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Alcad II Chrome: 5 year finish cracking?


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About 5 years ago I finished a project with Alclad II Chrome - a wonderful metal finish which looked fantastic. This was applied over the recommended Tamiya black spray (TS-14?).

Recently I've inspected the project and am not thrilled to see a myriad of tiny cracks through which the black is showing through.

I'm wondering what could have caused this, and whether anyone else has some experience with this. I have used the Alclad lacquers a lot and have plenty of builds that use them.

Factors that MAY have affected this:

  • Resin kit. resin outgassing?
  • I occassionally seal my Alclad finished with something else. I may have sealed lacquer gloss coat. Or Future? I don't remember. I'm thinking this might have been the issue...
  • Sun exposure, not much but there is some
  • Undercoat with Tamiya fine grey or white primer

Not sure which of these might have caused the issue. I'm hoping it's not a problem with Alclad II Chrome itself.

Interested to hear anyone else's experiences.

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TS-14 isn't the gloss black recommended by Alclad II.

I'm fairly sure this was the recommended undercoat when I did this. I know there is now a black undercoat available from Alclad.

I wouldn't expose my model to sun light. Sounds like heat expansion to me.

This is a possiblity. I'm hoping it's the culprit, at least!

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About 5 years ago I finished a project with Alclad II Chrome - a wonderful metal finish which looked fantastic. This was applied over the recommended Tamiya black spray (TS-14?).

Recently I've inspected the project and am not thrilled to see a myriad of tiny cracks through which the black is showing through.

I'm wondering what could have caused this, and whether anyone else has some experience with this. I have used the Alclad lacquers a lot and have plenty of builds that use them.

Factors that MAY have affected this:

  • Resin kit. resin outgassing?
  • I occassionally seal my Alclad finished with something else. I may have sealed lacquer gloss coat. Or Future? I don't remember. I'm thinking this might have been the issue...
  • Sun exposure, not much but there is some
  • Undercoat with Tamiya fine grey or white primer

Not sure which of these might have caused the issue. I'm hoping it's not a problem with Alclad II Chrome itself.

Interested to hear anyone else's experiences.

I have had one Alclad Duraluminum finish develop cracks as you describe. I have not been able to trace the source of the problem. Since it was not Chrome, I did not use the black undercoat. The finish was on plain styrene, with no resin. I'm suspicious of differential heat expansion of the paint vs. plastic under incandescent lights.

DG

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