Alclad Perfection

[Ian M]

More wit than caustic Laurie and I know better than to come with sideways comments and would rather say things 'straight up'.

I often find it much more entertaining than coming with random comments just to stir things up.

Adrian; Your weird. lol

Ian M

 

[CDW]

Very interesting with caustic do not care comments some even refusing to argue, quite incredible !

That seems to have been my fault .... That's twice now for which I'm sorry .... I will refrain in the future.

Maybe I'm just getting old ... I do hit the half century next week sometime so I've been lately reminded

*edit* see I must be getting on I forgot this ..... Question I asked above about this stuff smelling, is it a solvent based job then?

 

[stona]

Ok, I must have weird nostrils, I don't think Alclad smells as bad as enamels and the cleaner isn't much worse than cellulose,,,,,,,,and no I didn't sniff glues as a teenager Adrian

Not just the smell! When I spray it I can see little glittery particles being sucked into my extractor if the light is right. I wouldn't want them floating around the room.....or in my lungs.

Colin the Alclads are lacquer based, which is a pretty 'hot' solvent (or mixture of solvents).

Cheers

Steve

 

[CDW]

Colin the Alclads are lacquer based, which is a pretty 'hot' solvent (or mixture of solvents).

Ta for that, are they hot enough to affect the surface of an unprepared plastic? Or is it just a reaction that gives off an odour and that's it?

 

[tecdes]

That seems to have been my fault .... That's twice now for which I'm sorry .... I will refrain in the future.]quote

Na good fun Colin.

Thinks will stay away from Alclad it seems to cause a whole host of problems in some many directions.

Ian shall we settle for WItstic.

Laurie

 

[stona]

Ta for that, are they hot enough to affect the surface of an unprepared plastic? Or is it just a reaction that gives off an odour and that's it?

When you apply them you simply mist it on to build up the desired finish. It won't damage the plastic this way. I know from first hand experience that if you spill Alclad on plastic it will etch the surface, despite what I've read elsewhere.

I don't think Alclad is difficult to use. Careful preparation applies to all finishes, particularly metallic ones which tend to show up any flaws. This is not unique to Alclad.

Alclad sprays straight out of the bottle (which comes with agitator for ease of mixing) and cleans up easily with cellulose thinners. The bottle does fall over easily if knocked and can make a mess if you forgot to put the top back on......see above

It isn't cheap but gives consistently good results, if not quite as "perfect" as in that advertising photo.

Cheers

Steve

 

[yak face]

Its certainly a very well executed bit of paint finishing , Alclad can produce some fantastic looking effects. Personally I cant get the hang of it , i tried but ended up using about half a bottle and only managed to paint 2 elevators !! At that rate it would have cost me about £150 to paint my Tu 22 !!! One final two penneth to chuck in the ring , although its a great finish its certainly not realistic in this case , although MiG 15's were natural metal finished I dont think any had gold leading edges , copper trim tabs , and chrome rear panels , unless they had been to the "Pimp my MiG " garage !!!!!!!

 

[Ian M]

I think they just used the tail of the mig as a demo due to the clear divisions in the panels. I would have thought copper and gold way to soft and heavy for an air frame lol

I think the thing a lot of new users of Alclad fall for the mistake of using it as a paint, put way to much down and are disappointed with the result (and the amount it uses).

It really is a case of gently bently and as soon as you think its getting there stop and have a good look at the part.

Ian M

 

[krow113]

I use it on my bikes to good effect . The choice of basecoat is critical.

http://forums.europeanmodeller.com/index.php?showtopic=5886

 

[stona]

I use it on my bikes to good effect . The choice of basecoat is critical.http://forums.europeanmodeller.com/index.php?showtopic=5886

Absolutely, particularly as I imagine that you are using some highly polished or other special finishes on your bikes.

For aircraft finishes (apart from highly polished aluminium) I get away with a grey primer.

Cheers

Steve

 

[Stevekir]

Well! I started something here. I will give it a try, perhaps in my garage 'cos of the smell and the risk of breathing it in.

If I make a hash of it how could I clean it off to bare plastic?

 

[Ian M]

By nature it is only a very fine layer and bar raised detail it is a fairly simple matter to flat it down with a fine polishing cloth and come back to the primer. I don't know if the usual oven cleaner trick work on alclad.

On the plus side, it can be painted over with almost any other paint.

Ian M

 

[ojays]

As in any good paint finish it all relies on the effort put into the preparation.

A saying in the refinishing trade (the finish is only as good as the preparation, which is 90% of the finish)

To put it into plain terms, paint is a liquid. Liquid follows the contours of the surface it is applied to, hence if the surface isn't even, the liquid (paint finish) will be uneven.

The more preparation done , the less effort required for the finish.

When training some of my painters in the past, I used to drum the importance of preparation into them over & over.

Any one can apply paint, but to master preparation takes time and patience!

The preparation for this Mazda Eunos took me 7.5 days, the spraying took me 2.5 hours in total (5 coats)

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Gregg