I’m been spraying and brushing silver for so long trying to simulate metal that I don’t even know how to simulate actual paint. Apparently, on the real aircraft (an F-89), the struts where spary painted silver. I assume this was a common practice at this time. Does that sound correct to you guys?
If so, how do I make all these silver paints actually look like silver paint?
I’ve had pretty good luck using Testors Metalizers. Many complain about their inability to hold a polish, and them darkening because of finger prints, but I haven’t had that problem. I use the rattle cans instead of my airbrush, and for silver usually use “Stainless Steel” metalizer. It will polish to a bright finish, however I usually just buff it a little to make it look less like paint and more like steel.
This picture:
http://www.craigcentral.com/models/f-105g/thud04.jpg
Shows a nosegear I painted with it. It isn’t finished; no weathering and I’ll polish it some more once I get all the painting done, but you can see in the photo that it doesn’t look much like silver paint. The same paint was used on the gun port right in front of the muzzle of the Vulcan and it really looks like a piece of aircraft aluminum.
Scott, take a look at this pic and you’ll see what I mean.
I swear that’s paint and not metal.
Yeah, I see what you mean.
I really think you could reproduce that with a metalizer because the pigment in them is so fine it is virtually invisible once it is buffed a bit. With a little effort, the stainless steel that I use quite a bit will buff up so it looks just like that.
People say that the Alclad metalizer is better than Testors. It might be worth your time to give one of them a try. I’ve been real happy with the results I’ve gotten with it.