bare metal foil question

[outlaw035]

hi eveyone....im using bare metal foil for the 1st time...i did a few pratice moldings but i dont have any to practice on like the 55 chevy im building....so here is my question...the rear quater molding on the 55 is like "L" shaped so do i try to do it as 1 piece or should i do it in 2 pieces....thank.....neal

Edited November 22, 2009 by outlaw035

[envious8420]

one piece would be best.

[Harry P.]

One piece would be ideal, but for a beginner it's probably easier to do it in sections. Just overlap the pieces a little. After you burnish everything down, the joint will be almost invisible.

[Zoom Zoom]

It might be easier for a beginner to cut one large piece that covers all the trim, and trim away the excess. With practice you can precut thin strips of foil & apply separate pieces for each section, being careful to overlap where vertical & horizontal trim meet.

The "new & improved" BMF is awful. It's as if they've forced the "bright chrome" finish on us, and it's got too much adhesive and either the adhesive or a coating on the foil has a texture that will not smooth out with buffing. I'd rather have the old stuff that cracked with age. This new junk also tears badly when I'm trying to trim it from the backing sheet, doesn't matter if it's a new blade or not. I'm going to have to resort to making my own foil, thankfully I got some new store brand foil for the kitchen recently and found it's thinner than it was before, so it may work well. It's still a bit thicker than BMF, but it will smooth out & buff out to a very realistic chrome shine.

[crazyjim]

Somebody posted a while back about using tin foil from the grocery store and glue from Hobby Lobby. I have the supplies but haven't tried it yet. My biggest issue is that the glue says let it set for an hour before putting the foil on. I thin somebody also suggested to lay the glue on the back side of the foil and using a layer of waxed paper to preserve.

[MrObsessive]

Hmmm.........that's interesting Bob! I wonder if they changed things yet again since the time I bought mine back in the spring?

You've seen the BMF demo I did on my Merc buildup...........it was the "new and improved" sheet that's on it. I didn't have any trouble with that sheet, but I'm going to have to replace it soon!

[outlaw035]

thank you ever1...i did it in 2 pieces came out pretty good...

[sak]

The "new & improved" BMF is awful. It's as if they've forced the "bright chrome" finish on us, and it's got too much adhesive and either the adhesive or a coating on the foil has a texture that will not smooth out with buffing. I'd rather have the old stuff that cracked with age. This new junk also tears badly when I'm trying to trim it from the backing sheet, doesn't matter if it's a new blade or not. I'm going to have to resort to making my own foil, thankfully I got some new store brand foil for the kitchen recently and found it's thinner than it was before, so it may work well. It's still a bit thicker than BMF, but it will smooth out & buff out to a very realistic chrome shine.

Yes, I was told by the people at BMF that the adhesize is applied to the sheets with a roller. Its the texture on that roller that transfers to the foil. And yes it will not burnish out, makes thin round trim look like chromed rebar. But bare metal foil is still the best thing for small things like scripts.

Jeff

Edited November 23, 2009 by sak

[charlie8575]

I'm going to have to resort to making my own foil, thankfully I got some new store brand foil for the kitchen recently and found it's

Bob,

What glue are you using for this? I might be interested in giving this a shot at some point if the new stuff is as rotten as stated here.

Charlie Larkin

[Zoom Zoom]

Bob,

What glue are you using for this? I might be interested in giving this a shot at some point if the new stuff is as rotten as stated here.

Charlie Larkin

Microscale makes a liquid foil adhesive that you brush onto the foil. It's much like white glue when you apply it, but it dries tacky.

[Aaronw]

Somebody posted a while back about using tin foil from the grocery store and glue from Hobby Lobby. I have the supplies but haven't tried it yet. My biggest issue is that the glue says let it set for an hour before putting the foil on. I thin somebody also suggested to lay the glue on the back side of the foil and using a layer of waxed paper to preserve.

I gave that a try and was happy with it even though I had to use a good quality Reynolds Wrap (the cheap stuuff is supposed to be better because it is thinner). I used Mona Lisa gold leaf adhesive I got from Micheals. In the demo that was posted they said to put it on the foil, but I had good luck painting it onto the model where I wanted the foil, then putting the foil on after waiting for the glue to set up properly.

[JayC]

Somebody posted a while back about using tin foil from the grocery store and glue from Hobby Lobby. I have the supplies but haven't tried it yet. My biggest issue is that the glue says let it set for an hour before putting the foil on. I thin somebody also suggested to lay the glue on the back side of the foil and using a layer of waxed paper to preserve.

That's what I did. I have cheap foil from Walmart and some gold leaf adhesive from a craft store. The closest Hobby Lobby did not have any foil adhesive, but another craft store did. It works ok. The main thing I don't like is having to wait an hour or so for the adhesive to get tacky. I did my Polar Lights 1965 Dodge Coronet 500 using this method. It came out ok for my first time. I love the look of the foil, but I've got to get better at it.