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What's the next best thing to Alcald II?


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Hi guys,

I want to do some work on my next kit that will involve some NMF however, I live in an apartment with no proper ventilation and I find that spraying any kind of lacquer can be very volatile (and raises questions from my girlfriend!).

I know that many people swear by Alclad II, but I need something like an acrylic for an alternative. Something that sprays well and is convincing enough.

The model I plan to do isn't entirely NMF so it wouldn't be the only focal point, but I'd still like to find an alternate.

Any ideas?

Any help is much appreciated.

Happy modeling.

Grant

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Well I can't speak for an acrylic type but I have used Tamyia rattle can of silver or aluminum and it worked fine. Does have a smell (quite nice actually :lol: ) I use that in the winter sometimes as it is too cold in garage to paint.

Rod

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I asked the same question a few days ago and got some good advice. Here's what I have tried so far.

Tamiya - Flat Aluminum and Titanium Silver I think it is sprayed over both Tamiya gloss white and gloss black. I got really good results with both of them. One thing I did add to what they suggested was this. I used the powder from sharpening a drafting pencil and a piece of and old sock to sort of "polish the finsh". I used it lightly over the whole test piece and shot a coat of MM Acrylic semi gloss to seal it. I also masked off different panels and gave it another rubdown of graphite to darken it a bit more and then sealed it again with semigloss.

I also tried paints from Citadel the Mithiril Silver and Chainmail. I sprayed both of those over Tamiya gloss white and gloss black. I like the finish a bit better with these paints as they seem to be a finer grain and I just left them alone and coated them with MM Acrylic Semigloss.

I thinned both the Tamiya and Citadel with Tamiya Thinner and the MM Arcylic with MM Acryl Thinner. I am big fan of both thinners and believe they are worth the investment. another good thing to have if your going to be using acrylics is a product made by Liquitex called Slow-Dri it improves the working time of acrylics and seems to help them adhere to the plastic a bit better.

I let the gloss coats dry overnight before I masked the panels and did not have any trouble with the paint lifting. That's another reason I switched to the proprietary thinners. I haven't had a problem with Acryls lifting since I started using their thinner and the slow-dri additive.

One of the questions about the slow-dri I'll probably get is how much. When I buy a new bottle of Acryl I add 10 good size drops to the new bottle. If I'm going to be be mixing a full cup of paint I add 2 or 3 drops to the cup and if I'm going to be doing white or yellow where it'll taken many light coats and the paint is going to be in the cup for awhile I'll do the same 2 or 3 drops to a smaller amount of paint though.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any more questions...

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I bought a couple of bottles of different Citadel metallics as well and will give them a try in the next couple of days, stay tuned.

If nothing else, the names Citadel uses are definitely different from our usual aircraft type paint names - Mithril Silver and Boltgun Metal :thumbsup:

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Citadel make three metallics suitable for BMF finishes on aircraft.

Chainmail

Mithril Silver

Boltgun

From what Smithery and others have been posting, sounds like these spray very well indeed and look like they are worth a try. They even take masking which says a lot for durability!

:cheers:

MikeJ

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I have come to learn from experience that the Citadel shades can also be mixed with one another to produce different tones.

And just because I got nice comments the last time I posted it, one more shameless self-plug and Citadel acrylics:

PC271232.jpg

Mithril Silver overall, with Chainmail accents.

IMHO, the Citadel acrylics should be used to replicate the following finishes:

Mithril Silver: silver lacquer, chrome (in a pinch), white aluminum

Chainmail: natural aluminum

BoltGun Metal: gunmetal, dark aluminum (if mixed with one of the above)

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I have come to learn from experience that the Citadel shades can also be mixed with one another to produce different tones.

And just because I got nice comments the last time I posted it, one more shameless self-plug and Citadel acrylics:

PC271232.jpg

Mithril Silver overall, with Chainmail accents.

IMHO, the Citadel acrylics should be used to replicate the following finishes:

Mithril Silver: silver lacquer, chrome (in a pinch), white aluminum

Chainmail: natural aluminum

BoltGun Metal: gunmetal, dark aluminum (if mixed with one of the above)

Excellent work! In what proportion did you mix the above to achieve the desired finish? Also, how tolerable is this paint to masking? Did you lay any gloss coats before decaling, or after? If you did not gloss clear coat before decaling, did setting solutions like MicroSol affect the paint?

I am buying these paints this week. I anxiously look forward to use them. Any additional comments from you will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

José

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Check with a well stocked comics and miniatures store... that's where I found mine locally.

Agree with that. We can get Citadel paints from Games World stores, Games Workshop stores and several big gaming shop independents here in Perth, Australia

:cheers:

MikeJ

Edited by madmike
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OBD,

I'm also working on a T-6 and I would say that that the Mithiril Silver sprayed over the Gloss White Tamiya is a pretty close match to the pictures I have seen of the T-6

Cheers,

Steven

Oh, and I bought mine at HobbyTown USA, both locations here in Las Vegas had them and I'm told that's a pretty standard stock...

Edited by Steven Leeds
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Excellent work! In what proportion did you mix the above to achieve the desired finish? Also, how tolerable is this paint to masking? Did you lay any gloss coats before decaling, or after? If you did not gloss clear coat before decaling, did setting solutions like MicroSol affect the paint?

I am buying these paints this week. I anxiously look forward to use them. Any additional comments from you will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,

José

José, I didn't mix paints on the Mirage build. That was painted Mithril Silver with Chainmail accents. I thinned the paint heavily with Tamiya thinner (70% thinner, 30% paint), and sprayed through my Badger 155 at about 12-15psi. I was able to mask without issue after the paint had dried for about an hour. I did not use gloss coat prior to or after decals, and no, Microsol did not affect the paint.

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José, I didn't mix paints on the Mirage build. That was painted Mithril Silver with Chainmail accents. I thinned the paint heavily with Tamiya thinner (70% thinner, 30% paint), and sprayed through my Badger 155 at about 12-15psi. I was able to mask without issue after the paint had dried for about an hour. I did not use gloss coat prior to or after decals, and no, Microsol did not affect the paint.

Great info! Many thanks for posting your experience with this paints.

Jose

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José, I didn't mix paints on the Mirage build. That was painted Mithril Silver with Chainmail accents. I thinned the paint heavily with Tamiya thinner (70% thinner, 30% paint), and sprayed through my Badger 155 at about 12-15psi. I was able to mask without issue after the paint had dried for about an hour. I did not use gloss coat prior to or after decals, and no, Microsol did not affect the paint.

Kevin

Thanks for re-iterating what you had mentioned earlier. I have diverted a project from AS-12 to give the Citadel paints a try.

The HobbyBoss P-47D is primed with Tamiya white primer, so it is ready to go :D

:cheers:

MikeJ

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Found a place on Ebay called Bunker Buster Game Depot. . .got 2 bottles each of Citadel Mithril Silver and Chainmail for $2.29 USD ea (shipping for 4 bottles was $6). Hoping these'll work for my on-going T-6 project!

Cheers

Old Blind Dog

Well after reading this thread I am convinced and just placed an order from Bunker Buster Game Depot and as well ordered 4 bottles. I will be trying them out on my next project which I will do in the in-progress section. It will be a Arii 1/48 P47D in BMF. So we'll see how well it comes out.

Kind Regards,

Robert Garelli

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