A Simple Way To Paint Bare Metal Airplanes

Can there be such a thing?? Well, yes…. kinda. I mean, you’ll never get away from having to carefully prepare your painting surface. And yes, that takes time and patience. However, many strategies for painting bare metal involve the use of delicate and, dare I say flimsy paint. As well as a process that requires careful handling, careful sealing, and careful masking.

In other words: A bunch of fun sucking steps that I am bound to mess up at one point or another.

Believe me, I have tried all sorts of ways to get a believable bare metal finish.

This isn’t my first metallic paint rodeo

I have always loved the look of Bare metal airplanes and maybe I like torturing myself trying to model them. I have had more than a few chances to be disappointed with my bare metal airplanes. Let’s see. I have tried:

• Rub ‘n buff paint from the dark ages
• Testors’ Silver Enamel – square bottle, of course
• Tamiya acrylics
• Tamiya spray aluminum
• Alclad II
• SNJ/Hawkeye Hobbies stuff with ‘buffing’ powders
• AK EXTREME!! Metal
• Vallejo Metal Colors

I’m probably missing one or two as well. So you see, I have painted them in all sorts of different ways. With varying levels of success. Bottom line: Bare metal requires a separate set of skills and a lot of patience to develop them.

I quickly fell in love with Alclad, I mean, who wouldn’t? The stuff is fairly easy to spray and it gives you instant feedback. It looks like metal. But it is a delicate metal. Now, there are ways to seal it and keep it on the model. I’m told the best way is to use the Alclad branded stuff. And I have seen people get amazing results from it.

I was not one of them.

I am not sure what happened. But it did not spray properly and it was pebbly. I went on to seal other Alclad projects with other products and well, the beautiful metallic finish suffered. I am not suggesting these are bad products. I just think they require a lot more practice on my part to get them to truly shine.

(Ha! See what I did there?)

Up to this point I’ve had the most luck with the Tamiya spray Aluminum lacquer. That is as bullet proof a method as can be. But, while these paints were extremely easy to spray and mask and apply decals to, I still wasn’t happy with the finishes these were giving me. They looked better than silver paint, sure. They also look amazing on engines or in landing gear bays. But for bare metal surfaces, they fall just short.

This time I went with a few paints from Vallejo Metal colours line. I tried these paints before with the Blackbird project and I really liked their durability and how easily they sprayed. There is no thinning required with these paints. But you do have to thoroughly shake the bottle before pouring it into the colour cup. I found it is better to build the colour in multiple light, quick passes rather than slow heavier passes. I ended up having to repaint a couple of gear doors as I learned the technique. The Chrome colour gave me a very pretty, shiny and somewhat reflective surface – not a mirrored surface, mind you, but a reflective one.

Most importantly, it was almost as bulletproof as the Tamiya spray lacquer. Once dry, I could easily mask with Tamiya tape and have no fear when removing it. The metallic paint stayed put. Nothing ripped up, nothing chipped and no metallic paint came off with the underside of the tape. Decals went on perfectly too.

There are a variety of products to achieve a bare metal finish but if you are looking for a no fuss solution, especially one that is durable, these Vallejo Metal Colors are worth a try. And no, I am not sponsored by Vallejo but I do like using a few of their products.

Wanna See A Video?!?

Hell yes, you do!

Last Thing

I still think I have a LOT to learn about applying bare metal finishes and because I like the look of them so much, I will keep trying. Maybe next time I will go for something that is a bit more beat up. I’d love to know your trials and tribulations (or hell, even your victories!) with all things bare metal. What worked? What didn’t? What would you try in the future? Let me know in the comments.

Gaahleri sent me an airbrush to try – it is the GHAD-68 trigger airbrush. You can see me using it in the video. Now, this is not an expensive airbrush, but it performed very nicely when laying down base coats of lacquer, metallic paint, and clear coats. Another plus is how easy it is to clean. This is really appreciated.

This airbrush comes with two sizes of needle/nozzle and two sizes of colour cups with covers. There is also lubricant as well as replacement seals. So, yeah, it is a very good value. Bottom line? I’m definitely keeping mine. It has replaced by big needle siphon feed brush that I use for base coats and clear coats.

If you want one of these bad boys, or any other Gaahleri airbrush, here is a discount code you can use to save 10% off your order:

1. Automatic Discount Link (easiest option):
    https://www.gaahleri.com/discount/10model?ref=ModelAirplaneMaker
   The 10% discount will be applied automatically at checkout.
2. Standard Store Link + Code:
    https://www.gaahleri.com/?ref=ModelAirplaneMaker
   Just enter discount code: 10model at checkout.
3. Amazon Store (USA customers):
    Gaahleri Amazon US Store
   Discount code: 10MODELS

Full disclosure: using these affiliate links will earn me a small commission but will not cost you anything.