left grey

Black on , but the future I used for gloss did not go on to well so I needed to sand the whole thing with 2000 wet paper. Just hope it will be OK. The airframe allu doesn't have to be to shiny anyway so I am not to worried about the less than perfect finnish

Theuns

these are both quick nasty and cheap builds of cheap and nasty kits lol

i threw these together yesterday

waiting on decals to finish them
the jag is actually not a bad looking plane
it really does look like a baby tsr2!

ps that lightnings is possibly the best model iv EVER seen !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all....same up dates......Ciao Enrico

Eathis: Gee, how did I miss these? Really cool stuff there!

Enrico: Nice work, love the brass guns.

them guns are very good mine are cheap and nasty pm models kits i bought i load of them very cheap so im not too fussed about them lol

I have the Tamiya gloss black enamel on the mirage and it gave WAY better smooth shiny surface than the Humbrol gloss enamel or my future over matt idea.

Now I just need to figure out how to mask some pannels (over the pollished allu alclad 2) and not lift it away from the black.

I understand the only real option is using tamiya tape??? The "paper" or "plastic" Tamiya tape??

Thanx

Theuns

Yep, and even stick the tamyia tape on the underside of your arm before applying. I found this to be really effective to reduce/ eliminate paint lifting. Some people like the 3M brand low tack painters tape too (the blue stuff) but i have never used it myself.

Richard

Here is the black gloss on, a few pannels were sanded with 2000 paper to try and get different tone under the alclad

I was however unsuccessfull in that as the alclad went on to heavy and it all looks the same. I will get some different shades with oils.

Then desaster when the airbrushe spluttered and gave a few blobs of silver on the right under wing........to late to fix it now :-(

Note the difference in shine between the alclad and the Humbrol alluminium in the wheel wells.

Hopefully after decals and a pannel wash it will look a little less "clinical"

Theuns

Looks good to me Theuns! You can sand the Alclad a little to get rid of the splattering, may have to hit it a couple of times though.

vetteman42

B17Pilot Did you preshade the panel lines on this one ? I really like the way they came out.

Sorry for the delay, haven't really had much time to be surfing forums lately. No the panel lines weren't preshaded. I used that premixed black wash, can't remember the name of it at the moment. Its acrylic and after the recommended drying time, I used a wet paper towel to wipe away the excess, though it took a couple of coats to get them like that.

I had a slight hassle with the thinned oils used for stailning some of the different pannels to give tone.In the tutoral DVD the guy applies highly thinned (with turps) oils, but when I did it over the Alclad it messed up the paint! Maybe my turps was not the "soft" type I don't know.

The result it a sanding of those affected pannels , re-glossing and alclad again, just hope I have enough of it, stay tuned.....

Theuns

I founf revell thinners to be particlarly agressive, i use daler and rowney low odour thinners and never have problems with it on anything

Ok so I "repaired" the hassles with the hassles with the paint and will stick with the results I have now, allot of lessons learned!

I also did a light pannel wash with grey pastel slurry.

Do you guys seal the whole model after decals are applied to stop them lifting later? if so with what that will not affect the alclad look?

Theuns

Theuns,

Personally i don't really use a coat after the decals, just a clearcoat before the decals. Properly applied decals won't lift off the model after time goes by. It's really a matter of personal taste and i don't want my carefully applied metal paints to look odd with a clearcoat myself unless i need a distinct dull/ matte looking finish for a NMF project

Richard

Yeah, what Richard said! I've used MM Metalizer Sealer over an Alclad painted model but lately haven't been too crazy about the results. A word of warning- don't spray a matte finish over NM at all- first and last time I tried it the results looked like cheap silver paint! When decals dry with a glossy finish I do take a small amount of matte varnish and spray just the decals and nothing else.

I agree with you completely Gamera. At the moment i typed that i was thinking of just such an effect like oxidized whiteish aluminum like a boneyard mig 15 sitting on the tarmac for 15 years. I would certainly not use a matte finish on any NMF other than that

Richard

Ok so if I understand you put a gloss clearcoat over the whole model prior to decals as per normal , but nothing after that?

Or is the alclad shiny anough to ge away without the initial gloss clearcoat??

Dou you apply the decals (if no initial claercoat) with a setting solution like Future maybe? Or will the carrierfilm then show?

Theuns

Due to the already glossy surface of a well laid down NMF you can actually get away without using a clearcoat at all. Do be careful using future in combination with set- and sol. I have had it happen to me that i did not apply the future well or didnt let it dry long enough. The decal solution ate into my future coat and made it appear all smudgy  

Then again... this happened like twice to me out of a gazillion times it worked great for me

Richard