Alclad Question

[k100]

I have never used this before , the directions say to use water base black paint .

My question is do you have to use water base paint ?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Mark

[Petetrucker07]

Ive been told to use a laquer base, since alclad is ready to spray out of the bottle. Its a laquer base itself. Ive been askin that same ? and this seems to be the most common answer

[Chillyb1]

What variety of Alclad are you talking about? And you could probably spend a lifetime sorting out the contradictory information given by modelers about the use of Alclad chrome and polished aluminum. Where did you see the "water base" claim you make? I'm not sure I've heard that one before.

Alclad's own black base coat is enamel and it works very well. My favorite base to use is Tamiya's TS-14 black: It goes on flawlessly, dries quickly, and it accepts both chrome and polished aluminum Alclad finishes.

[Old Buckaroo]

I have used their products a lot (building aircraft) some colors recommend a acrylic base - some an enamel. I go with whichever they recommended as I figure they have tested this stuff to see which produces the best result. After all what is having on hand an extra bottle of paint and thinner going to hurt ?

The thing to using Alclad is spraying a thin mist , the lighter you spray the better the results. Start with a coat that the only way you can tell is the object being painted looks wet with no color from the Alclad. Let it dry and hit it again the same and keep repeating . This is not a quick process but will result in the best finish..

[k100]

The Alclad Chrome in the aerosol can , I don't have paint gun

It said on the directions on the can to use water base .

[tbill]

the stuff in the spray can did not impress me, I got the same results using krylon chrome paint.

I have since gotten some for air brushing, but have yet to try it out.

I know, lot of help I am.......

[Force]

I have always used Black Enamel under Alclad II Chrome as the instructions on the bottles I have says, some have tried blue or even white but I haven't tried that myself, other Alclad finishes requires other base coats to work right and they are stated in the instructions for the specific paint

The thing with Alclad is to lay it on thin for the chrome effect to work right together with the base coat, if you go too thick it just looks like regular silver paint...and that's easy to do with a spray can.

[Petetrucker07]

Theres a really nice pete build on here, the guy did something like 30 or 40 super light coats and the finished wheels looked just like chrome

[Pavel A.]

I always use gloss black from gsi mr.color GX (lacquer). This sort of colors (GX) is dry till half hour. For example enamel gloss black from revell or humbrol usually dries till next day (24 hours). This quick dry is good against dust. And this GX black is very very gloss.

Now I try to use Spaz stix mirror chrome and I this this is better chrome. I can say "more harder chrome".

For both you need very good polished black base, without microdust parts. Doesn' t matter that it will be akryl, enamel or lacquer gloss black base.

And the right way how to make a good chrome on parts is like wrote Petetrucker07. 30-40 very thin layers applied from 25-30 cm (about 10 inches).

Edited September 17, 2014 by Pavel A.

[BigBad]

I have used the alclad enamel gloss black and the Tamiya gloss black lacquer under the Alcald chrome. The Alclad black takes forever to dry but the Tamiya takes like an hour and both give you excellent results. Its the chrome that has to be applied properly, The chrome Alclad must be sprayed at low pressure 15-20 psi and also with low flow with several passes. That is how I get the best results. Not quite real chrome but looks a lot like polished aluminum. Excactly what you what for most truck parts.

[Jim Whalen]

Hi, I tend to use Alclad's own gloss black base and spray the chrome (other hi-shine finish) on after about an hour using an Iwata gravity fed dual action airbrush at about 10psi. I have heard that Testors Gloss Black enamel works well as a base but have not tried it since it is not readily available here.

As for dust, I give parts a blast of air with the airbrush before I begin painting and always keep the parts in a shoebox, only taking them out whilst they are being painted.