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Silver Dope?


ZachP319

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What do people like for replicating silver doped linen? 

 

I would usually fall back on something like Alcad White Aluminum but I am not sure that is correct. Would a duller grayer aluminum paint be more appropriate like maybe Tamiya Aluminum? 

 

Let me know your thoughts as I am pretty sure I shouldn't be applying the same logic as I would to an NMF finish.. Not sure shiny is my goal here. 

 

Zach

 

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It's an outside the box choice that I've found to be really good: Krylon 1403 Aluminum. Shoot what you need into a jar via a soda straw, thin with lacquer thinner as needed, and you'll have a near-perfect silver dope finish.

 

What do you use to clean your airbrush afterward? Lacquer thinner? 

 

Zach

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That was my memory of Tamiya Aluminum but its been years so not sure if it was just my memory or fact. :) 

 

I have a couple Vallejo Metal colors that I've tried and they are not all that bad. I might give that a shot. Might be nice to stick with acrylics for a while to. 

 

Zach

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Floquil silver. It looks just like silver dope. It has very fine pigment and has a nice semi gloss sheen.

Note: Silver dope is not really silver in color. It's actually clear dope mixed with aluminum paste so when it goes on its almost semi-transparent. It dries with a silver sheen though. Just a bit if FYI for those that care and have never worked with dope and fabric. From what I remember of the process, anti-fungal dope goes on first, then the clear tightening coats including the silver coat and last any color coats. It's been 30+ years since I played with dope and fabric but thats what I remember of the process..

Edited by Juggernut
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What do people like for replicating silver doped linen? 

 

I would usually fall back on something like Alcad White Aluminum but I am not sure that is correct. Would a duller grayer aluminum paint be more appropriate like maybe Tamiya Aluminum? 

 

Let me know your thoughts as I am pretty sure I shouldn't be applying the same logic as I would to an NMF finish.. Not sure shiny is my goal here. 

 

Zach

 

I think any "silver" paint that does a good job of representing silver would work.

 

As compared to the many new high tech metallic paints that do a good job of truly replicating a metal finish.

 

You don't want your doped fabric to look like the plane is made of sheets of brushed aluminum, for example.  

 

My silver of choice is Gunze Mr. Color No. 8 "silver".

 

Easy to work with and a really nice covering silver...but not one that replicates a realistic metallic finish.

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Floquil silver. It looks just like silver dope. It has very fine pigment and has a nice semi gloss sheen.

Note: Silver dope is not really silver in color. It's actually clear dope mixed with aluminum paste so when it goes on its almost semi-transparent. It dries with a silver sheen though. Just a bit if FYI for those that care and have never worked with dope and fabric. From what I remember of the process, anti-fungal dope goes on first, then the clear tightening coats including the silver coat and last any color coats. It's been 30+ years since I played with dope and fabric but thats what I remember of the process..

Since aircraft Grade A cotton and Irish linen are all but non-existent these days, anti-fungal isn't used. Silver dope, a UV barrier is just as critical to modern Dacron polyester fabrics as were they for cotton and linen. I wouldn't call it semi-transparent, but it is thin. It requires several coats to ensure adequate UV protection.

 

Personally, to replicate silver doped fabric, I use Floquil Old Silver...until this last bottle runs out.

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Good info. When we were restoring a Fairchild 24, the owner insisted we use anti-fungal dope even though we were using Ceconite fabric. Boy that rib stitching was a pain in the pooper.

 

Try ribstitching a couple of Stearmans....8 wings. :D

 

That is what my dad and I were doing when a friend came in and told Elvis Presley had died. 

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LOL, the A&P school I worked for had an unairworthy crop duster Stearman and we had the students build upper wing ribs with a jig made from an original rib.  Poor thing, it probably could've been saved but nobody wanted to put the money into it... I think it eventually got cut up when the school moved to smaller digs.  They did the same thing to an unairworthy Beech 18. 

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