Alclad advice !!

[yak face]

Hi all , just a quickie question for anyone who's familiar with Alclad. I'm doing the Tupolev Tu22 blinder in the silver scheme with white panels. Ive given it a coat of white primer which i intend to just mask off and then apply the silver , in this case Alclad aluminium. My question is this, do you think i will be ok to apply the alclad over a white base or would it give a weird looking finish (bear in mind the blinders were natural metal but it faded and went quite pale) ? Or should i prime with a darker colour ? ive never dared to use this stuff before so any advice from anyone who has will be most helpful , cheers tony

 

[beav1013]

i've only used alclad once, and that was over a gloss black coat. But i've talked to other modelers at my local hobby shop and the alclad expert there said that you can do alclad over any shade, but the base coat will affect the alclad top coat. so if you do aluminum over a gloss white coat instead of gloss black, it will probably appear lighter in color. might save you some time to do it just over the white instead of doing the whole black process. so basically you can put the alclad over white, it just might look a little different. good luck.

 

[stona]

I've never applied Alclad over white but habitually apply all but the highly polished finishes over a grey primer. I suspect that it will work fine over white. Maybe do a little experiment to be on the safe side?

Cheers

Steve

 

[Edgar Brooks]

I've only ever applied it over white, with no trouble; the trick is to ensure that it's the correct material. For the majority I use Halford's White Plastic Primer, which is completely compatible with Alclad. Having said that, they'll now cease production.

Edgar

 

[stona]

For the majority I use Halford's White Plastic Primer, which is completely compatible with Alclad. Having said that, they'll now cease production.Edgar

I bloody well hope not as I use the grey version for the same purpose!

Cheers

Steve

 

[yak face]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Edgar , the primer is halfords white , so if you say you always use it then thats good enough for me! Any more advice on application , - wet , dry , mist , number of coats , any need for sealing with varnish , etc.? Cheers tony

 

[stona]

Mist it on and build it up until it looks right.It dries vey quickly.

Don't get it too wet as it can attack the plastic. I've seen protestations to the contrary but I reckon that it is quite "hot". I had a spill once that made a right mess of an Me262 engine nacelle.

I usually do seal mine with Klear which has a minimal effect on the finish though I know some people prefer not to.

It's common sense to a large extent,someone with your experience will have no difficulty with it at all.

Cheers

Steve

 

[yak face]

Thanks steve , its always good to get confirmation from people who've been there! cheers tony

 

[stona]

It sprays very easily and well. With your experience you will easily be able to assess how it's going. I don't think it is at all difficult to use though I wouldn't suggest it as a starter for a completely novice sprayer.

Cheers

Steve

 

[papa 695]

Hi Tony hope you dont mind me butting in but i have a question. Do you need anything different to clean the AB after using Alclad ?

 

[stona]

You need to clean your airbrush with cellulose thinners (lacquer thinners to those across the pond) as Alclad II is lacquer based.

Cheers

Steve

 

[papa 695]

Thanks for that Steve