The pictures below are of my tail cones for my new F-18. They are covered with Flite Metal and then weathered using colored chalks.

My question is do most of you who have done weathering on Flite Metal follow up by clear coating the Flite Metal covering to seal the weathering effect so it does not get rubbed off?

Thanks in advance for any help[&:], Gary

Gary, I used an airbrush for the weathering and then we sponged the whole thing with Future Floor Polish. Look close at the gun residue and around the exhausts. Sorry its not a Jet but the technique is the same.

Gary,
Don't clear it unless you want it to look like an average painted tail cone!! You will lose the look of real aluminum in my opinion.

Flite Metal is like a living thing, let it age, it will look better with time. It will also weather on it's own. You can easily clean it off and reapply the chalk if it gets smudged. You will find that just normal amounts of dirt will get caught in the panel lines, this will look really good. I feel for the ultimate metal finish keep sanding it past 1000 grit.

See you at ohio??

Terry, thanks for the picture and information. Nice looking P-47!!

Dustin, losing the metal effect is what I thought might happen but I thought I would ask to see what others had done. I guess I will need to keep it out of the rain also; my puppy dog drooled on the tailcone yesterday and made some of the chalk smear a little.

I only sanded the Flite Metal on the tail cone with one of the red 3M pads to dull it which sounds like it is not nearly fine enough to obtain the best metal effect. What kind of progression do you recommend for sandpaper grit in order to work your way to 1000 grit?

i.e. start at 320, then use 600 then 800 and finish with 1000, etc. Something like this?

Maybe you can give me a quick tutorial at Heart of Ohio? I will be there Thursday through Sunday. Look forward to seeing you there. Thanks again for the help, Gary

Gary,
You got it on the sanding! Maybe add 400 in there. The goal is to get the ripples out of it without sanding through the Al around the edges. So take your time, use the paper wet. Don't get crazy with the 320 or 400 around the rear edges of the tail cones. You can also use a very small amount, very small, of polish on a rag. Then apply it where you want them darker. Oil, grease would work too. Then wipe them off as much as you can with a cotton rag. This will be almost un "smudgable". If you don't like the effect, just rub it down with the 1000 grit again.

As terry said, you could get out the airbrush with some flat black. Spray the panel lines lightly, then come back with some 800-1000 grit to remove some of the black and to fade it a bit.

Now are you sure that was the dog drooling on the tail cones??

Nah.........That was Gary in anticipation of the first flights!!!!!!!

Gary,

Last year I covered a Mustang in Flite Metal, weathered it with chalks, and clear coated it with Lusterkote flat clear. The below pictures show the results.

Kirk