The Little World

There is an El Dorado for all of us.

The Spanish Conquistadors looked for a Golden Man. I am not as ambitious – I will settle for a silver airplane.

I am driven by memories of shining jets and passenger liners of the great travel age. Not now, when everyone can be crammed into a plastic cabin and flown everywhere…I mean the years when air travel was exclusive and rare, and the big silver birds flew.

Once my search found Humbrol silver enamel in tiny pots, Pactra silver enamel in square glass bottles, and any number of acrylic paints borne upon a variety of vehicles.

I toyed with buffable metallics before I knew they were buffable, and wondered why they came off on my fingers. I watched hobbyists spray bottle after bottle of expensive metal clads, and listened to their tales of woe. And then I discovered Mr Color Super Metallics.

I did not cotton to these immediately as they were double the price of the standard lacquers, and that was more than the water-based paints. But I took the plunge with one bottle of stainless steel finish and fell in love instantly. I’ve since stocked up on steel, iron, super silver, and now bright duralumin. They have only to invent another silver shade and I buy it.

But I am not just a fan-boy. I have experimented with how to apply it and evolved a system:

a. Thin with regular thinner or rapid thinner; don’t use levelling thinner. This seems counter-intuitive but the trick is to get the vehicle to evaporate fast from the silver and not stay pooled long enough to disturb under-layers.

b. Spray a thin dust coat over white undercoat to begin with and let it set for 15 minutes. It will key in the next two coats.

c. Spray your next colour coat wetter, but still not entirely flooding the surface. when in doubt, go lighter and keep your gun in constant motion.

d. Spray the finish coat wetter still and go for an entire coat at the same reflectivity before you cease with the gun.

And here is the surprise for me: that last coat done with the mist from a single-action gun with a relatively big needle size makes all the difference. The coat blends and the whole becomes even. The drying time is fast, but smart money puts the kit away for two hours at least with no finger poking.

Those who weather everything into submission will sneer at my mirror finish on working aircraft, but the images taken of some commercial mail ships in the 30’s will bear it out.