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Model Forum / General / Models / January 2008Ambitious project at Willow Run
I've been gone a long while, playing with the 1:1 airplanes, and still see a lot of familiar names , but I'm back with news of a large and ambitious project that is starting at the Yankee Air Museum at the Willow Run Bomber plant in Ypsilanti. As part of our new museum, replacing the museum ravaged by fire 3 1/2 years ago, we have been authorized to put a 1/72 scale Willow Run bomber plant in the museum. This will be quite an undertaking, filling a room about 44' x 20", with more than one hundred model B-24s in various states of assembly. All of the steel work, work stations, and moving lines will be reproduced. My question to you fellow modelers is: I need a very shiny (brand new aluminum} finish on these aircraft under construction. Something that will reflect light, to show how new it is (and to show up under the invariably dusty plexiglass). Bear in mind, that, after construction they will be in a BIG plexiglass case with (hopefully) little more handling. We need something that will go on somewhat easily, with a minimum of finishing work. All but a few will be devoid of any markings, so that should be not pose a problem with decals. Some aircraft, nearest the glass will be detailed, while those in the middle will be less detailed. I'll try out any suggestion (I just finished a session with Alclad 2 - Chrome to present to the grand poobah for his opinion). So we're trying out everything - I'm gluing pieces of aluminum foil to a test fuselage tomorrow - so keep those suggestions coming in. Oh yeah, if you have any unwanted 1/72 B-24 Kits laying around, I can get you a deed of gift so you can use them as a donation to an authentic 501(c)3 charity Kos Dwight Koslowski Restoration Department Long Range Planning Comm. Yankee Air Museum Belleville, Michigan Since you want something simple,and knowing that the general public aren't usually modelers,perhaps you might consider something like testors silver spray?It won't win a contest,but will look good enough under glass,and would make for a quickie build program... > I've been gone a long while, playing with the 1:1 airplanes, and still > see a lot of familiar names , but I'm back with news of a large and [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > Yankee Air Museum > Belleville, Michigan > Since you want something simple,and knowing that the general public > aren't usually modelers,perhaps you might consider something like > testors silver spray? Not silver...Testors Chrome. Testor's silver bad, chrome good. Pat > I've been gone a long while, playing with the 1:1 airplanes, and still > see a lot of familiar names , but I'm back with news of a large and [quoted text clipped - 37 lines] > Yankee Air Museum > Belleville, Michigan I'd stick to the Alclad or similar. I have given up on foiling whole aircraft or large areas. Foil is fine for small areas but not for large ones. Alclad goes on easily over gloss black paint. Just make sure it is a wet coat so it is really shiny. I prefer enamel as it is shiny out of the can with no polishing. Use either chrome or polished aluminum- probably the latter. The chrome is actually TOO good a finish. It does look more like chromed steel than mill-finished aluminum. > The chrome is actually TOO good a finish. It > does look more like chromed steel than mill-finished aluminum. > They look pretty shiny in these Willow Run photos: http://www.acepilots.com/planes/b24_willow_run.jpg http://www.countdowntokittyhawk.com/gallery/images/bombers_willowrun.jpg Pat on 1/22/2008 12:11 AM Kos said the following: > I've been gone a long while, playing with the 1:1 airplanes, and still > see a lot of familiar names , but I'm back with news of a large and [quoted text clipped - 38 lines] > Belleville, Michigan > Don't forget 'Rub-n-Buff', and 'Treasure Gold' in the silver color available at arts and crafts stores.  SignatureBill In Hamptonburgh, NY To email, remove the double zeroes after @ > Don't forget 'Rub-n-Buff', and 'Treasure Gold' in the silver color > available at arts and crafts stores. I can see one big problem here, and that's the fact that the models are going to get handled a lot during the construction of the diorama, so their finish needs to be tough to avoid fingerprints while things are getting put together. this could have a delayed-action effect as fingerprints start to show weeks after construction is finished due to corrosion from moisture and salts on the skin of those handling the models. Pat on 1/22/2008 11:29 AM Pat Flannery said the following: >> Don't forget 'Rub-n-Buff', and 'Treasure Gold' in the silver color >> available at arts and crafts stores. [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > > Pat Surgical gloves work well in preventing fingerprints. SignatureBill In Hamptonburgh, NY To email, remove the double zeroes after @ > My question to you fellow modelers is: I need a very shiny (brand new > aluminum} finish on these aircraft under construction. Something [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > glass will be detailed, while those in the middle will be less > detailed. I have no idea whether it will work well with plastic or look good enough, but I've gotten a shiny, durable finish on model rockets with the Rustoleum Chrome. I used it from a spray can, but I'll bet it will look better applied by an airbrush. It's probably available as straight paint if you look hard enough. Cheers, Dave Ambrose Thanks for all of the suggestions. Of course the first suggestion, from EYEBALL, about Testor's Metallic Silver spray was my first choice as well. It wasn't favored because it "didn't look new enough". Don's suggestion of Alclad-2 Chrome has also been tried. I used Krylon Lacquer as a base coat. I was told it would be harder, and stand up to handling better. I've used alclad over Testor's Black enamel, and the finish was "soft" and the shine rubbed off easily. Like Don said, it did come out like chromed steel. Of course, this may not be as shiny under a plexiglas cover. We'll see how the test piece is rated. I'll foil a test piece with Baremetal, and kitchen foil, too. I just want to see how to do it. I've always wanted to lay foil over all of those rivets that Airfix/MPC molded in. Pat, I tried the testor's Chrome (spray can) and it looked almost as good as the Alclad. A couple of light coats and it was done. Easiest and best finish yet (in my opinion). We've got dozens of those old Willow Run photos and we use them as our guides. In fact, one of our group built that structure by the starboard wing in the photo from your link, Dave, Will that Rustoleum Chrome attack plastic? Rub & Buff was mentioned several times by our group, but like you guys said, handling will always be a problem. I don't think we'll be going that route because this is supposed to be a long-time exhibit. I tried Tamiya Gloss Aluminum Spray. This is a perfect match...for plastic from any kit molded in silver-gray! Not a solution, for sure. I know there have been a lot of magazine articles about natural metal finishes, but they never consider building a multitude if aircraft that need to have uniform finishes. That's our problem for now. After that comes all of the questions about casting hundreds of parts, so be ready. We've got about 3-4 years to get this done. We're going modular, so we can finish it a piece at a time. I'll get an album on our Fotki site going once we get some pieces together. There will be a link on the Yankee Air Museum website. http://www.yankeeairmuseum.org/ Keep those suggestions rolling in Kos Dwight Koslowski Westland, Michigan |
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