Anyone have any secrets to make aluminum passenger cars have that shiny polished look? I've got a lot of time on my hands, recovering from hip replacement surgery and I'm looking for projects. I've shelved the kit-bashed MP-15AC project for now, but I've got a bunch of Con-Cor superliners that I've been going to convert to phase 4 markings. I tried Testors chrome silver through an air brush. It looks pretty good but, this paint never seems to dry. Days later my fingerprints can be transfered to the paint while handling the body. Any other ideas will be appreciated as I've got at least a month before I can even drive. Can you say "cabin fever"?
Hi Herman, Sorry to hear about your medical problems. You might want to try gluing aluminum foil to your cars with Microscale Micro Metal Foil Adhesive, that is if you have a LOT of time and patience. The biggest problem you might encounter is if there are any strange angles or curves, the foil might want to "bunch up". I have used this method on the top of boxcars and the effect is great. Good luck and get well soon!!
Wow. Pretty sure I don't want to get involved in that. We sell a lot of that foil at the hobby shop but it seems to me to be too thick for N scale. The car modelers buy that stuff up so fast that we have a hard time keeping it in stock.
Testors has a line of paints called Metallizer (sp?) that should be just what you're looking for. These are solvent paints just for airbrushing. They have, I believe, metal flakes or pigment or some such in them, which allows them to be buffed to a super shiny finish. I discovered these a while back when I was doing Soviet jet fighters, and they work great. As I remember, you can get them in Aluminum and Stainless Steel, so that should cover you. I've also heard of a product called Alclad, or something like that, which is supposed to be essentially the same, although I've never tried it.
Wow. We have those paints at the store. I never even thought of those. Thanks for the reminder. I will go get some of that tomorrow.
One of the other guys that works at the hobby shop that I work at recommended the non-buff mixture of the metalizer paints as buffing eliminates fine detail. So I bought the color and clear and I don't like the result and may have ruined one of my superliners. It takes so much color to cover that what little detail Con-cor put on the car sides is now gone. I am attempting to strip it now with rubbing alchohol. Maybe I'll just wait for the new Kato superliners next year in phase IV.
