Testors Metalizer Paint

Lots of folks in military modeling use Alclad II or AK or Spaz Stix.  AntonioFP45 of this forum and others (original Atlas forum and Atlas Rescue Forum) had done extensive testing with various primer, substrate, and Alclad II top coat colors on stainless or aluminum passenger cars.  I'd take a look at his posts for some insight.  Or check out the youtube videos comparing all three types listed.  

Jim

That's what I am going to do on my Warbonnet PA set.  The nickel tarnishes way too fast for me.

The Benson cars were anodized, which, when clean, looks a bit like a dirty Budd car, and matches the Lionel cars.  I think you can polish the body, but not sure.  At least the anodize is a good paint substrate.  The Alclad process starts with flat black!

I will double check with my IPMS brother-in-law.  He builds models for the Smithsonian, and has used the Alclad process.  The Testors is supposed to b buffable, but I have only had success by first coating it with Future Floor Wax, then Scale Coat clear gloss, then auto polishing compound.  That came close, but not perfect.

Thanks Jim, for the references

I 'll try the All-clad method; it sounds like its worth trying and I can always go the other route if I dork it up.

I'll post the results once complete. 

Bob, I was always told you had to prime aluminum extrusions if applying a finishing coat. Not true?

What was with the "use zinc chromate primer for aluminum" business about?

Corrosion.  But buying anything with chromium in it is problematic.

I think a good smooth black baked-on finish would work for a model.  If you can do a light bead-blast it would be better.  I would be happy to blast and coat your Benson extrusion.  Stick it in Jim's flight bag.

I was disappointed by Alclad 2 so I went back to my old favorite Scalecoat II. Never have found anything easier to use.  i used to model BN in the Cascade Green and bllack so I bought a bottle of Floquil  in BN green, painted it, looked at it, and "Holy Cow"' the  green was wrong. I then tried Scalecoat, came to the rescue.

Dick

Yes, but the look of a metal surface is what we are looking for.  I agree, for colors, Scale Coat is hard to beat.

Yeah, I prefer Scale Coat as well for most any color job if I can get it in the tint I need, Floquil is a pain to mix out correctly due to the coarse pigment (though I have learned some "tricks" working with it over the years.)

But, this is specifically just an experiment in "silverizing" some grubby looking aluminum extrusions, so I will be going the Alclad route with these as a test case. If it doesn't work out, no biggee, back into the juice.

Thanks for the offer Bob, but I've got these both clean as whistle now using the Pine Sol dip tank which always works well for me with metal car bodies, (though not so much PVC, or Styrene, especially when removing factory paint.)

I will post my results here once I get the paint applied.

Pete

Has anyone ever looked at a product from Plaid called Liquid Leaf?

Thanks.

- Mario

I have not, have used rub & buff for auto & military models.

 Interesting; is there an undercoat required or some sort of prep beyond clean and dry?

I use the Alclad II  paint over a black base

An update on the Benson car project with Alclad paint, my take-aways.  Follow the manufacturer’s instructions, or better-  go to those You-Tube links but specifically the ones that match your application exactly. To me it seemed that it takes a lot of the second metal coat to finish a 20” car. One bottle was not enough to do a single car body. Once I got the coating complete though, it looked real good, I wish I’d taken a photo.  Next though, things went off the rails, applying the sealer moved the metal coat and let the primer spot through. This after curing the metal coat for a week and applying the sealer using the same pressure and nozzle as the manufacturer’s directions too, so disappointing. Here’s what they look now-

Krylon Dull Aluminum over essentially some very expensive paint now primer. Live-an-learn, I’m sure someone here has a done a beautiful extruded body finished in Alclad, but not me, and I don’t blame the product but likely something I missed in the application. You can see the spotting through the overcoat too, should have dipped the whole thing off, but I need to move on. Also these are Benson’s Lionel extrusions to begin so you know, not destined for scale immortality either, so no regrets.

Pete - next time try a metallic silver, followed by a coat of Future Floor Wax, then Scalecoat Crystal clear, and finally very careful buffing with auto polishing compound.

And thanks for the experiment.  I have heard the Alclad is very sensitive to finger oils, so it won't fly around here.

I'll try to send you a photo . . .

Bob, a question about your process: isn't Scalecoat crystal clear a lacquer that will lift the acrylic Future finish?

It will lift Scalecoat! Even baked-on Scalecoat!  That's the only reason I use Future under the Crystal.  Almost destroyed a beautiful paint/decal job on my T1.

The beauty of the Crystal is that it takes an extremely high gloss when polished.  Silver paint by itself is never glossy.

bob2 posted:

It will lift Scalecoat! Even baked-on Scalecoat!  That's the only reason I use Future under the Crystal.  Almost destroyed a beautiful paint/decal job on my T1.

The beauty of the Crystal is that it takes an extremely high gloss when polished.  Silver paint by itself is never glossy.

What if you used Scalecoat "Sealer" instead of Future? The sealer is what I used as a base coat so that the lacquer wouldn't attack my plastic models.

On a similar note, I have read where that the formula for Future hads been changed and that hobbyists aren't as pleased as they were before. Has anyone else heard that?

Maybe - I have been using an older bottle.  Spraying a sealer coat would be better, if it is clear.

The thing is, lacquer polishes really good, but it also eats most other paint.

I have a fleet of Budd cars - most are polished aluminum.  One is apparently plated (K-Line), one is painted (3rd Rail) and a couple are clear coated or anodized.

I greatly prefer the polished aluminum - it looks like real stainless to me.

Minton Cronkhite used Monel Metal - it had a darker hue.  It was probably more realistic for most observers.

Big Jim, there's a couple modeling places online that talk about the newer different Future formulations and which label to use. You can search for them.

bob2 posted:

Minton Cronkhite used Monel Metal - it had a darker hue.  It was probably more realistic for most observers.

Wonder how many hobbyists or model RR companies have access to or stocks of Monel  alloy these days?