Alclad coverage question

[Grendels]

I was watching a video on YouTube and the subject was Alclad paints. They were spraying aluminum in color and used up quite a bit of the bottle on just a few parts.

I have never experienced this. When I use Alclad I only use a tiny bit of paint and get great coverage. For example when I painted this one up:



I only used a half bottle. This model is very large, the wingspan is 17 inches and the model is 11 inches long.

So my question is this:

Why do I use so little when others use almost the whole bottle on less than a hand full of part?

I follow the directions given on Alclad's web site. The metal Lacquers go over either a gloss white, or gloss black base.

I am pretty sure that in the video I was watching they sprayed directly on primer.

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

Misconception about what Alclad needs to be sprayed over.

In general, the Chrome, Polished Aluminum, Polished Brass and Stainless Steel should be painted over a gloss black base. However, if you search on Youtube for Model Car Magazine, he has a video there where he is spraying it over grey primer, that he polished out, and the chrome is coming out just as good as I have seen it sprayed over gloss black.

Personally, I think that if a gloss black base is all you need, why go to the trouble of spraying grey primer, and then polishing it to a high shine? Seems like more work then needs to be....ie: work smarter not harder.

As far as how much to use, could be something as simple as what air pressure they were using vs what you were using. Alclad is super thin like water, and needs very little air pressure to spray well, and could be the difference. Plus, the colors I mentioned above you don't really want to put them on thick anyway, as you loose the luster effect that you are using the paint in the first place for. For the chrome, a couple of very light passes is usually all that is needed.

I think that if you applied it properly with the right air pressure, even a larger kit like say the Tamiya 1/32 P-51D probably wouldn't go through a whole bottle of Aluminum for a base color.

 

[spud]

spraying it a high pressure will eat trough it so if there pressure was up then it will go fairly quick

 

[Chris S]

Yip ...pressure is the answer . Alclad is soooo thin you will just blow it out in no time if the pressure is high . A while back I painted a 1/48 P47 with alclad aluminium over the polished plastic ,the whole aircraft was painted and didnt even use half a bottle ,sprayed about 15psi .

Chris.

 

[Grendels]

I think you guys have the answer. I am spraying at 15 PSI as well. Even with Tamiya paints. So the low air pressure is the ticket.

The person in the video mentions that they have to lower the air pressure. I wonder why they are still using it up so fast.....

Thanks for the reply! Mystery solved.

 

[Chris S]

High air pressure will always produce overspray ,meaning you lose a lot of paint. The trick is to find a pressure that let's the paint atomize and flow well but without producing a cloud ! That overspray also lands on your fresh paint making a gritty mess of the finish.

Chris.