Greetings from Aviano AB, Italy. I’ve just discovered the Aclad range of natural metal finishes. While the process required to apply them (primer, then gloss black acrylic) is lengthy, the results were beautiful. However, after about a week in several cases, and more than a month in another case, the surface has become marred by a myriad of tiny cracks. In fact, it’s almost as if the layer of paint was shattered. Have other had this problem? If so, any solutions to offer?
From my experience, and that of a few others from this forum, your cracks are probably due to the random drying time of the various coats you have applied.
In my case, I didn’t allow for the change of season we had here over a month.
The price was a totally stuffed P-38J.
The second time I used Alclad I allowed a 2 week drying period between coats.
So far there have been no cracks, and it has been 5 months since I finished my model.
Experiment with some plasti card I think, and see how ti works out.
Has to be better than having a dozen ruined models.
I’ve used a lot of Alclad2 & never had a problem, but several members have posted on the same problem. I’m not sure what causes it, but it seems to be related to the gloss black undercoat.
Regards, Rick
ditto here… I had the same prob on my P-47, luckily just on the drop tanks… the difference is I waited to spray the body but the drop tanks got done sooner after putting the gloss black on. From now on I plan on using Model Master gloss black instead of Alclads black primer and letting it dry a week first. I am going to try just putting a coat on top of the alclad and see if it covers it… it doesn’t appear to have any lines in it, just the black shows through the topcoat…
(I have a second P-47 I will do the real thing on once I get it right)
—edit—
I did find this recently and might try it… Alclad recommends the Testors grey or even just future to spray the normal aluminum colors over, I’ll see how that works… only HAVE to use the gloss black for the chrome and polished aluminum. — interesting note at the botom about chrome AND ONLY chrome is to be used over gloss black model paint…
Hmmm, might give the Future a lash next time.
I’ve been using Future over a light grey enamel primer or a black enamel top coat & then spraying the Alclad2 after it’s cured for a couple of days. No problem yet.
Regards, Rick
Dear friends,
I have not used alclad before, but I had some cracks after using Tamiya Lacquer sprays. After much research and asking around I notice that my display cabinet was the source of the problem. the heat and light generated by the display cabinet had made my paints crack. the best solution was to put a half cup of plain water in the cabinet - this was told by my LHS in Malaysia. and I noticed that in Hong Kong 's LHS they also had a cup of plain water in their display cabinet. I have no idea whats with the water for however it really works. Perhaps someone can explain the truth of this.
Reza
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I think it’s from applying the Alclad too thickly, it should go on much thinner than normal paint & be layered up. Check this article out:
http://www.kitparade.com/features01/f86dgc_1.htm