Toughest silver paint

[lesthegringo]

All, I want to do some weathered aircraft with bleached / faded and chipped and peeling paint. I've done it before quite successfully, so the process is not a problem, though I am happy to hear from any of you out there who have any tips, as some of the work displayed on these forums is outstanding. I know the salt weathering technique,  which works but is not a favourite of mine as I find that it leaves the remaining paint rough where tiny salt patches get stuck under the paint.

 

My preferred technique to date it to actually physically chip the paint, using a light pass with some Scotchbrite type material after first undercoating with a silver paint. My problem is that you have to be very very light at the edges, like leading edges of the wings etc, otherwise you can go straight through the silver as well. I'm now primering all those areas to help the silver stay on, but want to know which silver paint is the toughest, both in terms of sheer adverence, but also resistance to abrasion. I'm using Gunze number 8 at the moment, having tried the Gunze 'MC' series of metallics and found them to be terrible for abrasion resistance and adhesion. I used to use Humbrol 11, but found that it does not set hard like the gunze paints unless left for a very long time, but do rate the adhesion and toughness. For a long term project I would use it, but for most cases it is impractical. 

 

I do have some Alclad II chrome silver, but have heard that it is best used as a top coat, plus it is very expensive as a weathering medium

 

So what is there out there that I could use as a tough, durable silver?

 

Cheers

 

Les

 

Edited September 12, 2020 by lesthegringo

[Space Ranger]

Any silver lacquer should be tough and durable, as compared to silver enamel.

[Planebuilder62]

Alclad Aluminium sticks really well to the plastic.

 

regards Toby

[Stef N.]

4 hours ago, Space Ranger said:

Any silver lacquer should be tough and durable, as compared to silver enamel.

Agree with this. On my limited experience with weathering metallics Tamiya lacquers stood up well and their acryilcs too, although their acrylics are less finer grained. AK extreme are reasonably tough and take masking ok but you will need to seal them in if you use any harsher washes etc.

[franky boy]

Gunze super metallics are also pretty good. 

 

James

[ckw]

I find the Humbrol 'Metalcotes' as tough as anything else I've tried and tougher than many ... also very quick drying

 

Cheers

 

Colin

[lesthegringo]

Thanks guys, will try them on a test piece. However it occurs to me that I must be doing something wrong when I am using the salt technique, so I have started a separate thread to see if I can clear that up

 

Cheers

 

Les

[dogsbody]

Though I only have very limited experience using an airbrush and acrylic paint, I did a test on an old kit, to learn how it works. I sprayed two different colours of Tamiya rattlecan primer on the upper wings. After it had dried for a couple days, I then airbrushed one wing with Tamiya XF-16 Flat Aluminum. I didn't do a great job, as it was my first airbrush attempt, but I did cover the wing. A couple days later, I tried masking some of the wing. The yellow tape is Tamiya, while the green tape is standard painters tape. I then airbrushed some Gunze-Sangyo green over top. After the green had dried to the touch, I pulled the tape off. The aluminum didn't lift a bit, even under the painters tape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So I'd say the Tamiya paint stick quite well.

 

 

 

 

Chris

[lesliegl]

The new Tamiya LP11 silver...Tuff Stuff

[lesthegringo]

Not seen those Tamiya Lacquer paints before - are they similar to the Gunze lacquers?

 

Cheers

 

Les