Natural Aluminum Finish

[Gil]

Originally Posted by mbauer

Wow, that really looks good! What aluminum did you print on? foil or an actual sheet? How thick?

Mike

Mike, It was printed on a 8.5" x 11" sheet of Aluminum Clad cardstock - the tutorial on how to make it is here. It is regular kitchen aluminum foil prepared with my homemade inkjet coating.

Originally Posted by John Bowden

Gil......... what was your solution or gluing?

John, It's "Loctite Super Glue, Ultra Gel Control". It is the first super glue that I'd recommend for general purpose use around the house. The aluminum needs to be clean prior to glue application. The setup time is long enough to position everything nicely prior to it setting. The bond is rugged and doesn't fail in the same way as run of the mill super glue - it is a flexible yet rugged bond. Having anodized surfaces will further improve the bond strength...,

-Gil

[thepaperguy]

IF there was enough interest and pre orders of the red river substitute I could possibly get it ordered and have it cut into 50 sheet packs of 11x17 or 8.5x11 sheets. I believe it is a bit thicker that the original red river paper.

[Gil]

Below are a couple of images showing the point where I decided to move on with a pure aluminum approach instead of the paper + aluminum shown;

I came to the conclusion that high resolution color printing on real aluminum was the best solution to achieve models exhibiting natural aluminum finish. A secondary reason is the ability to imitate panels through the stacking of thin aluminum + paper panels and access hatches on the top of the compound curved aluminum substrate (panels are attached prior to working the compound curves into the base aluminum). Re-read this several times and look at the photos above until the idea sinks in...,

-Gil

P.S. The "Truncated Cones" problem is solved using "Compound Curves" forming with this method.

[mbauer]

To form the compound curves, will you be burnishing them into the aluminum?

Mike

[Gil]

Originally Posted by mbauer

To form the compound curves, will you be burnishing them into the aluminum?

Mike

Hi Mike,

Yes. The aluminum sheet is burnished against a soft backing pad to work in the curves - it is somewhat similar to the use of the English Wheel in making compound curves.

-Gil

[richkat]

Originally Posted by thepaperguy

IF there was enough interest and pre orders of the red river substitute I could possibly get it ordered and have it cut into 50 sheet packs of 11x17 or 8.5x11 sheets. I believe it is a bit thicker that the original red river paper.

I know I will be interested.........Rich

[RyanShort1]

Oh wow. That is workmanship.

[Kevin WS]

Has anyone considered using an aluminium spray in certain cases?

[Gil]

Originally Posted by Kevin WS

Has anyone considered using an aluminium spray in certain cases?

Hi Kevin,

Metaillic spray paint was tried here. The attendant fumes are not for the blissfully inclined.

In the end it is extremely difficult to "fake" an aluminum surface. One has to remember that the original intent was to build a model that looks something like the full scale subject - getting sidetracked on making things look like real aluminum can be prohibitive to that original intent...,

-Gil

[Kevin WS]

Thanks Gil. And for the link to the thread - very interesting!