Alclad on Motors..

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Hi guys,

I'm starting my new project and I'd like to know which/what Alclad paint you use on motors.

The 64 Dodge I'm building has a Hemi, and the valve covers are white plastic. Since the valve covers will have to be painted, I might as well make the heads look like aluminum and not cast iron, painted orange. I don't want them black, so I ordered Alclad burnt metal and polished aluminum.

What do you guys do with your motors?

Michael

[Ace-Garageguy]

Personally, for simulating cast metal finishes, I prefer Testors Buffing Metalizers. This engine has aluminum on the bellhousing and intake manifold, magnesium on the injector body, and titanium on the exhaust manifolds to simulate a ceramic coating.

Depending on how dry or how slick you shoot it, you can get a slight surface grain to simulate a sand-casting, (or a smooth surface to simulate a machined or die-cast part) and if you polish it after it's completely dry, you bring up a very convincing metal look.

Edited March 7, 2014 by Ace-Garageguy

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That looks very nice, Bill!

What's been done to the blower? I like the different metal finishes, looks good.

Michael

[Ace-Garageguy]

That looks very nice, Bill!

What's been done to the blower?

Thanks!

The blower housing is just Duplicolor gray primer, which is a very good match for some of the raw blower housing castings from the '50s and '60s, and also does a pretty good imitation of a sand-blasted alloy part.

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I know about Duplicolor stuff. Over here in Germany a good Duplicolor series is called Rallye Lack. The grey primer is good, fills nicely too.

I'm looking for a shiny, but a little brushed looking finish for valve covers. Not chrome.

Also coloring for the carbs, maybe a little bronze colored wash?

Michael

[Pete J.]

Alcad is kind of hard to quantify on motors. I use a lot of different shades to achieve the look I want. What I did is made a sample sheet. I took a piece of plastic sheet and shot it with the base color I was going to use(white Tamiya Primer) and the masked it off into grids. I sprayed all the different colors so I had an idea of what they all looked like. Mostly, I use stainless steel, Steel, dark aluminum and magnesium, but others are also very handy like jet exhaust. I try to mix the shades up a lot because engines are rarely all one type of metal and the mix adds definition and depth to the model. Brass is also a handy to overspray parts to get that yellow cast that a lot of auto parts have.

[Erik Smith]

Alclad II paints are awesome and very addicting. I use aluminum, dark aluminum, dull aluminum, steel, stainless steel, polished aluminum, chrome, pale burnt metal (good for carbs that are light goldish color)...pretty much all of them.

I agree with the posts above, too - mix all the finishes for a convincing look.

Here is a model I am working on now:

And under:

Most of the "metal" parts are Alclad II.

This model is actually almost all Alclad II, even the frame:

You can't go wrong with any of the colors...

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Eric, fantastic! Check out the exhaust pipes! Those are very convincing pics, thanks Eric.

By the way, what kind/size of spark plug cables did you use? They look perfectly scaled.

I think too, mixing and different colors on a single motor looks excellent. This is what I'm striving for, thanks for showing.

Michael

[Erik Smith]

Thanks Michael.

I really like doing exhausts - the tips got a little too much dark due to a drop in air pressure on my compressor, but I like the way the other colors tunred out - they are all Alclad paints too (main exhause is aluminum and the rest is heat stain sepia and blue and smoke).

The plug wires are detail master race car ignition wire - which is .016 inch diameter.

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What Alclad or other combination can be best used for carbs?

Michael