Seeking perfection still - Stuka finishing question

Aircraft Painting & Markings
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I am trying to decide if I should prime my 1:32 Stuka with a Alclad II lacquer primer or Tamiya acrylic paint thinned with Tamiya lacquer thinner. I am leaning more towards Tamiya lacquer since it seems to airbrush on smoother. I inherited a bunch of 23ml paint and have a few bottles of XF-53 neutral grey that would seem to be ok with a coat of RLM 78 and RLM 79 over it. What would you use? used alcald in the past but it seems a bit grainy, could be operator Error :monkey:

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I really like aeroscale, I tried other forums and always come back here. Thanks to everyone :grin: :grin: and I am going to try not being obnoxious :grimacing:

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I would go with what I was more comfortable with, which seems to be Tamiya in this case.

I would do few tests on plastic spoons or something else to see which “primer” color (white, grey or black) works best for the look you want. Depending on the top coat color thinning and number of coats, the base primer can and probably will have an impact to the look. Only you can decide which one/s works for you and what you want out of the project.

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anyone have a bad experience with Alclad primer? it sits on the shelf for too long it seems to go bad,lumpy goo. I order directly from Alcald,seems to be fresher product ,mix the hell out of it and it works fine,lots of Solids stuck on the bottom of the bottle takes a long powered mixing bit.

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Thanks for the reply, going with a darker grey would probably give my light colors more depth.

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Yeah that’s a good move because likely or not, most of these birds had a two-tone green splinter underneath the desert colors, so you’d be doing something very close to what they did in the field.
Metallics can be sporty because you’re basically spraying fine metallic powder in some sort of carrier. Great results but harder to store.

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good point, I could just as easily use a flat dark green lacquer as a primer…thanks that’s a great idea. Flat is mandatory for primer? to the best of my limited knowledge :face_with_spiral_eyes:

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With a limited number of exceptions, flat is correct. As I understand it, finishes like Al-Clad’s bare metals are supposed to be applied over a gloss black undercoat, although that could be on top of a flat primer rather than the primer itself.

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