Looking for a substitute for Floquil old silver since they no longer make it. I have Tamiya XF-16 flat aluminum, how close is that?
Is it the RR color? A LHS in my area still carries a small rack of Floquil RR colors. I can check and see if he has any in stock.
I think this was a RR line, I’ve never used it but read that it was a good color for the painted silver wings on P-51’s
Yes Old Silver was a Floquil RR color. The pigments in Tamiya’s Flat Aluminum are nowhere near as fine. Model Master’s Aluminum might be a better option if you are going with Acrylics. If you want to work with enamels, either Humbrol or Model Master Metalizer make buffable and non buffable aluminum shades that would work nicely. Extremely fine grained pigments in those. Once they are sealed they look the part of the aluminum lacquer used on aircraft.
Humbrol Metalcote Aluminum and Steel buffable enamels are pretty good at giving a realistic metallic tone.
It’s a shame that the Floquil line was discontinued. Their paints were the best specially Old Silver, Platinum Mist, Bright Silver, Engine Black and Caboose Red. I managed to grab a couple of bottles of each color while it was still available.
Alclad II is good and it’s application characteristics are similar to Floquil.
Forgot about Alclad. I also tried AK Extreme Metal and I liked how it looked on the test piece.
Well, it looks like a trip to my LHS is in order soon. I am curious on what he has left though. :))
I second that. I stopped using Old Silver when I started using Alclad. Since there are several sheens available, and varying thickness of application can vary sheen by small amounts, you can get more different effects than with old silver.
Managed to stop by the LHS during my lunch hour. He did have Floquil RR Caboose Red but none of the silver except one called Piston Silver. However, I did not leave empty handed. Picked up a couple of bottles of Pactra R/C acrylics: FAA Dark Slate Grey and Japanese Imperial Navy Sky Grey.
I did find a couple of other colors but need to check my paint stash first.
I did a little bit of researching for an alternative for Old Silver and the closest match is Testors German Silver Metallic. Model Master 2714 for enamel bottle, 2914 for spray can.
Blacksheep, is that color in their Auto paints line?
Thanks [Y]
Here’s one for you .
There is a product called " Min-Wax Buffable " finishes . When you apply it it’s a creme .Then you spread it out .Then you start buffing . I did a Y.B.49 that way and I have a situation where I buffed it last about two years ago .It’s as silver as foil ! You can clearcoat it with Clear Varnish without it loosing it’s sheen . T.B.
I’m not sure but don’t think so. I do remember seeing just recently at a LHS I went to during my lunch hour.
I’m down to the last third of a bottle of Old Silver, but Testor’s aluminum Metalizer with the clear coat for that paint is pretty close. It is really tough to say exactly what original colors were to the ultimate level of precision. Mixes would sometimes vary, and weathering would change the color. Museum restorations may not always be reliable. Last week I was visiting the Chino Planes of Fame museum and the silver lacquer on their P-51 looked more like a gray paint. How accurate was this? Who knows, they certainly didn’t use a 60 year old original lacquer to retore the plane.
Their A6M Zero has the translucent blue anti-corrosion coating the wheel wells which also famously controversial to replicate. Is their shade correct? Who knows with certainty.
So realistically like many colors close enough is probably good enough and we can probably not sweat it as much as we do.
If using it as a base coat you can use Tamiya “Silver Lefe” and it is buffable.It had the same hardness as the old silver from Floquil.It is in spray can form.W/ light coats You will be fine.Dries fast .Seal with Gauzy shine enchancer which is on the internet.One coat for decals and a final coat to seal.Also Tamiya has Bare Metal Silver.Both are very strong against masking tape.At contest I win Best Metal Finish all the time.I need a tractor trailer to house my metal finish awards.I have never seen a match yet and I travel around the world.Good Luck.
I’ve been using Testors Silver Metallic acrylic for a while now for detailing cockpits with a brush.It’s been OK for small stuff like nobs and such. Today, I was trying to paint the fuselage gas tank on my Accurate Miniatures P-51C. The Testors just doesn’t lay down evenly with a brush so I’ve been looking for an aalternative. I looked at the color swatch for the Tamiya XF-16 flat aluminum acrylic and I like the color. I guess I’ll get a bottle of that to see how it lays with a brush.
You can try that but Tamiya is horrible to brush.