Hi NMF experts,
After reading several posts here on the forum so that I am informed for my first NMF on a Academy F-86F and Tamiya P-47D I would like to know if the following steps are correct?
Fill and Sand
Mask where needed
Prime using Flat Black
Alclad Aluminum products. I will probably use 1 as the overall color and then not over doing it use 1 or 2 of the other Aluminum shades to enhance some panels.
Any input, corrections would be welcomed before I start.
Thanks
There are many ways to do a NMF, many modelers use different methods all to great effect…Personally i use alclad11 over a high gloss undercoat wet sanded with 1200grit to make it as smooth as i can, then i give it a coat of future before applying the aluminum shades…
Check out the NMF GB thread, some stunning builds in there and NMF GB11 will be kicking off soon if your interested…
Jules…
I think you want your undercoat to be gloss, doesn’t neccesarilly have to be black.
Masking silver colors is tough. Some paints hold up better than others, but everything I’ve tried peels up with regular masking tape. Use the lowest tack tape you can find, I recommend post-it notes for masking NMF.
As Julez72 said, check out the NMF group build, also check out Hawkeyes lniks in his sig, I’m willing to bet you’ll find some good info there.
Jules and Fermis
Thanks for the tips and I will jump over to the NMF GB. I have checked out Hawks site.
I have come to the conclusion that the F-86 will be the sacrificial lamb in case I mess up.
As stated previously, you need a gloss undercoa, otherwise your metal finish may come out with a gritty texture. Make sure the undercoat is smooth. You can actually vary the panel shades with black and greys. Once you spray the Alclad you will obtain different metal shades due to the different greys and blacks in the undercoat. I spoke with a gentleman at the last show where he had a beautiful group of 1/32 scale NM planes. He uses foil to cover each panel and actually weathers them by using a combination of bleach, copper and lead. Very time consuming but produces a realistic finish.
As others have said, Alclad works best on a smooth gloss surface. I spray mine flat black, rub it out & then top coat with Future before spraying the Alclad.
Regards, Rick
One other thing. Filling and sanding are really to be avoided with Alclad. Unless you can really replicate the factory finish it doesn’t go well.
I’ve had much better results doing a clean join of the parts and leaving seams, that trying to fill, sand and paint Alcad II.
That’s my No. 1 rule for NMF- build it as clean as you can, then paint it.
Some time back I sat in on a webinar given by Meteor Productions. Speakers included Floyd Werner and reps from Alclad. The only 2 Alclad that require black or gloss (and in these cases both) are polished aluminum and chrome. All the other do not “require” black or gloss… I am not saying others have gotten good results with these as undercoats, all I am say is you don’t have to do that.
I have been using the method described during the webinar and that results have been perfect each time. First and foremost is surface prep. NO SCRATCHES. A primer coat of Mr. Surfacer 1200 that is wet sanded with 4000 or 6000 micro mesh pad. Not unlike what Rick does just not with a black. This will fill and tiny scratches that you don’t see but the Alclad will make pop out like they were the Grand Canyon. Clean the model with Polly S Plastic Prep too remove the static charge to drastically reduce the chance of dust and spray the Alclad
It’s also going to depend on just how highly polished you want it to look… Operational birds certainly don’t have mirror-like finishes, don’t even reflect objects, as the aluminum oxidizes into a “flat silver” rather quickly…
My personal way of doing them is to shoot the aircraft in gloss black, then shoot it overall with Testor’s Model Master Metalizer, then pick out various panels to mask with Post-It notes and shoot them with other shades of aluminum, then decal and seal with Model Master Metalizer sealer.