Any tips on painting silver, chrome or metallic paints

I am building an Estes Protostar and want to paint it some kind of silver or metallic.
Any tips? I heard it is harder to get good results.
I think I heard somewhere that you should paint it black first.
If so would that be a flat or gloss black?
Sure could use some advice

Black undercoat helps but if you ever plan on touching it with your hands or want to put a clear or something on top, forget it. It'll turn dull grey.

heada said:

Black undercoat helps but if you ever plan on touching it with your hands or want to put a clear or something on top, forget it. It'll turn dull grey.

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In my relatively limited experience with silver paint, it does *not* turn dull grey when clear-coated. It looks different, but still good and metallic.

It's very hard to show in pictures; this is the best one I could find. Silver bits here are all Future-covered:

Click to expand; you can definitely see the metallic sparkle in the silver areas.

Biggest thing I've found, at least with the Rustoleum Stops Rust Silver which is what I've used so far, is to apply several *thin* coats. It runs easily and is tricky to get on really evenly. Just takes practice.

I have not used the 2X Silver.

Not to steal your post but what do I need to do to get neon colors to look good. It seems like a whole can is used and it still does not cover right.

I’ve used chrome paint but you can’t wet sand it as stated, it turns grey. Basically from my experience, spray it on and don’t touch it.

Tamiya Mica-Silver

I used Krylon Premium Metallic Pewter Gray on my DeathStar.

Paint white under neon colors. Silver done the Testors Model Master Chrome silver. The most durable silver I have ever sprayed was Imron, had lots of metal flake in it. But does not look like chrome.

Spree610 said:

I used Krylon Premium Metallic Pewter Gray on my DeathStar.

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I've had good luck with "Ultra Silver Metallic" by DupliColor PerfectMatch, covered by same brand's clear coat.
Pros: easy to work with, dries super-fast, readily available from AutoZone, or online. Does not wrinkle, or alligator-skin, even when applied by the most inept of painters (yours truly).
Cons: stinks a little above average, costs about 3x vs. rattle cans from HomeDepot or Wallmart.


Looks like the picture below when done.
I used mate clear-coat on top of silver on this Little Joe II.
No primer was used when coating the plastic wrap with silver paint:

"Chrome" paint is difficult because it won't look right if you clearcoat it and will be ruined by fingerprints if you don't clearcoat it.

Normal silver paint is really just metallic gray and is no different than any other metallic color.

Nathan said:

"Chrome" paint is difficult because it won't look right if you clearcoat it and will be ruined by fingerprints if you don't clearcoat it.

Normal silver paint is really just metallic gray and is no different than any other metallic color.

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Nate how does a guy paint the neon colors?

I did a quintstar in Chrome and used a black undercoat, it came out really well.

crossfire said:

Nate how does a guy paint the neon colors?

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Sorry, I have no experience with neon colors. But my understanding is that they won't look as flourescent if they are clear coated.

Chrome trim Monokote can do most of it, but the compound curves of the nose will require some seams.

swatkat said:

I did a quintstar in Chrome and used a black undercoat, it came out really well.

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Pics?

One of the things to remember about the undercoat... Gloss is smooth, flat has a texture. If it has too much of a texture, the pigment particles will collect in the low spots, and you'll end up with a blotchy appearance.

Thanks for all the responses. Sounds like a gloss coat of black first.
Think I will experiment with that DupliColor Perfect match brand on some spare tubes and see how it comes out.

I recently had good success with Rustoleum chrome spray. It takes several days to harden enough to touch. Like others have said, coat very lightly several times since the chrome seems to run more readily. Then don’t touch it for probably an entire week.

Oh. I sprayed over normal grey primer.

https://alsacorp.com/product/killer-chrome/
buy the Killer cans. You get what you pay for.

This is Rustoleum 2X Metallic Silver sprayed over Rustoleum Filler Primer with a chrome nose cone thrown in so you can see the difference. The metallic silver has not been clear coated yet but I will be spraying some Krylon UV-Resistant Clear over it for protection purposes.



-Bob

The only silver I’ve had good luck with is the Dupli-Color as stated above. It also seems to be far more sensitive to ambient temps and humidity. Too humid and it’s splotchy, too dry and you get powdering. I’ve found temps in the 80’s with relative humidity of 40-60% seem to work best. (But that’s probably true of any spray paint.) I’ve waited weeks for the right conditions to paint. Also used the dark gray DC primer as well.

Good luck!


Tony

I picked up a can of this at Hobby Lobby.



It was a little pricey, but looks pretty good as long as you let it dry for a week or two.
When I use it, I lay down a nice coat of gloss black and let it dry for several days before spraying the silver. The silver is laid down in many very thin coats because it tends to run if it's sprayed to heavily. Unfortunately, it does grey a bit over time but it looks a little better than most. I've never tried a clear coat over it, so I can't comment on the effects it would have. I assume it would react the same as most silvers

I working on a MicroMaxx build that called for a silver color.

These pics are of an old can of Dupli-Color "Bumper Chrome" from the auto parts store.







Here I attempted to show the luster by holding a pair of tweezers next to the fin. You can see the reflection on the fin to the left. It's not the shadow.

That is pretty darn good. It's not gloss chrome, but it a very smooth metallic.

Alclad metallic paints are the best I've found. Airbrushed over a gloss black base, they're absolutely beautiful.

There seems to be a very fine line between applying the paint heavy enough so it wets the whole surface and getting runs/sags. I could've swore I'd get a sag with how heavy I put it on but it leveled out nicely. I tried light misty coats but it just ended up kind of dappled looking.

Make sure the surface is smooth as silver will only bring out any flaw. A plastic modelling tip as it's sometimes used as a base coat.

Nathan said:

Sorry, I have no experience with neon colors. But my understanding is that they won't look as flourescent if they are clear coated.

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Flourescent paints don't carry a lot of pigment, so a white undercoat is required to establish a nice bright flourescent finish. However, flourescent paints have a flat or chalky surface, and are fragile. To protect them with clearcoat, the first several coats of clearcoat should be light mist from a greater distance than normal--you want the clear to dry almost immediately upon contact with the flourescent, without soaking in. Let the clear dry thoroughly before the next mist coat. After several coats of clear have been applied in this fashion, the surface is now "sealed" by the light coats of clear, and you can proceed to apply heavier coats of clear to get the final finish.

If the initial clear coat is applied in what we would consider a normal wet coat, it soaks into the flourescent and turns it non-flourescent.

Nathan said:

"Chrome" paint is difficult because it won't look right if you clearcoat it and will be ruined by fingerprints if you don't clearcoat it.

Normal silver paint is really just metallic gray and is no different than any other metallic color.

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Any suggestion for getting rid of fingerprints on chrome paint? Other than repainting?