Since I am new to finishing a model with a metallic finish I would appreciate any help that could be given. I am trying to paint a p-51d that needs both colors (green and blue) and a metal finish (aluminum). What paint should I put on the model first and is there a good way to then mask this?
Depends on what paint you will be using for the metallic (aluminum) surfaces.
If you’re going to use plain silver paint (like Humbrol 11 or testors/modelmaster non-buffing silver), I think it’s perfectly OK to paint silver first, let it dry & cure completely, then mask and apply other colors.
This probably goes also for paints like SNJ and Alclad II, from what I hear, they can be masked over (I haven’t used them yet).
If you’re using testors/modelmaster buffing metalizers - you have to put the aluminum metalizer last, after the blue and green. Also make sure that before spraying on the metalizer, the painted surface is smooth and uniform* (both in texture and color) if you’re going for a neat uniform finish of the aluminum.
*This means you have to mask before applying camo colors even if undersurface is bare plastic. Overspray of different color (especially if it’s an overspray of flat paint and the rest of the surface is smooth&shiny) will show up after spraying MM metalizer.
Once I used MM metalizer on Revell 1/72 F-89 Scorpion which is molded in silver plastic. Sometimes such bare plastic will have different color spots. Although I took time to prepare the surface and it was smooth, one patch of slightly different color within the plastic showed badly through the aluminum metalizer. It looks as if I had done a sloppy paint job or sloppy surface preparation, although the surface itself is smooth. You need uniform color of the undersurface (unless you’re going for special effects).
I use Alclad2 for all of my NMF & it’s a very durable finish that can handle masking, so I paint the NMF first & then mask & paint the other colors. Less durable NMF paints reqires the reverse procedure.
Regards, Rick
I concur with Rick there, ALclad 2 is the way to go for NMF, nice and tough after it dries, which is pretty quick. A side benefit is if you want to do chipping, scrapping away the green/blue will reveal the metal underneath.