OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

7 posts ยท Apr 2 1999 to Apr 6 1999

From: Mark A. Siefert <cthulhu@c...>

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 00:20:47 -0600

Subject: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

Hello All:

I'm going to be getting ahold of some aircraft minis rather soon and I want to
give them a very
"silvery-aluminum" paint job (just think P-51).  However, I'm not quite
sure where to start. Would I:

1. Prime Black 2. Dry brush metallic silver 3. Wash 4. Dry brush some more
silver 5. Add details

However, I think that it may make the plane look rather dull. So, would I
prime with white instead?

From: Brian Burger <yh728@v...>

Date: Thu, 1 Apr 1999 23:20:26 -0800 (PST)

Subject: Re: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

> On Fri, 2 Apr 1999, Mark A. Siefert wrote:

> Hello All:

Too much trouble, I'd think...

Humbrol makes very nice enamel metallic paints, including silver and a
duller slivery 'aluminum/steel' color. Prime whatever color you like,
paint the planes solid silver or aluminum, then pick out details -
wheels, canopies, propellers, etc.

If you use acrylic paint, I don't know...I do know from friends who use
acrylics that the metallics aren't very good sometimes. That's one of the
reasons I've stuck with enamels.

Am I really the 'Last Enamel Painter'? Seems that way, talking with other
gamers locally...I love 'em - good solid colors, great metallics, you
can get some great effects. (My enamel yellow can cover a black primercoat in
one pass. No acrylic I've heard of can manage that...)

From: Los <los@c...>

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 12:14:56 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

Brian,

Model masters makes a Metalizer spray which you then buff to the required
sheen and must then be followed by a Metalizer sealer. It works very very well
on plastic models but i have never tried it on minis...

Los

> Brian Burger wrote:

> On Fri, 2 Apr 1999, Mark A. Siefert wrote:

From: Mark A. Siefert <cthulhu@c...>

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 22:31:25 -0600

Subject: Re: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

Hello:

Here's a status report (For everyone's info, the minis in question are Ral
Partha Crimson Skies figs):

I primed the minis black and gave the fighters a base coat of Citidal mitharel
sliver. I painted the leading edges of the wings, the control surfaces, and
the canopy frame bright red. I gave the guns and engines a base coat of black
followed by a very light drybrush of Partha Aged Metal. Then I dry brushed
blue over the canopy windows. I then gave the whole thing a wash of watered
down Sanford matte black drafting film ink.

The final result: VERY NICE.

From: Los <los@c...>

Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 23:38:07 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

I've always liked the citadel paints despite the goofy names and mithril
silver is one of their nicest...

Los

> Mark A. Siefert wrote:

> Hello:

From: Adrian Johnson <ajohnson@i...>

Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999 23:01:17 -0500

Subject: Re: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

Howdy folks!

I've been away from the computer for a couple of days, and jumped into this
thread late (since you've already painted the models), but to add my
$0.02
'cause somebody might be doing this again sometime...

1. For "dark metal" type colouring, try painting your model a deep dark blue
colour and drybrushing the silvery metallic colours up from that. The blue
gives it a more "aged metal" look when you see it in the cracks, etc, than if
you use black as the undercoat. 2. The best Aluminum I've seen was done by a
group of Aircraft modellers. I had a good chat with one of the guys at the
Canadian International Hobby Show here in Toronto a year or two ago. They
found that after giving the
model a suitable basecoat (you could try black or white - I think they
used white), you spray it with a laquer "topcoat". When the topcoat is almost
dry (a *little* bit tacky), you rub the model over with fine aluminum powder,
available through serious hobby stores. Once you've done the model with
aluminum powder and let it set for a day, you can paint in the details.

This isn't the simplest method to use, and you can imagine the aluminum powder
being a pain to store, etc, but their planes looked like they were milled out
of aluminum. Like I said, this was *the* best aluminum finish on a model I've
ever seen.

Adrian

> Hello:

> with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads."

From: Tony Francis <tony.francis@k...>

Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 11:58:22 +0100

Subject: Re: OT: "Aluminum" Paint Jobs.

> Brian Burger wrote:

> Am I really the 'Last Enamel Painter'? Seems that way, talking with

No, I'm still flying the flag of smelly, messy enamel paints as well for
several reasons: 1) I like the more solid, opaque coverage you get with
enamels; 2) all of my older models are enamel painted so trying to match
colours on any new ones would be a bit of a 'mare; 3) I've spent a long time
getting used to enamels and don't really want to relearn the techniques on a
new type of paint; 4) I own over
100 tins of Humbrol enamel - the investment required to replace all of
these with acrylics would be huge. So I'll put up with the smell and mess for
a while yet.

Incidentally, I've put some photos of one of my converted fighter carrier
models on the Brigade website:

http://www.tonyfrancis.free-online.co.uk/brigadeframes.htm

Follow the links to the spaceships page and then to the Dayan gallery page.