A diversion into preparing Colin’s detail parts

Hi Ed,

I have a lot of metal paints, almost all of them are lacquers because I prefer working with lacquers. I have most of the Alclads and AK Extreme Metals, plus many of the Mr Color metal and super metals, plus the Revell rattle can chrome. I also have a sizable amount of what used to be sold as Mirra Chrome, but it’s identical to Alclad Chrome as far as I can tell.

All of the chrome’s above will produce a very realistic shiny chrome finish if applied correctly. They are the only products I use for that purpose. I do have bare metal foils, but they are a lot more effort in my opinion.

The other non-chrome metallic paints are durable when prepared and dried properly. The major problem with chrome paints is that NONE of them are in any way durable, so they need to be protected by a clear coat. But to make things worse, most clear’s will dull out the chrome appearance.

Barbatos Rex (Robert) on YouTube has been testing these for years and I think (at least for now) he’s recommending Alclad Chrome, allowed to dry thoroughly (I have a dehydrator) and left to harden for at least a day or two, and then sprayed with Alclad Aqua Gloss. You also need to thoroughly dry that before handling, but after that it’s reasonably safe to handle. Just don’t push your luck. I have had very good luck with this.

I have used the Revell Chrome rattle can with mixed results. It’s super expensive. It is also very tough to get light coats. The secret of doing glossy metal paints is to apply them over a gloss black base, applied over a good primer. Then fog them on with very light coats and gradually build up coverage with a final slightly heavier coat to let it level and give you that liquid shine look. The Revell chrome look is good, but I find it tends to flood the surface. It’s also easy to wipe right off, so realistically it needs the same kind of preparation as the high end lacquers which are MUCH cheaper.

I have tried several of the acrylic “chrome” and metal paints and frankly I won’t use them anymore. They’re just not worth the effort.

I have not painted the parts for the Jag yet, so I will post some photos when I do them later today - assuming I get to it today. Some of the parts will be chrome, but most others will be various other polished metals, e.g. I am planning to do the console and center stack as a polished alloy look, but with gloss black accents and instrument bezels.

I hope this helps!

I have seen both, but I'm leaning towards painting the mesh a Tamiya lacquer dull aluminum and the blower fan inside maybe a yellowish cream like the 1:1 below. I'll paint the whole blower unit a semi-gloss black (the aluminum needs a gloss or semi gloss black base anyway), then mask off everything but the mesh section and hit the that with the aluminum. May do a little more detail while I'm at it. Here's a shot of that section on a restored 1:1.

btw, when I was talking about my Dremel drill press this is what I was on about ... my work bench in the garage.

that's mainly for heavier tasks. The real workbench is here.

and the stash is floor to ceiling and wall to wall here.

cheers.

Thanks Alex.