Dick Montgomery Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 I need to apply the MM Buffing Metalizer. Do I apply an undercoat? Buffing ideas? with what....and can I mask over it to apply some other paneling colors and shades? And, no, I don't have the little How To manual that comes with the paint. Any help would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghodges Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 The good news: The buffing Metalizer will give you an excellent natural aluminum finish. The bad news: It is NOT conducive to handling, and NOT conducive to masking. Plan on polishing and buffing your plastic to a glass smooth finish. While this is a good practice for all NMF items, it's a necessity for the Metalizer. It has to be applied over a glass smooth surface (generally the bare plastic). Note how many areas on the model need "paint" over an aluminum area. You cannot mask Metalizer, so you'll have to: 1) mask the areas to be painted 2) paint those areas (allowing no overspray on the areas to be Metalized) 3) mask off the painted areas and then spray on the Metalizer. Spray on the Metalizer in several LIGHT coats. Don't try to put on wet coats. 5 Minutes between light coats should be sufficient. Apply it until you think you've gotten a depth of aluminum color that you like. Let it dry overnight. Plan on using soft cotton gloves to handle the model from here on out as the Metalizer will rub off. The buffing Metalizer can be polished with any old soft cloth; on old t-shirt is ideal. Go slowly and use light pressure. What you're doing (essentially) is pressing the metallic particles into a flatter position, allowing them to reflect more light. Thus, the nice (real) metallic shine! If you over polish down to the plastic simply spray on some more and buff it out again. About the "sealer": It will protect the finish and allow it to be handled more. It will also KILL 90% of your metallic finish; so in my opinion it's not a good option. The two upsides to the sealer are that it DOES allow some moderate masking with VERY low tack tapes (and for very short time periods); and it's also good for that "lacquered" aluminum finish you find on 1930's USN and British planes. That's all I can think of. I'm sure more folks will be here with more tips soon! Best of luck, it's good stuff! GIL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montgomery Posted December 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Exactly what I needed to know. That will get me going! Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcaponeII Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 I wrote an artcle or Scale Aircraft Modelling that appeared a couple of months back (October issue if I recall). In that article I describe my technique for blending metallizers with clear lacquer to fix a lot of the troubles described above that many folks have with metallizers. The file is a bit long but I'm sending you a PDF copy of the article that I hope you will find helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montgomery Posted December 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Got it Don. Thanks a ton! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcaponeII Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 Good luck with the build. Is this for the B-29? I'm starting that NF-104 for Dan this week. Digging up references now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClareWentzel Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 How about adding a copy of the PDF to something like Hints and Tips on the web site. More people want to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcaponeII Posted December 22, 2008 Report Share Posted December 22, 2008 I'm afraid that it's subject to SAM's copyright. I can send it to the occaisional collegue without concern but I can't publish it to a public forum. My email is dcapone@aircanopy.net. I can email you a copy if you'd like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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