Silver dope finish

[leyreynolds]

I'm just about to start a couple of 1930's biplanes (not my usual build period) and wonder if anyone has recommendations for a silver dope finish. I've experimented with a couple of Humbrol colours and the Tamiya spray can and all look a bit bright for 1/72nd scale.

[MilneBay]

I use Tamiya AS12 in the spray can. Depending on the number of light coats you can vary the finish from shiny to a nice dull colour.

[Magpie22]

Hi Ley,

I've found most paints to be too bright and 'silvery' to represent Aluminium doped finishes. I've been using Floquil Platinum Mist, but unfortunately they ceased production a couple of years ago. Luckily, I've got a couple of bottles stashed away. I have been told that Valejo's Silver Grey is quit close to the Floquil colour. It might be worth a try.

Magpie 22

[leyreynolds]

Thanks to you both. I'll give both suggestions a go. I tried a mix of Humbrol silver and light grey but the grey completely "blotted out" the sliver no matter how little I put into the mix.

Ley

[Red five]

I used to use Xtracolour Speed Silver, now I have discovered Alclad Mil Spec Speed Silver.

Andrew.

[ICMF]

Add a drop or two of white to your airbrush cup. It will help knock a bit of the shine off the metallic paint for a more realistic dope.

[leyreynolds]

I've now tried the Vallejo Silver Grey and to my eye it's mainly grey with not much hint of silver. Experimentation continues!

[CliffB]

One thing you can try is over-coating with coat of satin (or even matt) varnish, which dulls everything down a bit.

This is Games Workshop 'Mithril Silver' under a satin top coat, but Humbrol 11 looks similar. It's a 1/72 model.

Cheers

Cliff

[leyreynolds]

Thanks for the tip.

Ley

[TonyTiger66]

Hi, the Vallejo Model Air RLM Silb/ver has quite a nice dope like finish

Best regards

Tony

[general melchett]

Just my tuppence worth but I find that decanted Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver sprayed through the brush at around 18 psi, (1.2 bar) in several light mists followed by mists of Alclad's ALC-312 Klear Kote Semi-Matte varnish gives a very nice representation of silver dope. (I haven't tried Alclad's newer High Speed Silver but will do soon as I've been sent some recently to try out). Also variations in tone particularly between the scalloped wing ribs, control surfaces and around the engine area can really help the overall effect, again I prefer Alclads for this kind of work. I don't particularly like using a spray can, (only use them for some primers really) as I like to control the flow of paint and air but you should go with whatever works for you, hope this may be of some use.

[Basuroy]

vallejo metal colour while aluminium shade . It is very difficult to perceive the grains , that is it appears uniform/smooth even though it is acrylic in nature. Airbrush can be cleaned following same steps as for acrylic paints .

[Killingholme]

I rather like plastikote project paint- aluminium (they also do pewter which is a very nice exhaust colour by the way). Very fine grained- and until I found alclad the best silver I ever used. Works for me everytime.

And best thing is it's a cheapo aerosol can from Wilco's too...

Will

[Tzulscha]

Did they spray silver dope or brush it?

[John Aero]

Both.Factory finish would be sprayed.

John

[Ivor Ramsden]

I tried several different methods until somebody brought some sections of silver-doped fabric from a Tiger Moth wing into the museum. The silver has exactly the same sheen and colour as Humbrol 11 enamel. That is now my standard silver dope finish although sometimes I add a touch of grey to reduce the brightness to differentiate it from polished metal areas.

[Horatio Gruntfuttock]

I have done a few silver doped a/c and use Humbrol 11 with a few drops of either white or Light Aircraft Grey to dull it down and add variation.

[Mike Esposito]

Try Vallejo metallics. Acrylic and they would be perfect for silver dope. 

 

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/m/en_US/metal-color/family/33

Edited February 19, 2017 by Mike Esposito

[Work In Progress]

For years I used to use equal parts of gloss aluminium, matt white and satin varnish in Aeromaster Warbird acrylics to represent aluminium-doped fabric, and was well pleased with the effect. When I eventually ran out of my stocks of those I switched to the the equivalents in Games Workshop acrylics, and that works fine for me too.

[Doug Rogers]

Another vote here for Silver with a dash of white.

[TheLurker]

I was very pleased with results that I got from unadulterated Tamiya flat Al (XF-16) for the canvas covered areas on my most recent build (1/72 Gladiator), but that was a brush job and it may behave differently when airbrushed.