Spraying or handpainting silver finish

[RussG]

Hi,

I was hoping for some advice regards painting silver aircraft.

I have just completed a 1/72 Supermarine Swift and although the camouflage was sprayed, I hand painted the silver undersides with Xtracolour high speed silver, which although it looks ok, its not brilliant. The paint was straight from the tin and well mixed.

Also, I'm half way through an old mk.5 Airfix 1/72 Vampire which again I've hand painted, same paint but very poor finish.

Can anyone give me some tips either to improve my hand painting or with spraying (which I haven't tried yet). Certainly the examples modellers have posted are far better than my efforts.

Cheers,

Russ

[chrisrope]

For most silver finishes, I use Halfords Aluminium spray cans. It doesn't have flakes in it like a silver metallic car spray

[stevej60]

Russ,personally when i venture into silver finishes I spray with acrylics,have a look at my recent Hurricane(birth of a legend)in RFI.it was sprayed

with Vallejo silver for the doped areas and hand painted tamiya chrome on metal surfaces, using very thinned coats with my very basic starter

Airbrush(too tight fisted to buy an expensive one).Again personally if I was hand painting I would go for enamels well thinned,there are some

superb guys on this site that can get excellent results from both,then you have the Alclad and foil guys who I am sure will offer some advice.

[dwh]

Hi Russ.

I have always brush painted my models including Silver finishes.

I have found that if surface is prepared a good finish can be obtained.

I painted my FD.2 with brush, when hand painting silver I always undercoat with light grey, then fine rub down with 1200 wet/dry then using a flat brush of good quality about 1/4 inch wide coat the paint in thin layers,try not to go over same painted area more than once until dry.

When dry a second coat is applied, after again a wet/dry rub.

Then a final coat is painted on, with all coats always follow direction of airflow, once last coat dry, after 48hrs obtain a small piece of lint free cloth, cotton hanky is ideal then burnish lightly the finish this will give an acceptable finish.

FD2 painted as above

Derek

[RussG]

Thanks Steve, Chris and Derek,

That's great advice and just what I was after!

Thanks again,

Russ

[Don McIntyre]

I've seen some brilliantly done brush-painted silver/NMF (Natural Metal Finish) models, but I've never been able to achieve a good finish that way, myself. I've even seen some models where the guy brush-painted his finish using Modelmaster's Metalizer Lacquers! I believe you'll get your best results using a airbrush (with practice of course) and/or a rattle can.

Edited March 25, 2014 by Don McIntyre

[Nick Millman]

FWIW I use a soft flat brush (kept just for aluminium paint) and well-stirred Humbrol polished aluminium (which is quite thin) straight onto the prepared plastic. Then I apply an overall barrier coat of Klear (or equivalent) followed by a second and final coat of the aluminium. I leave days or even weeks between coats so that they have really cured hard. The acrylic barrier coat prevents any drag and pick up from the enamel solvent and also smooths out brush marks as well as ensuring that the second coat is opaque and really smooth.

Nick

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

If you can find Tamiya TS-30 silver in a spray can, you will be a happy modeller. It sprays very well, gives a nice finish, and with a coat of satin or matt over the top, does a good job of looking like a painted silver, rather than a natural unpainted metal.

just my tuppence halfpenny

Jonners

[RussG]

Thanks for the comments,

I think I will give the airbrush a go. I have had two tries with brushing, the first being so so (the Swift which I will probably put in the RFI section) and the second, an Airfix Vampire which I will probably put in the bin!

One thing I am finding, a silver finish seems to show up any overlooked defects in the finish.

Thanks again,

Russ

[Giorgio N]

One thing I am finding, a silver finish seems to show up any overlooked defects in the finish.

Using an airbrush will not change this unfortunately. On the contrary, as the airbrush lays a very thin layer of paint, surface preparation becomes even more important. Certain metallic paints require a very, very smooth surface

For brush painters, a good option is Citadel's silver... now this used to be name Mithril Silver, I have no idea what the name is now as they changed. These paints are water based acrylics so they are very easy to use and dry fast. Their silver is IMHO the best acrylic silver around, or at least the best I've ever tried. Can be airbrushed easily enough too.

[Nick Millman]

Using an airbrush will not change this unfortunately. On the contrary, as the airbrush lays a very thin layer of paint, surface preparation becomes even more important. Certain metallic paints require a very, very smooth surface

For brush painters, a good option is Citadel's silver... now this used to be name Mithril Silver, I have no idea what the name is now as they changed. These paints are water based acrylics so they are very easy to use and dry fast. Their silver is IMHO the best acrylic silver around, or at least the best I've ever tried. Can be airbrushed easily enough too.

Hi Giorgio

It's now called 'Runefang Steel' according to their conversion chart but personally I think that is greyer and grainier in comparison to the original Mithril Silver.

Regards

Nick

[Giorgio N]

Hi Giorgio

It's now called 'Runefang Steel' according to their conversion chart but personally I think that is greyer and grainier in comparison to the original Mithril Silver.

Regards

Nick

Thanks Nick, good to know ! The original Mithril silver was IMHO a very good colour, if now it's grainier I have a feeling it could not be as good as it used to be for things like metal or silver painted surfaces.

[RichardL]

there are some superb guys on this site that can get excellent results from both,then you have the Alclad and foil guys who I am sure will offer some advice.

Definitely Alclad II. Very easy to spray and very forgiving. Just some light coats @ 15 psi and you have very realistic metal finish.

[abat]

Thanks Nick, good to know ! The original Mithril silver was IMHO a very good colour, if now it's grainier I have a feeling it could not be as good as it used to be for things like metal or silver painted surfaces.

I too have found their re-named metallics harder to work with. A change of formula perhaps or a bad batch?

[Jon Kunac-Tabinor]

I too have found their re-named metallics harder to work with. A change of formula perhaps or a bad batch?

yep - it seem streakier too, and doesnt go on as evenly. plus I thinkits a tad darker now as well

Jonners, pining for the mithril

[Julien]

For brush painting I find the original Humbrol 11 silver works very well, and have had no problems with xtracolor high speed silver. Use a nice wide flat brush (the best you can afford) take your time.

For acrylics revell aqua colour do some nice metallic shades which are worth trying out.

Julien

[Don McIntyre]

Russ,

If you decide to take up the airbrush, all I can say is PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE and PRACTICE! I would say if you've got a failed or old build sitting around give it some painting practice before trying it on your latest and greatest. Don't expect perfect results on your first try.

As noted above surface preparation is crucial when airbrushing metallics. You want a mirror-smooth finish, yes, even where you've use filler. Someone will be along shortly with more comments on surface prep if you ask.

[RussG]

Phew!

Thanks for all that advice, its certainly alot of food for thought.

I'm certainly going to order the new Airfix Vampire TII but as you say I think a bit of practice both with spray and brush will help.

A nice late war 274 Squadron Tempest V....... just to give me time to think.

Cheers,

Russ

[dambuster]

I have used Halfords Nissan Silver from a rattle can over a base coat of their Plastic Grey Primer for HSS. They also do an Aluminium which has a much shinier finish. Previously I had used Mithril Silver which comes out slightly darker.

Peter

[Tomjw]

Definitely spraying Alclad onto a polished gloss black primer coat is my preference. Use very thin coats at the psi recommended on the bottle and you can't go wrong.

[Rabbit Leader]

At the moment I'm using Tamiya's AS12 Airframe Silver Spray Can over an undercoat of Mr. Surfacer 1000.

This is what Brett Green from Hyperscale fame uses on his Post War "High Speed Silver" finishes.

If it good enough for Brett, it's defiantly good enough for me!

Cheers.. Dave

[KeithBurrage]

I hope it's not too late to throw in my tenpennorth? Although I generally use an airbrush, I have found that Mr Metal Color brushes really well. It's thin enough to spray straight from the bottle. This means it brushes really well. Good coverage and no brush marks with the added bonus of being buffable up to a great shine as well, if that's what you want. Good range of colours as well!