Blue Angel leading edge paint

Tools, Techniques, and Reference Materials Painting and airbrushing
1

I am building all the aircraft flown by the Blues and am wondering what paint to use for the leading edge. I see three likely Alclad candidates:

Aluminum Lacquer, Airframe Aluminum Lacquer, and Polished Aluminum Lacquer.

Does anyone know which of these (or maybe something else altogether) I should go with

Also, any of you have experience with Alclad Gloss Black Base as a primer for metallics?

Many thanks.

2

The Blues love their bugs/Skyhawks shiny. I’d go with either Airframe or Polished, both have a high shine when laid down on top of a gloss black base coat.

I’ve never used Alclad’s gloss black. I’ve heard that it can have some real slow drying times. I’ve just used Tamiya or Gunze gloss blacks as my base coats for high-shine projects.

3

Thank you so very much. Very helpful.

4

Just me and I don’t even know if you could find any but I’d use Testors Metalizer Aluminum Plate Buffing and buff it. Someone I bet will come along and suggest bare metal foil.

5

Hey-OlderModelGuy! All I can say to your comment is Yup !

6

I have had bad luck with Alclad black base- very slow to dry. I have ever since used Tamiya gloss black lacquer in the spray can, with excellent results under Alclad polished aluminum.

7

Thank you, Chuck. Grateful for this confirmation.

8

Is the Gunze you refer to the Aqueous Gloss Black Primer H-2?

Thanks again,

Dale