As some of you may already know, I had to repaint my metal finish. After squirting on the Floquil Old Silver, it looked dandy enough, to be sure. But the Little Voice took over and said, “What would happen if I tried to buff this thing with my Dremel?” A fair enough question. But the buffing wheel I initially bought (a felt wheel), was a tad too rough. Turns out this thing is made of wool, or its synthetic equivalent. Er, whoopsey. Left lots of swirlies, and took the paint right off in some areas. But other areas took on a brilliant shine, just like new aircraft aluminum! Hope springs eternal! After today’s repaint, I buffed it again, but this time with a much softer cloth wheel. Much better. The pictures don’t really do it justice, but here are some anyway…
Now I just gotta figure out how I’m going to mask it for painting the anti-glare panel without leaving tape marks in the silver. [%-)]
As for the masking I just went through something simular. The leading adge flaps on a tomcat I’m doing are aluminum and grey. I couldn’t decide what to spray first. I knew the grey would stand up to being masked but thought the Alclad wouldn’t, so I sprayed grey (Tamiya acrylic), masked of and then sprayed my airframe aluminum.
Today I learned that Alclad will not get that nice natural look to it when sprayed on top of acrylic. It stayed stuburnly dull and looks like any old silver paint.
yea i know the feeling about the dremel i did the same thing lol and it was a bad thing also.The one thing i always found to work and i stick to is a piece of blue jeans and i just buff it with that and it comes out good for me especially with aclad paints
Hey it Deja-Vu all over again[;)]. Looks good…again LOL. Now be careful and get that bad boy finished. Someone on here said to use a coffee filter. That works pretty darn good.
And for VERY cheap and soft buffers, cut a cotton swab in half and chuck that in the Dremel.
Looks great. I use the MM metalizer and it came out almost as nice as yours but when I put the sealer on it dulled. Floquil is the brand name of what you used?
I’ve used Alclad II for years and have never had a problem with masking it. Give it a full 24 hours to cure and you’re golden.
As for masking over the floquil, try a 3M brand Post-It note. But make sure it’s actually 3M and not one of the other hundreds of knock-off. 3M is the only brand where the dang glue actually works for more than 3 seconds, but it’s still a low enough tack that it won’t take off any of the paint underneath.
If you have to mask a compound curve, put the post-it note(s) where they need to go and use a pencil to draw the curve on the note. Then take the note off, cut the curve out and put it back on the model. Or if you’re really careful, you can do it while it’s still on the model, just make sure you use a brand new #11 blade and cut using several light passes instead of one heavy pass.
Looks good Mark. Floquil is pretty durable, but not as durable as Alclad2. However a low tak tape like Tamiya can be used. Just don’t rub it down very hard & remove it as soon after painting as possible.
I suppose, but for some reason I still prefer fiddling with BMF.
I have this dream ( nightmare? ) of building a 3’ high model of the Chryler Building and BMFing the top starbursts and spire to emulate the 1:1 skyscraper. O my.
Looking really good so far…inspiring! I’ve got a few BMF builds in the que so all the tips I see here are being stored in my short term memory (which is a scary thought).
I don’t have any of the problems masking over NMF. Many modelers read about the issues some have associated with doing NMF schemes and stray away from attempting them. But if you learn with a tried and true product that is simple and forgiving it will encourage further attempts with NMFs. It’s no pain if you start with something easy to use, then progress into the more exotics.
Modelnerd, to mask, I like to use electrical tape… A good quality one, to be sure though! I’ve used it a few times with good results. The tape is tacky enough where it will never come up when applied, but it comes right off without any trouble. 3M is a good brand…
Hawk I- my models are usually 1945-1970 or so airliners which are NMF.
I started with Testors silver in a shaker can. Good if you avoid runs.
Then Alclad II. Very good with a black primer.
I’ve never tried SNJ, or buffable metal paint.
I’ve also not tried foil.
Future seems to solve masking lift up, but it makes all of the above darker.
I propose a Forum on this.
My profession involves quality samples of objects with metallic paint, and QA/QC is based on samples. I cannot solve the review process in the digital world, but I do believe that there is a lot we can share.
Foil aircraft can be spotted from a mile away. The problem with foil is it picks up all of the burnishing and scratches from being applied. Modelers using foil need to remember to keep the grain going in the same direction. It also necessarily doesn’t make full contact and contour totally to the model. I like using heavy foil to make thin panels such as hatches, gear bay doors and battle damaged areas. Removing the panel area where the damage occured then replacing it with a section of foil allows one to cut and properly bend the torn metal.
The key with any good finish is the prep work. The nice thing about SnJ Spray Metal is that you can us it as a primer as well as a finish coat. Weathering an aircraft primed with real metal has a more realistic outcome especially in larger scales.
Applying a clear coat over NMF changes the color slightly, so you’ll never want to clear an aircraft unless of course it is going to get handled a lot after the decals are applied.
I love doing airliners! I only wish they were 1:72 scale.
Just to add to the confusion, I’ve had very good luck with alcad II. As suggested a good black primer is very important. Despite allot of negativety, I actually have very good luck with allclads official black primer (many reports had it not drying, staying tacky, not spraying well etc.) I can’t attest tot he not sprayng well, but heres’ my theory on the tackiness. I paint allot of real metal with all kinds of paints. one of the tricks I learned years ago is to apply my primer coats, (2-3 is standard) once the final coat is applied you apply your first topcoat within four hours (or whats considered the initial dry time, vs the cure time - paint dries, then cures) this allows compatible paint systems (IE: laquers and oils) to bond much better than a topcoat would bond to fully cured primer… if you get my drift. I believe, (and would love to call alclad) this is there intent with their primer. once completed the bond was rock hard and could eisilly be masked with tamiya tape with no worries… I highly reccomend the system. Buy a cheapo kit to experiment on and have fun!
Here is are pics of what I’ve done using Talon Series acrylics.
The left tank using Steel colored SnJ Polishing Powders.
Test subject.
I’m looking to do a large scale model in NMF using acrylics to show it is possible to have highly polished look. Maybe the new Trumpeter F-100 or even a Hasegawa P-47.
Wow Gerald! You seem to be having amazing results with that new Talon brand paint you have. I have checked out your website, and it looks like an interesting product.
Mark, sorry- didn’t mean to hi-jack your thread. [sigh]
