Natural Metal Finishes?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
21

Two quick follow-ups:
(1) The eggshell trick works … well, kinda, sorta. I’ve run a few tests and haven’t gotten anything usable because the color is terribly uneven unless I let it go to black. I plan on trying again with the eggshells crushed to a paste. And …
(B) [foolish consistancy being the hobgoblin of small minds!] I also tried boiling the foil with baking soda. THIS WORKS. Unfortunately not for darkening. Baking soda gives a near white, aged patina to the aluminum – very much like what you find in air museums, e.g., like the floats on the Lindbergh’s Lockheed 8 Sirius “Tingmissartoq” or any WWII NMF aircraft that’s been allowed to oxidize.

Quote of the Week:
[Daniel Jackson] “This tastes like chicken.”
[Samantha Carter] “So what’s wrong with it?”
[Daniel Jackson] “It’s macaroni and cheese.”
~~ Stargate episode 105 “The First Commandment”

22

I agree with Wayne Baker. I use Floquil Platinum Mist and it works quite well. Yes, it will show scratches, but the way around this is a primer coat. I’ve used gloss Light Gull Gray and it covers the sanding scratches (I use 400 grit wet or dry). If you tint the Platinum Mist with black, etc., you can get varying shades.

23

What about chrome? I have a motorcycle model that I’d like to chrome, and the supposed chrome plastic is pretty aweful. Any ideas here?

24

Well, I wouldn’t want to try foiling anything as complicated as the struts in a motorcycle frame. You could chemically metalize the plastic and electroplate the chrome (one of my late uncles did that sort of thing for a living, and he was a brilliant man [:D] and you’ll notice I said late uncle). Unless you’re a maschochist, don’t go that route.

Instead I recommend using the “chrome” paint that’s available at auto supply stores. Mirror perfect, it ain’t, but it’ll repaint a bumper tollerably well.

WARNING: This is a THICK paint formulated to hide imperfections, and one man’s imperfections are another’s superdetailing.

I used some on a 1:288 scale aircraft in the extreme background of a forced perspective diorama. I wanted it “coming out of the sun” at the main model. (And for crying out loud, just how much detail do you expect in a one-piece model roughly the size of your little finger anyway?).

25

Alclad is excellent but you do need an airbrush.

Why not give the old Rub n’Buff silver cream a try (from Hobbycraft I believe - sold for colouring picture frames). You don’t need a brush at all. Carefully spread and polished on silver plastic it gives a good result and is now very stable. The older versions of this cream never quite dried out the new one does.

good luck, John

26

I did a B-29 in natural metal finish 48 scale monogram. It holds up alot better than testors metalizers and looks great. I’m doing the old Monogram 72nd scale B-36 (a real monster) with many different shade and type of alclads. I’ve finally finished buffing the undercoat (gloss black modelmaster over primer), while not a mirror finish, still respectably smooth. Remember to DEHUMIDIFY your room air, thats the most critical to a good bond of alclads. The temp I use is between 70 and 90 F. Tanked air (best way to remove the inevatable moisture) off the compressor works best at about 15psi. I’ll let you know about overcoats of future or clear laquers as a protection.
Steve

27

Alclad now does a both a chrome and a stainless steel finish for models, and a number of pearlescent colour finshes now too. I haven’t tries it but I’d also assume that Tamiya Clear paints would airbrush over the chrome or steel finish. There was a recent article in either FSM or the Tamiya magazine about blending blue and orange clear paints over silver metallic finishes to give the appearance of a heat tempered metal surface like a bike exhaust. Alclad also do a heat tempered metal colour which is a very pale gold ideal for those heat tempered panels on the tail of the F-100

28

Here is the final answer, there is nothing like aluminum, so go for metal foil.
I have done quite a few acft. military and airliners. Among the airliners I have two 757 (1:144) from AA in their actual scheme and the old one(Conmemorative) I have also done a few 1:144 727’s plus a miriad of military acft. I know it takes a lot of practice and patience. A few hints: Cut the foil in pices the size of the pannels on the model and join them at this point to avoid over-laping. Polish the plastic and avoid dust as all this will show thruogh. If you want a real good shine
polish it with a mild metal polish or burnish it with a round orange stick.
Another use is to simulate the exhaust on jets. For this I use gunbluing, just brush it over and wash with clear water after getting the right tone, you can do it before applying or after, the one thing is if you do it before the metal film gets sort of brittle and when rub it to meke it stick better you might rub some of the oxidation off.
This info. is free from your teacher from Caracas.

29

If you are going to paint a bare metal surface, the trick is to get a flawless polished plastic surface. Keep in mind, anything less than 1200 is too coarse. This is a bit of a read, but hope you find it worth your time.

Finer than normal sanding is needed. Get the 6-pack of foam sanding pads from MicroMart, 2800-to 12000 grit, work through this series and you will have a factory shine. Squadron and Flex-I-File make a 3 grit super fine sanding stick use these for seams and joints, also work well for polishing out the old Airfix canopy you had to carve down. Tamiya and others make packs of superfine sand paper. Always sand with lots of water, wipe-clean as you go.

Follow-up the 12000 grit final sand with polishing compound, which will also show-up flaws. In my humble opinion Tamiya’s Polishing Compound is the best, it washes off easier the Blue Metal Polish and Semi-Chrome metal polishing pasts, it works even better as a final polish on canopies.

Fine scratches. Gunze Sangyo makes a brush-on filler to fill fine hairlines that normal solvent putties make a mess of, its called Mr. Surfacer 500 (thicker) and Mr. Surfacer 1000 (thinner) use your favorite putty for the big jobs, and Mr. Surfacer for an errant scribed line. Some like typewriter eraser fluid for this, Mr. Surfacer dries harder, sands better and will polish out for that Bare Metal Finish.

As far as metallic paint, find one you like and learn how to use it, they all have different plus-and-minus aspects. My favorites? Floquil, Testers Metalizer. Why? They work well for me, one has a thicker harder surface, and the other a thinner finer surface. Try Mr. Hobby Metalizer chrome silver brushed on and polished on the next oleo strut. Most important of all, find what works for you by trying several.

Remember your goals since this is a hobby, in the back of your mind ask yourself a couple of questions: how does that look in regards to the scale effect – the look you’re trying to achieve, used and dirty or factory fresh – and the final goal, does it work for me?

Calvin Coolidge once said, “there is nothing more important than patience and perseverance” he must have known something about bare metal finishes.

-robt yoha

30

I don’t do that many metallic finishes (brush painting doesn’t cut it and there ain’t enough control on spray cans) but I remember several years ago FSM featured a modeler several times (sorry can’t remember his name) - he sprayed his models with good old silver butyrate dope - to get the different shades on his panels he tinted his dope (I think he used black, blue and brown to tint) - I never tried it but his models were beautiful.

I am currently trying the Model Master series of metalic finishes and kind of like them - I finally got a bottle of Floquil Old Silver, which is supposed to be buffable. going to give it a try.

As far as scratches go, the method that works the best to me is to sand down to the finest wet/dry sandpaper that I can get and then polish with the finest rubbing compound I can get - makes the surface like glass

no matter what you try - good luck