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FINISHED: Eduard 1/32 P47D Thunderbolt “Dottie Mae”


Sir Spendalot

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4 hours ago, Sir Spendalot said:

Was thinking a mix of polished aluminium (or is that the same as aircraft aluminium?), standard and white aluminium.

 

I'm not sure if polished and aircraft aluminum are the same. If polished aluminum turns out to be too shiny you can always tone down the shine with an over spray of one of the other aluminums. Looking forward to seeing your results.

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More news and a plea for feedback:

 

Before applying the shiny coat, I painted the trim/stripes/anti-glare bits and then masked the colourful areas and re-coated the black base

P47D-051.jpg

 

Then came the Alclad

P47D-052.jpg

P47D-053.jpg

P47D-054.jpg

P47D-055.jpg

 

I’m not sure what I expected but it seems a little rough/non-shiny. I rubbed the black down first and applied the polished aluminium in thin layers at 15psi. Was I expecting too much? Feedback, as always, gratefully received.

Paul

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It looks good, but yes not shiny. The surface texture looks a tad grainy, but the overall surface prep looks to be good.

 To my knowledge, if you want it shiner you are going to need more than a rubbed down black base. A shiny polished aluminum Alclad  finish generally comes from applying gloss black paint under the polished aluminum. 

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Thanks gents. I'm probably over thinking this. I wasn't after a really shiny finish - it was more the smoothness that concerned me (or lack of it). I'm going to try rubbing down the flaps (that I painted at the same time) and respray them at a higher pressure. If that works, I'll rework the rest.

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56 minutes ago, timvkampen said:

seems the black base is non-gloss and causes the coarse-ness? Did you use matt black? or gloss? Gloss black is the way to go. Alclad has a good baselayer as well as Mr. Color

It was the matt base (base coat and microfiller). I was trying to avoid going too shiny - but managed to make it almost completely dull/flat. But I wonder if the dullness has as much to do with the roughness as it does with the matt/gloss undercoat (light refraction and all that).

The instructions say that you should spray at 15psi - but I've seen suggestions that this is too low. I'm wondering if my base coat was a bit rough because of this.

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Further lessons in the art of Alclad!

So, after my rather flat first lesson with the shiny paint, I went ahead and rubbed down one of the flaps with a micromesh 6000 pad. This pic shows the original painted version (top) and the rubbed down version.P47D-056.jpg

 

I then went at it again, but at 25psi. Much happier with the result.

P47D-057.jpg

 

Not sure you can really see the difference in the pic, but it’s less grainy and catches the light better – but not too shiny.

And here’s a few of the bigger bit all rubbed down and ready for the second attempt (when I get another bottle of polished aluminium!)

P47D-058.jpg

P47D-059.jpg

 

Lessons what I have learned:

A lot of Alclad goes a little way

It’s tougher than I thought

Rub down the Alclad for an interesting weathered look

Spray at 25psi minimum

Test, test, test!!

 

Thanks for looking

 Paul

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Yeah, I noticed the Aircraft aluminum was much more grainy on my test subject than the Duraluminum over the same under coat. Sorry I should have mentioned that in my post, I just thought it might have been the fact that my under coat was a bit rough and needed a bit of Micromesh treatment. Seems like you got it to where you want it after a sand and respray so...Yay!!! :thumbsup:

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The 2nd bottle of polished aluminium arrived … but I thought I’d try out the standard aluminium first. This appeared to be pretty much the same as the polished version but a little smoother (probably just my imagination). Anyway, this is how it came out

P47D-060.jpg

P47D-061.jpg

 

And here’s a few panels done in white aluminium and duraluminium (not quite so subtle in real life – must figure out how to capture these metallic finishes better on camera)

P47D-062.jpg

P47D-063.jpg

P47D-064.jpg

 

I’ll add a few more panel variations and then (hopefully) move off this alclad topic!

Paul

 

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8 hours ago, Sir Spendalot said:

 

And here’s a few panels done in white aluminium and duraluminium (not quite so subtle in real life – must figure out how to capture these metallic finishes better on camera)

P47D-062.jpg

 

Looks like you hit on the right combination. I was wondering if some shades might be more grainy than others. Looking out standing. Which panels are are which shades?

 

Edited by jep1210
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Final Paint stages and mask removal.

I added a few more panel variationsP47D-066.jpg

 

Then I had a sleepless night trying to figure out the varnish/not to varnish conundrum. I read a number of articles which were either pro or anti the whole varnishing idea. Some said it flattens the metallic effect, others said they didn’t have a problem with it. Then there was the whole “can you use micro sol solution directly on Alclads” question – a number of modellers saying don’t because it turns the Alclads black.

So, I decided to use a varnish and to give Vallejo Metal Varnish a go (diluted by about 50%). I applied this before removing the masking tape

P47D-067.jpg

P47D-068.jpg

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P47D-070.jpg

P47D-071.jpg

 

and to give an idea of the reflection

P47D-072.jpg

 

I think the finish is now ok and the varnish has given a nice smooth finish without losing too much of the metallic effect.

Using Alclads for the first time has been a really steep learning curve – and I think I’ve only just scratched the surface (so to speak!). It seams the finishes you can achieve are unlimited – you just need to know what you’re after and how the different paints work with the various base coat options and varnishes.

I’ve got some work to do on the yellow (a bit rough in places) and then it’s on to the decals.

Paul

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