Alclad users

[F4DPhantomII]

What do you use for the basecoat?Any specific brand of enamel paint work best?I ordered some Alclad Airframe aluminum,Highly polished aluminum,transparent hot metal blue,and pale burnt metal finishes today.

[nightiemission]

FWIW,(my own personal preference here) I use Krylon primers(white, gray and black)decanted into an airbrush bottle and applied with the airbrush. I use these three colors for the different panel tones.

HTH, Terry

[Aigore]

It´s a bad idea to put Alclad directly on an enamel, but as long as you put a clear coat between you can use what ever base coat you want. There´s no probs shooting alclad on top of acrylic paints tho.

I preferably use the Alclad grey primer, gloss black and honey primer for my base coats.

The main thing with alclad is that the glossier the surface the better the finish :D

Cheers!

[oppenheimerj]

I normally use alclad over enamel gloss black from testor model master, with out any clear coat in between, dont use it over base water or alcohol base paint, they dont get along together

[zaktwist]

personally, i'd wet sand the plastic with fine sand paper then with micro mesh to a mirror shine. Then undercoat with gunze mr.color gloss black (lays down really smooth and is fast drying), then mayby another polish. The shinier the black the shinier the alclad. Ive had problems with alclad black primer never properly drying

[phasephantomphixer]

With the high polish Alclads, the Chrome for instance, I also vote to follow the bottle instructions and use Good 'ol Testors Gloss Black Enamel. I have used it on Auto/Truck bumper repaints, and even a Terminator endoskeleton which won 1st & Best Finish. Also mentioned, the trick is to get the Black laid down as perfect & glossy as possible.

[Netz]

It´s a bad idea to put Alclad directly on an enamel, but as long as you put a clear coat between you can use what ever base coat you want. There´s no probs shooting alclad on top of acrylic paints tho.

I preferably use the Alclad grey primer, gloss black and honey primer for my base coats.

The main thing with alclad is that the glossier the surface the better the finish :D

Cheers!

Shoot over Acrylic and take your chances..............

Curt

Edited May 19, 2012 by Netz

[salvine]

Holy Smokes! It made the tail fall off!

[CorsairMan]

+1 on the Krylon decanted and airbrushed. Goes on like a deal and the Alclad went on this morning like a dream. Great stuff so far!

[Collin]

FWIW,(my own personal preference here) I use Krylon primers(white, gray and black)decanted into an airbrush bottle and applied with the airbrush. I use these three colors for the different panel tones.

HTH, Terry

Terry:

So your models look like a patchwork of white/gray/black panels and then you lay a single coat of Alclad down? I have seen this done before but have not tried it myself. I have taken the traditional path of a single primer coat (normally gray) and laid down the basic Alclad NMF, then using post it notes or de-tacked Tamiya tape masked off panels and reshot with different shades of Alclad.

You have any tips, or samples to share of your patchwork approach?

Cheers

Collin

[MarcDuhon]

I have the best results using Alclad's line of microfillers..... actually I use their primers for everything now.... they are already thinned and they bond to the plastic.... I have never had any paint peel when sprayed on alclad primer.... they have black, gray, white, clear , and high gloss black..... I use the black to prime cockpits and landing gear for painting.... that black primer is superfine pigmented... reminds me of floquil...

For nmf finishes.... you can get a nice variety of finishes on the panels just by priming them differently.... then spraying them with one color.....

I had really bad problems trying to lay down alclad on Tamiya.... but none with MM enamel, or Gunze Mr Hobby Lacquer based acrylics...

[tbell]

I have achieved decent results using Gunze Mr Surfacer 1000 as a primer for the "regular" shades of Alclad. I thin the Surfacer with Tamiya Lacquer thinner and airbrush it on. Once dry I wet sand it with 2000 and 3600 grit cloths and then buff with an old tee shirt.

For the Highly Polished Aluminum, Krylon Fusion gloss black works well. Krylon is a bit hot, so I prefer to apply it over a coat of Mr. Surfacer applied as described above. Also, in order to control the paint flow better I decant the Krylon and airbrush it, as opposed to spraying straight from the can. As with the Mr. Surfacer, I buff and polish the Krylon before spraying the Alclad. Tamiya gloss black spray lacquer (NOT the acrylic in the bottle!) works well too, and doesn't need a primer underneath. The downside is that, in my experience, the Alclad doesn't adhere as well to the Tamiya and makes for a more delicate finish.

For an intermediate shine somewhere between the regular shades and the high shine shades, you can over spray the regular with the high shine (e.g. Highly Polished over top of White Aluminum).

Cheers,

Tony

Edited May 22, 2012 by tbell

[Runge]

I haven't used Alclad since I don't like using lacquers in my airbrush and Alclad is rather expensive, but I've heard many modelers who like to use gloss or semi-gloss black Tamiya spray lacquer or gloss or semi-gloss black Krylon Fusion underneath it and I quite like the results I see.

[CorsairMan]

Here is my first attempt at Alclad

Over Krylon gloss black. The stuff went on like dream but it is s little hard to see under the light once you get going.

[markiii]

Shoot over Acrylic and take your chances..............

Curt

Oh Curt, you had to post up pictures of my disaster. For clarification, the Alclad was applied over Tamiya or Gunze surface primer. I fixed it, but it was not fun!

[Netz]

Acrylic Primes....

Good to hear from you Mark.

Curt

[Edgar]

There was an Australian model kit company, which used to put a flyer in every box,"WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS." For technical reasons, Alclad does not all have the same make-up, so an acrylic primer will work with some, and enamel with others. Alclad's owner experiments with various items, with various paints in the range, and passes the knowledge on; the Alclad primers are the result of months of work.

Several years ago, I was working in a local model shop, and a customer came barrelling in, complaining about "useless Alclad, which rubs off." During questioning, it transpired that he'd ignored advice, and sprayed Chrome onto an acrylic undercoat, instead of enamel; when he was straightened out (and supplied with a free tin of gloss black enamel,) he departed and we never heard another word of complaint.

Edgar

[toniosky]

There was an Australian model kit company, which used to put a flyer in every box,"WHEN ALL ELSE FAILS, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS." For technical reasons, Alclad does not all have the same make-up, so an acrylic primer will work with some, and enamel with others. Alclad's owner experiments with various items, with various paints in the range, and passes the knowledge on; the Alclad primers are the result of months of work.

Totally agree on this

[Tate]

Future. Be sure and let it cure for at least a whole day first.

[RiderFan]

It´s a bad idea to put Alclad directly on an enamel, but as long as you put a clear coat between you can use what ever base coat you want. There´s no probs shooting alclad on top of acrylic paints tho.

I preferably use the Alclad grey primer, gloss black and honey primer for my base coats.

The main thing with alclad is that the glossier the surface the better the finish :D

Cheers!

I use MM Gloss black enamel for my polished aluminium base coats all the time. No problems whatsoever.

[Neo]

Not wanting to hijack this thread BUT when you decant Krylon can you use it right away ? if not how long can it last in a sealed container(MM paint jar) considering i might not be able to airbrush it the next day if something comes up

Also what is the cleanest way of decanting paint without making a mess?