Hi youse all,
started playing around with real aluminum as a finish with microscale’s adhesive. Has anyone else?
So far, my biggest problem (and thus the nature of my question) is that after burnishing down the foil completely on large sections, I see brush stroke where I applied the adhesive on the reverse side.
anyone else have this problem and what did you do to solve it. I don’t relish the idea of thinning it (with water) and sticking it in my airbrush.
thank you
I have experimented with the same on a Minicraft 777 and a 1/72 P47 Thunderbolt. I use gold-leaf glue because it’s specially formulated for exactly what you’re doing A friend of mine put me on to it.
I have found when the problem you’re having arises is that the glue is too thick. Either it has a viscosity straight out of the bottle that lends itself to brush marks and small bumps, or it may be that if you lay the glue on very thin ONCE, then don’t brush over it again before it dries enough to “install” your foil you may avoid the brush marks. Also, don’t overlook any basecoat under the foil that could be the source of grief.
You might also try a thicker grade of foil, but that may not work out for your project.
My friend finished a 1/48 Monogram Dog Sabre in foil, top coated it with future, decaled, then more future and it is STUNNING. Your efforts are worth it. My P47 and 777 are looking very good too.
You could also try a spray adhesive.
If you are getting marks from burnishing you could try an ink roller.
A company I worked for would use them to cover incorrect stencilling on shipping boxes, They have a soft rubber foam roller that applies the ink from a resivour in the handle.
excellant ideas.
Thank you
I am working on the thunderbird f100 super sabre
Why not using bare metal foil???
Cost and I’d thought I’d try something different
I agree with the cost issue on the bare metal foil! The gold leaf method nets excellent results with a three dollar bottle of glue that lasts a long time, AND it also has the added advantage of using either side (shiny or dull) and/or several different brands of very cheap aluminum foil. Buffed to varying sheens with blue magic polish, or some other common polish (I’ve found that lexan headlight polish is EXCELLENT and available at most auto paint suppliers) it is hard to match without buying several sheets of Bare Metal Foil.
In fact, in many cases with the household foil, the cheaper the better. The thinner aluminum foil tends to break more easily, but also tends to have the thinness necessary to show detail and maintain scale appearance.
One added tip. Take a suitable substance (I’ve found that makeup wedges or, ironically a long smooth-edged cardboard blister card such as superglue is often packed in do a pretty good job) and place the foil on a CLEAN SMOOTH surface with nothing stuck to it (tempered glass, etc) and smooth out the foil before applying the glue. You can get it just as slick as bare metal foil and have the burnishing kept to a minimum. Work with a piece that covers a couple of panels at a time (remembering that most aircraft surfaces are compound curves) and it goes on surprisingly quickly.
Hope I am not to late for the responce on this post. But I have had excellent results with microscale foil adhesive. I first make a small batch by cutting it with alcohol and mix like any other paint to pass thru an airbrush. But I don’t use my VL Pasche. I use my single action H1 Pasche. I figured the clean up on the VL and the glue inside would be to labor intensive. But the H1 if you know the construction of it is real easy to clean. Well anyway to spray on the adhesive I spray directly on the foil itself and it dry a litlle. A mere touch to feel if it is tacky.
It’s never too late.
So far as I am gaining experience with this process, I’ve learned a couple of things.
Alum. Foil has a real nice grain to it.
Smaller pieces are easier and look better than larger pieces .
I also sandwich a sheet between 2 pieces of glass prior to brushing on glue.
I’ve been using some 3M micron papers (3 to 30) to polish with decent results
even with the gold foil glue (1pt - $5 and non-toxic - kind of) I still get some brush stokes but I am probably appling a bit much. I can see where a little goes a long way.
You all experience some “beading” when appling the glue?
Now to go get a “cheap” airbrush to try snots4tots suggestion.
I am really beginning to like this process, just hate those tiny pieces of foil that attach themselves to things. I even found that graphite and finger oils can “age” the foil (yeah, gotta stop drafting and then building or get cotton gloves)
Hi !
Used ordinary household foil and glue on several models (B-17, T-33, B-58, XB-35) works nice.
Brush strokes haven’t been a problem, just lucky I guess.
Try boiling foil with eggs, like to make hard boiled eggs, the foil tarnishes and looks neat around engines. Also rotate the foil, it has a grain, rotating causes it to catch the light differently, again, looks neat.
There’s also boiling the foil with baking soda to give it the whitening (pseudo oxidation) of old aluminum. Very realistic, but only for fussbutts. [banghead]
Hmmm… I am really tempted to try this method out. I have been looking for information on this. I’ll have to try the tips you all suggest. Please keep me updated as to the outcome of your projects.
I finished my f-100 a while ago. Don’t necessarily like it’s finish - that’s due to my experience actually in-experience using the technique. I am going to try it again for the NMF group build, but on a smaller airframe.
where did you find the gold leaf glue? wibhi, post your f-100 pics please, would like to see the finished product using this method.
joe
I ended up using gold foil size - that’s the neame of the adhesive that I found at an art store (pearl paint). People who do gold leafing use it. Also, the nonogram decals were a PITA to work with. I had to cut the wrap around nose in half.
And here are the picts - the pitot tube has been broken off and lost during an unauthorized dusting.
Next time I do this, If I scribe I am going to make deeper cuts and work with smaller areas (I tried larger areas on this one)
Wow, that’s really nice work! This is just gold leaf glue and household aluminum foil?? Oh, and i hate those unauthorized dustings myself. Many a pitot tube or antenna has been lost because of it. [;)]
i agree with claymore, you can use spray adhesives by 3M. used for framing pictures and posters.
Why, thank you very much.
Nothing more than a $1.25 roll of foil and a $5.00 pint of size - still got plenty left over for more A/C.
Gary_Gnu,
I believe that I am going to try that as well - something like photo mount. - thanks
this looks great. how difficult was it. this is an option for my nmf build.
joe
It’s not so much difficult as it is time consuming and fussy. To get everything to look right
you have to be real anal about your seams, and base model joints (every defect will telescope through).
But I do think it’s a finish that’s well worth the effort. People’s eyebrows always shoot up when I tell them it’s real aluminum (except for wheel bays and other hidden aras.).