What's new
Van's Air Force

Don't miss anything! Register now for full access to the definitive RV support community.

Paint to simulate polished aluminum

Hey folks,

My RV-8 was painted by the previous owner. Not only is it time for a re-paint, but he was a Marine and painted it as such, and I can't be seen flying that as an Air Force guy, right!?

My paint guy tells me that the aluminum underneath can't be recovered to the point where it can be polished again. So has anyone found a paint that looks reasonably similar to polished aluminum?
 
Something like the 2012 Corvette Switchblade Silver, base and clear coat? Add BMW Lemans Metallic Blue for trim to make it pretty.

This will look a lot better than aluminum - but perhaps that is not what you are going for.

Carl
 
Hey folks,

My RV-8 was painted by the previous owner. Not only is it time for a re-paint, but he was a Marine and painted it as such, and I can't be seen flying that as an Air Force guy, right!?

My paint guy tells me that the aluminum underneath can't be recovered to the point where it can be polished again. So has anyone found a paint that looks reasonably similar to polished aluminum?

Nothing with particles will match the mirror quality of bare metal. You could try silvering over polished paint, then clearcoat-cut-buff.
 
Last edited:
My paint guy tells me that the aluminum underneath can't be recovered to the point where it can be polished again. So has anyone found a paint that looks reasonably similar to polished aluminum?

First off, your paint guy is probably wrong, unless there's something special about how your plane was prepped before it was painted. Being a paint guy, he probably wants to get the job to do the next paint job. :)

The people at Perfect Polish are at Oshkosh every year, and have demonstration panels that are painted at one end and show the progression of stripping, compounding, and polishing to bring back the mirror shine. The cost, effort, and time to do this on a whole airplane, however, is insane.

Check out Superchrome for Superchrome and Hydrachrome options. They are out there. I have *no* idea what kind of durability you can expect from these, but if they give even a "good" shine that is consistently "good" without any maintenance different than what you'd give regular paint, it would be worth it's weight in... well... chrome. :)

Also search YouTube for "easy chrome" for some impressive videos showing application and finish. It's popular on cars, people are painting entire vehicles. It should be possible to find review threads on automotive forums where people discuss durability.
 
Last edited:
First off, your paint guy is probably wrong, unless there's something special about how your plane was prepped before it was painted. Being a paint guy, he probably wants to get the job to do the next paint job. :)

The people at Perfect Polish are at Oshkosh every year, and have demonstration panels that are painted at one end and show the progression of stripping, compounding, and polishing to bring back the mirror shine. The cost, effort, and time to do this on a whole airplane, however, is insane.

Check out Superchrome for Superchrome and Hydrachrome options. They are out there. I have *no* idea what kind of durability you can expect from these, but if they give even a "good" shine that is consistently "good" without any maintenance different than what you'd give regular paint, it would be worth it's weight in... well... chrome. :)

Also search YouTube for "easy chrome" for some impressive videos showing application and finish. It's popular on cars, people are painting entire vehicles. It should be possible to find review threads on automotive forums where people discuss durability.

Really interesting spray chrome option. I'd love to hear about durability.

I asked a couple of paint shops the same thing(stripping and polishing), and they all said, while not impossible, if it was prepped properly for paint, it would be a lot of work do get all the scratches out to get a good shine.

Here are two options mentioned. 2009 Blade Silver Metallic Corvette Z06 (right) next to a 2008 Machine Silver Corvette (left). I really like the Machine Silver. Looks similar to the old chevy silver birch.
 

Attachments

  • Blade vs Machine.JPG
    Blade vs Machine.JPG
    35.5 KB · Views: 236
Check out Superchrome for Superchrome and Hydrachrome options. They are out there. I have *no* idea what kind of durability you can expect from these, but if they give even a "good" shine that is consistently "good" without any maintenance different than what you'd give regular paint, it would be worth it's weight in... well... chrome. :)

Very interesting. Their "hydrachrome" process is basically what I suggested: paint, silver, paint. To be clear, this is not a process where you spray pigment particles inside a resin. Instead, you use the first layer of paint as a mirror backing, then chemically deposit a silver mirror from a silver nitrate solution, then seal with a clearcoat so it doesn't tarnish. The quality of the visual effect will depend on the polish of the first layer of paint, so you'd have to cut&buff the entire airplane twice to make it look like polished aluminum--but you could make the fiberglass mirrored as well (then make a custom canopy out of one-way-mirror acrylic stock...). The interesting twist here is that one could add dye (not pigment) to the topcoat to make a colored mirror in any hue. I once saw a golden-mirror ferrari on a freeway here once and wondered if that's how they did it.

The durability will depend on the type of topcoat. An acrylic clear will not keep the shine for very long if left out in the sun. You could try your own process with a polysiloxane epoxy clear (PPG PSX700); that would last fifty years in direct sunlight with negligible UV damage, but any color-changing dyes inside the clear would probably bleach after a while.

Edit: looking at the complexity of the process I'm guessing the cost would be prohibitive for the entire airplane.
 
Last edited:
polish vs paint

I also wanted to polish, but talking to so many people that have polished that said that they were tired of it, and wanted to paint, convinced me that probably I should go with paint.

I didn't get fancy, just chose a color that looks like aluminum. I think it turned out great, and I got this shot yesterday with the sun that I liked.

IMG_3025.jpg
 
Last edited:
That silver looks pretty good! I'd also be interested in the code if you know and would be willing to share it.
Thanks for the kind words. I think the paint shop did a great job with it. In the image below please find the codes they gave me - not sure if this is useful, but they seemed to think someone that knows paint would understand them.

IMG_3037.jpg
 
Wrap it - Avery and 3M both make chrome wraps

How do the shiny (chrome and the like) wraps look when stretched to fit a curve? I'm planning on wrapping most of my plane when I get to it, and I've had some good luck with solid colors like red and white on small curved parts so far.

I was thinking about using a chrome wrap for my spinner but another pilot who wrapped an RV-14 said that he thought the metallic colors started to show something like stretch marks when you pull them tightly to wrap curved surfaces, and didn't use them.
 
Sorry but gotta say it . . .
Real men fly polished airplanes.

Yes, it takes work, time, and some skill.
But nothing like the beauty of polished aluminum.
Becomes a zen kind of thing after a while.
Recommend it if you can.
 
Somewhere around 2001 on, Nissan had a silver for the 350Z called “Liquid Aluminum”. It was pretty amazing as I recall.
 
How do the shiny (chrome and the like) wraps look when stretched to fit a curve? I'm planning on wrapping most of my plane when I get to it, and I've had some good luck with solid colors like red and white on small curved parts so far.

I was thinking about using a chrome wrap for my spinner but another pilot who wrapped an RV-14 said that he thought the metallic colors started to show something like stretch marks when you pull them tightly to wrap curved surfaces, and didn't use them.

Bruce Eicher wrapped his wheel pants and I think some other parts that were pretty curved with chrome vinyl. It came out looking great.
 
Sorry but gotta say it . . .
Real men fly polished airplanes.

Yes, it takes work, time, and some skill.
But nothing like the beauty of polished aluminum.
Becomes a zen kind of thing after a while.
Recommend it if you can.

I'd be more than happy to have a maintain a polished aircraft. But restoring it to that condition is variably said to be either impossible or cost prohibitive. So the "if you can" portion of your recommendation is questionable for me. Hopefully that restores some of my masculinity in your eyes, internet stranger.
 
Chrome Paint

3-names come to mind:
Spectrachrome-looks they have some issues with their honesty

Cosmichrome-Wow

Pchrome cheaper alternative

I've bought some small rattle cans from a hobby supply: Spaz Stix

Spaz Stix is a three part mix and makes almost anything look like chrome. No polishing with this stuff. Not sure if they sell bigger amounts than their 3.5oz cans.

Base coat is black backer, then the mirror chrome, final is clear coat, have to use all three to get correct look.

Please check out the reviews and comments about the first three. Some people like them, a few don't.

Almost forgot: I have a liquid chrome 1-part liquid. Molotow Technology from an art store on-line. Once again don't know if they sell by the gallon, but I have used this on some paper airplane model parts. It looks like real chrome.

I'm creating a rubber band powered Boeing P26a Peashooter using special paper, planning on using a "chrome" propeller for display using the Molotow on it. The flight propeller is a silver metal flake paper that almost works for the chrome look. The Pratt & Whitney R1340 up front will be removable for display, want an actual chrome prop when in display mode. R1340 engine model is basically done, waiting on weight and balance to add lead fishing weights as the intakes, to balance model for flight.

Mike
 
Last edited:
Back
Top