Need a very fine silver

[Some_Kid]

Okay guys well I've been experimenting with ts-17 through the airbrush and here are some test results. I decided to go ahead and paint the wheels to the kit. It's ts-17 over duplicolor filler primer that was sanded between 2,500 to 8,000 grit. No clear coat yet. Pretty sure it was sprayed at around 25 PSI. I found that the ts-17 was plenty thin enough to spray.

The first couple coats didn't look that promising(it looked a little rough) but I think the trick to using ts-17 is color sanding. Before you put on your wetcoats, sand down your previous mist or semi wet coats with very fine grit polishing cloths. I think anywhere from 3200 to 12000 would make it smooth enough.

Not only does this give the wet coats a smooth surface to stick too, it also gives it a reflective and more opaque base. Which means less paint you'll need to spray on that wet coat, which means quicker drying time and less chance of debris getting in the paint. Now if I can just get the entire body to look like this, then I will be a happy camper. Another note, if you decant this paint make sure you properly remix it or shake it before spraying. The silver particles like to fall the bottom of the jar quite fast, almost alclad like.

It's way easier spraying this paint through the airbrush. You get way more control because the paint sprays so fine.

[stevenoble]

I'm a bit late posting this, but in the past I've filtered the silver paint using a very fine paint strainer. It will remove some of the heavy flakes and leave you with a very fine paint. Many of the hobby silvers have oversize flakes and passing the paint through a filter/strainer will remove them giving you a more realistic 'scale' finish, not that heavy flaked look you can sometimes get..

[Some_Kid]

Another update for you guys. I have found a solution, which has already been suggested in this thread. I tried spraying MM aluminum metalizer, non buffing and I must say it looks amazing. Extremely fine and thin coats that don't requite multiple coats, no loss of minute details at all. This will be my silver paint from now on. Just apply your clear in mist coats as not to disturb the underlying silver. It seriously beats the paints off any silver designed for body colors I've ever used. Gloss aluminum is nice but the metalizer takes much much less work.

[Zonic2001]

Model Master Aluminum Metalizer ROCKS!!!!! Used it for the first time two nights ago and is the best paint out of a can that I have ever used!!!!!!!

[Some_Kid]

Hey guys here is an update for you. I have painted the xj220 body in model master aluminum metalizer. I must say it is a tricky paint to work with but the results are absolutely worth it. Your primer must be perfectly smooth as the paint doesnt hide anything. One forgiving aspect to this paint however is that if you sand through a couple spots of primer, it's okay the aluminum will cover it up with several coats.But it is like using a better version of ts-17, it essentially looks the same once you clear coat it. I couldn't be more pleased and it looks very much in scale.

This is actually a repaint by the way. I had a near flawless paint job on this body in tamiya mica silver but I was such a nit pick about it I couldn't live with myself and I had to get a finer/more in scale silver.

Here's a sneak peak at my build. Keep your eyes open for the upcoming thread. I give you the tamiya xj220 in MM aluminum metalizer.

[wadny]

Told ya so! Since Alclad came out, the Model Master metallizer paints have been kind of ignored. I love Alclad, but the metallizer paints are excellent, too, and work better (I think) for large areas. They can be a bit fragile, so a clear coat helps, but I always found them incredibly easy to airbrush. Incidentally, the buffing stainless steel is really nice for brake rotors when it's buffed out with a Q-tip.