HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

[Sall]

A perfect combination of colors. I really like the camouflage.

[Letipapa]

This work with painted Al foil strips on a canopy - it's amazing One must be so precise
Wonderful   and Al is great of course, thanks man

[Second Air Force]

Here is the finished P-47 project. I may do just a little exhaust staining and I don't seem to have any Curtiss Electric decals for the propeller blades, but I'm looking.......

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

I want to thank everyone on this forum for inspiring me to FINALLY FINISH A MODEL!!!!!!!!!! This is the first completed modeling project in nearly ten years, and the first aircraft since our group build for the 2000 IPMS Nationals in Dallas.

Scott

[Sall]

Hey mate,it looks great!
Do you want open topic in Aircraft Modeling,and show us some big photos of this wonderful project?

[Second Air Force]

I suppose I could start a new subject thread and link it to the NMF discussion. There isn't much to this build--I started with a Tamiya kit so there isn't a lot to talk about! I just glued it together and painted it--it was more of a NMF practice kit than anything.

[Second Air Force]

Just a quick entry showing another of my many uses for BareMetal Foil--as a masking material. I simply apply foil and trim the edge with a new X-acto blade, rub it down firmly, and paint the part. Here's a tire from my bomb trailer:

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

BareMetal works great and doesn't leave any residue on painted surfaces if you're careful. It gives a very sharp edge if trimmed carefully.

[Profa]

Today I experimented a little with NMF simulation on the wing of Nieuport XVII
First, I had to prepare the wing in order to check how paint would adhere to differently smoothed base. Therefore everything was sanded with water, using papers graded as written and polished using both fine and superfine sides of MaxFactor manicure stick.

Model Master 1401 aluminium metalizer was throughly shaked, and I have used paint from the cap.
All the paintwork was done by my old trusty companion on the pics - Winsor & Newton Special Value No.1, five years old

Surface was painted using short and curt strokes, going in both up-down and left-right directions, holding brush in different angles to the surface, from almost horisontal to almost vertical.
When I got to the end of the wing with the first coat, shaking the bottle few more times in the process, I have immediately started the second coat. There was obviously enough time for the first coat to dry, since I didn't have any problem with it.

To conclude: the best coat was definitely on the superfine polished-surface.
Area sanded with 1500 grit can't be taken into account since I made a mistake using paint from the bottle and not from the lid. This was already a little shrugged, and this obviously isn't the way to go...

This way I have already painted F-100 (pic in-progress) and F-84:

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/forum/makete-aviona-aircraft-modeling/hobby-boss-172-republic-f-84g-thunderjet-sfrj/

I'm sorry, but pics are not of the best quality. They nevertheless show the most interesting features...
So, this is my way of simulating NMF, with which I'm more than pleased

[Second Air Force]

How about a posting of mistakes made? I'm working on a natural metal Zero on the Japan Group Build as frequent LLL members know. A few days ago I sprayed the flight control surfaces with Model Master buffing aluminum and then sealed them with the NMF sealer also from MM. This morning I masked all the flight controls with low-tack tape prior to spraying the next coat on the airframe. I used this Scotch brand tape and took the precaution of making it even less sticky by rubbing my fingers over the adhesive repeatedly.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

I tested the tape on an area and it seemed to be fine. When I was removing the masking I found that the sealer stripped off of the left side of the rudder.......

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

The right and all other surfaces turned out fine.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

Apparently I didn't "de-sticky" the tape quite enough on the rudder half. In the next installment I'll show how simple it can be to repair such damage if it should occur.

[No.1]

Nice approach!!!

[Second Air Force]

I think I need to try that Tamiya tape sooner than I thought!

[Profa]

Yep, Tamiya is less adhesive than Scotch, especially after "de-stickyng"...

[Second Air Force]

I managed to repair the damaged rudder coating over morning coffee today. First I "de-de-stickied" some more tape and affixed it to paper towel segments for masking.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

Then it was a simple matter to lightly sand the rudder with 8000 grit Micromesh sanding cloth and respray with the Metalizer and a coat of sealer. The bright trim tab is Chrome BareMetal foil.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

As a further example of the different shades and textures that you can accomplish with just one bottle of Metalizer, here is the outer wing panel of the A6M5. The leading edge is MM Buffing Aluminum (not polished), the center portion is the same shade but polished with a soft cloth embedded with aluminum powder, and the aileron is, again, the same shade, this time not polished and given a coat of MM Metalizer Sealer.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

This shading is quite subtle, and hard to see from some angles, but worth the extra masking, I think.

[Second Air Force]

The canopy of the NMF Zero is a good example of using unpainted foil for the framing. First photo shows (sorry about the photo quality) a large piece of foil laid onto the compound curvature of the rear canopy section. Once the foil is burnished down the molded in frame lines are easy to use as a guide for cutting out the clear portions with a new X-acto blade.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

The balance of the framing was done with separate strips as shown on the P-47 project a page or two ago.

HOW TO: Natural Metal Finishes

[Sall]

 

[Sall]

Thank you for answer and explanation!! One more thing that i learned today!

http://www.testors.com/category/145620/Metalizer_Enamel_Paint
There is non buffing paints,and can be order! Price 4 $!