Hey everyone! Hope you all have had a great Christmas and new year[:D]! I received Tamiya’s Repsol RC211V and the Williams BMW FW24 for Christmas. These kits are amazing. However on the bike I found that the plated frame parts are not realistic. I want to paint the frame aluminum but found that Tamiya’s aluminum paint does not look all that great, after airbrushing the engine in the BMW with Tamiya’s aluminum. I have been interested in using Testor’s metalizers. I would like to know how well the NON-Buffing-metalizers work and if the aluminum metalizer gives a believable aluminum finish, since I have absolutely no experience with metalizers. Does the non-buffing metalizer need to be sealed with a sealer? One last question, are there other “metal finish” paints that give a good finish?
There are many other paints out there that can be buffed(Humbroll, Gunze, etc.) among them the most recommended is Alclad II.
Than there are also the buffing powders, the more you buff it the more it will look like chrome.
Procedure is normally the same, paint part GLOSS black and apply product over it, wait some 30 minutes and start buffing.
If you want to redo the finish on the frame I would recommend to strip the plating of first, can be done by inserting it into kitchen bleach/acid.
As always test on a bit of sprue/runner first, as intensity of those products will vary.
Not sure what you mean with NON-buffing metalizers, I guess those are straight metallic paints like the Tamiya ones, metalizers usually need to be buffed or can be left as applied.
Metallic colours are best air-brushed onto the kit, depending on the kit & finish brushing metallic colours can produce a better effect.
Example:
A 20yr old Roadbike looks better brushed as the engine would have seen plenty of wear and tear( if not have been repainted already). On the RC211V and the FW24 this does NOT apply as the engine is overhauled after EVERY race.
Advise on metallic paints some will run if sealed or topcoated with an incompatible product. Humbroll Gold was famous for that. [;)]
As for recommending metallic paints there will be as many different recommendations as responses to this thread.
Thanks MadModelFactory! The information is greatly appreciated. As for the non-buffing metalizers; Testers sells a metalizer paint, usually in the same display rack as the buffing metalizers, that is marketed as being “Non-Buffing”. I was just curious if anyone out there in computer land has used this “Non-Buffing” metalizer with good results. Yes, I did plan on striping the plating from the frame. I personally like to use Simple Green, it seems to work great for me. Again, thanks a lot for the information MadModelFactory.
I have the buffing aluminum and the non buffing. The non buffing isn’t quite as shiny as the other, after the buffing that is. They’re not greatly different and both looked good even after Future. MMF knows his stuff.
Check the RC211V thread I posted awhile back on this forum(pic included).I painted the swingarm with Tamiya TS-17 gloss aluminum spray paint and then lightly buffed it with SNJ polishing powder.
I forgot to say on my last post that I am working on 2 RC211V kits right now and I used Alclad II dark aluminum on the plated parts, primed with white before hand. Looks very good. Will try to post some pics later.