Henrik_Rosen

I’m building a TF P-47 and thinking of use fiberglass instead of Monocote this time. I'm going to paint it in aluminum and wonder if anyone has any experience on painting with aluminum color. Is there any difference in painting with aluminum than other colors?

Steve Collins

My Feedback: (8)

Be careful in your selection of aluminum paint since almost all of the aluminum paints are not fuelproof. Chevron Perfect Paint has an Aluminum that is fuelproof.

I am a convert to automotive paints. They are all fuelproof when clearcoated with an automotive clear. Almost all of the finest paint finishes I have seen have been done with automotive paint.

Another alternative for aluminum color is a paint system offered by Bob Violett models called Metal-Kote. It is listed under accessories on their website. It is not cheap but does provide superior results:

http://bvmjets.com/

Henrik_Rosen

Thanks for you tip on aluminum color for my P-47. I look at Model Jets and it was pretty high price on the metal Kote paint. I think Ill go for automotive paint because I will have to pay extra 25% tax if I order from the US. How do I get that old used finish on the plane? I don’t want it to look like some shiny custom car.

Thanks for all your help, its so nice that there always is someone who want to help out in here.

CafeenMan

Weathering is an art form. There are several things you can do, but this is by no means an exhaustive list.

Mask your panel lines and airbrush a darker shade of the base color. If you have etched your panel lines you can use a wash made from a variety of paints as long as the thinner used for the wash doesn't interact with the base coat. A wash gives shadows depth as well as giving a dirt, grime and accumulated oil affect.

After you have all that done, spray a flat clear over coat. Mask panels at random and rub them with scotch bright in different directions. That gives the effect of the panels being different shades, etc. (field repairs).

Lastly, color coats should be faded somewhat. The actual color always looks too dark on a model. That's called "scale effect."

It takes a lot of practice. It's faster and cheaper to learn to do weathering on plastic models.