Alclad II Aluminum paint, so much pain and suffering!

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

Hello Guys,

I am trying to use Alclad II Aluminum paint from my IWATA HP-CS airbrush at a pressure of about 20 PSI or maybe less. I used the smooth side of a CD to practice on and noticed that the finish was very grainy or textured. I did not have this problem with Model Masters buff able Aluminum.

What am I doing wrong [:S]?

I did notice that the Alclad II Aluminum appeared to be rather thick, which make me wonder if this stuff has a shelf life!

Thank you

Gary

2

I have some old bottles of Alclad and they work fine. You might try a bit lower pressure, but I think getting closer and closing down needle a bit may help. You want very thin coats.

I find the major problem is getting a good undercoat. What did you put the Alclad over? It is best to put it over a really good coat of gloss black. Any flaws or roughness of that undercoat will be magnified by the Alclad.

I find the pain and suffering to be getting a flawless undercoat. Once I get that, the actual Aclad coat is a snap.

It is like putting a chrome coating on a piece of metal. The resulting chrome plate job is never better than the finish on the metal. Unlike paint, Alclad will not cover “a multitude of sins.”

3

I agree with Don on all counts.

4

Hello Don,

Thank you very much for your reply!

The only Alclad paint that I am having issues with are the Aluminium and the Dark Aluminum all the other ones that I have spray out just fine and I tested on the smooth side of a CD, not the rough side.

When I lower the pressure and gently pull back on the trigger, nothing comes out until I pull all the way back and if nothing comes out I then have to increase the PSI and then when it finally comes out I do not appear to get a good flow resulting in a textured finish.

I will try what you suggested and keep you posted.

Also would it be OK to thin Alclad Aluminium using lacquer?

Thanks

Gary

5

It sounds like an airbrush problem to me. Does it work okay with other quite thin lacquers. Alclad is already thinned a lot. I would not thin it any further.

6

I think Don is correct, either the airbrush is not metering the paint properly, OR as you stated the Alclad appears a bit thick. Have you considered that the lacquer carrier has evaporated considerably and left you with an unduly concentrated residual material that the airbrush can’t dispense? If the bottle seal has been altered by dried material in the cap threads, evaporation happens quite quickly.

Out of curiosity I might try some lacquer reducer to thin it, but I doubt I’d try to use it on a model. Real lacquer thinner is very aggressive, it can do a real job of attacking plastic, unless a proper barrier is placed down in preparation before spraying it.

Patrick

7

"I did notice that the Alclad II Aluminum appeared to be rather thick, which make me wonder if this stuff has a shelf life! "

Alaclad is thin like water. You mentioned the other shades work ok so it should not be thick at all and may be going bad. This same thing usually happens when my enamels get bad.

The only time I get a grainy finish is if the undercoat is not smooth as glass.