Metallized paper

[Darwin]

I ran across another source for metallized (aluminized) paper. When having my afternoon snack of Pepperidge Farms cookies, I noticed that the inside liner of the package was aluminized paper. After carefully cutting open the packaging, I had an approximately letter-sized sheet of very thin, aluminized paper just perfect for laminating to cardstock. Only downside is that the paper has a waffle pattern lightly embossed into it. (Upside, perfect if one wishes to construct a political platform.) It may be possible to iron it out....however, she-who-must-be-obeyed threatens instant death if I come within 10 feet of her steam iron (she never is going to forget a slight mishap with iron-on transfers).

[Fishcarver]

Buy your own Iron at a garage sale! 2 or 3 bucks, and you've got yourself an instant hot press for laminations, too!!
Cheers!
El Fisho

[Gil]

Request For Information,

Has anyone used Canford Frosted Silver paper card paper. I haven't been able to find the Letraset card in the U.S. The Canford stock seems to be very similar from the descriptions. What say all of you?

Best regards, Gil

[wunwinglow]

Hi Gil, yes, I've tried the Canford papers. They laser print quite nicely, although the colour inks flaked off very easily, as usual! I got some quite nice graded tones using a black laser though. Inkjet was less successful, but I didn't spray it with acrylic varnish beforehand, so I will try that. The ink took ages to dry, and 'bobbled' into thin, wragged lines. The papers themselves are very nice, but have a definite paper texture to them. I still have yet to find anything as good as the Letraset inkjet stuff I mentioned elsewhere.

Tim P

[Gil]

Tim,

I found what would make the ideal paper but unfortunately it was embossed. It's from a company that caters to scrapbooking. The site is:

www.francesmeyer.com

Look under satin metallic. The product was manufactured in China which might give us an idea of where to look next.

Brings up a good point though..., you can't really buy this stuff over the internet. You have to physically "see" the stuff to make the correct judgement call.

Best regards, Gil

P.S. 1.) The aluminum coated packaging does have the right look. Anyone have an idea of how to get some of this without a forklift and a flatcar?
2.) I've bought a few sheets of the Canford and will give it a light coat of PVA sealer before inkjeting on it.

[Square]

where is the Letraset sold or made at?
Square

[Fishcarver]

http://www.artistsupplies.com/ COLOURS (Lewis Art Supply) in Winnipeg carries the Canford Frosted Silver cardstock. It is in their on-line catalogue. It sells over the counter for $Cdn0.70 per sheet, or $17.00 per pack of 25 sheets. I have used it on the "white" version of a Dewoitine 510: it works well: make sure that if you have a "allow dry time" setting on your inkjet printer to activate this!
Fishcarver

[Gil]

Another source is:

http://www.islandblue.com/catalogue.cfm?MAIN_ID=3&SUB_ID=17&PRODUCT_ID=920&set_client=US

Best, Gil

[wunwinglow]

Square, I get it from my local graphic art supply shop here in Bristol, United Kingdom. They usually have to order it from Letraset. Gil has tried to find a US-based distributor, with no luck so far. If you want a pack or two sent over, let me know and I can pick some up for you. It is about £12.00 ($20) a pack of 20 sheets, A4 size. They do A3 size too, but I'll have to ask about the price on that! If you wanted trade quantities, I don't know who you would contact. I didn't get much luck with the company here in the UK!

Tim P

[Sticky Fingers]

A perfect use for metalized paper. Print aircraft models on a laser jet and then when the toner flakes off you can always just say it is "weathering" :lol: :lol: :lol:

That is assuming the aircraft where originally aluminum to start with

[wunwinglow]

Ha Ha! And there's me, spending the last two evenings trying to work out how to get CorelDraw to generate random scratches on my paintwork!! The answer was right in front of me all the time!!

Nice one, Centurion, nice one....

SHADDUP!!!

Marvellous race, the Romans.....

Tim P

[Square]

Thanx 1 Low
Wing
But I am looking at and for quantity for all of us. Over here. Gil I am making some major calls around to all my old Publishing company associates and tracking stuff down now. I should have some answers soon. I am also loooking at a possability of metalized inks for our BJ printers to. Just at this point so far I don't care for the idea of having to put in a tank of cleaner solution after every print. stuff will dry harden in the jets. from what I am understanding at this point?
Square

[Gil]

Square,

I've put out requests to see if there's any interest in suppplying an alternate source to Letraset. Letraset seems to have a problem listening to their customers especially here in the U.S. as they use a sales rep organization that is on the verge of being less than worthless (sorry if anyone happens to be that rep). I've also put out some feelers with friends in China (where the stuff is actually made) to see if there's a way to drum up some activity. We'll just have to keep at till someone wakes up the fact that their just might be a nascent market opportunity here.

I looked into substitute cartridges for inkjet printers some time ago and found that the ink companies don't want to have anything to do with it. Has to do with product liability and other frightening legal stuff. The reason for the investigation was to produce white ink for water slide decals. I finally mixed up my own and have had good success in producing limited runs of decals for myself and friends. Problem with making a business out of it was the number of different ink cartridges and the vast and asundry ways software drivers treat images. Now try and integrate metallized inks into inkjet print drivers and you've got yourself an interesting problem for Operations Research types not to mention the legal fees resulting from ongoing operations..., well I digress. Let's just find a reliable source of card stock that looks like aluminum when fashioned into a model and call it a day.

Best regards, Gil

P.S. Ordered 50 sheets of Red River silver metallic paper. Kodak also makes a similar paper.

[Square]

sounds like the guy you were talking to. was looking at you from just above his shirt collar and talking out of his 3rd button down. :shock: oh yea and with total terror on his face. Always amazes me, that in the USA that a new idea is tottally frowned upon. Unless you do it, and most importantly, become a huge success from it. Then your exactly what all americans are. Never did understand this concept.At least we are no longer teaching our children that the railroad is coming, We teach them that it is connected with the gold spike now. :roll:
Square

[Sticky Fingers]

Its not that a new idea is frowned upon so much as businesses are totally fixated on the next quarters earnings report. Perhaps one of us is willing to do this on his own. Or our good fiends at Lighthouse Models or Digital Navy might be willing to tackle it.

[Gil]

Hello All,

Received the shipment of Canford Frosted Silver today..., Tim's right about the paper grain showing through. It will suffice for prototype builds but isn't up to the satin mettalic mentioned earlier. An order from Red River of their silver metallic should arrive shortly. Will report on that when it arrives.

Anyone else have any luck so far?

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Hello Everyone,

Received the Red River shipment today. This is Red River's "Metallic Silver .006" Item Number 1300. It's sold in 50 sheet boxes.

First take on this product is that it has the surface grain appearence of photographic paper whereas the Canford looks like cardstock that's been covered with aluminum paint. It's meant to be used with inkjet printers which is a change from the Canford Frosted Silver paper. Red River includes a cover sheet with suggested settings for the major inkjet brands which is a nice touch. All printing instructions end with "allow extra time to dry" which is fairly standard for high gloss inkjet surfaces. I applied a lite spray of matte acylic finish which actually improved the "aluminum effect". The Canford needs to be sprayed also after printing. "Gloss" acrylic sealer might not be a bad choice for sealing the Frotsted Silver (close up the grain and bring up the specular reflection a bit).

After investigations I have come to the conclusion that the Frances Meyer cardstock (without embossing of course and which is not available of course...,) is the most suitable for card modeling. I'll call them as all emails are being returned as being undeliverable.

Best regards, Gil

[cecil_severs]

My experience with the Red River product is that it mars pretty easily during the build process. That's ok for very meticulous builders. For me the Canford works very well since it can be pretty badly abused and still not show it. Here's a link to a review I did on the FG PT-16 a couple of years ago.

http://www.cardmodelers.org/severs2.html

Cecil

[Gil]

Cecil,

The FG PT-16 build was my source for obtaining the Canford (a belated thank you).

The Red River seems to be fairly robust as I've been putting both through various torture tests. It does need to be sprayed after printing as the surface coating is water soluble and degrades quickly with handling if it isn't. You have to see the Frances Meyer Satin Metallic to really appreciate the surface as regards card models. I was finally able to get an email (plus all the others that I thought hadn't been sent suddenly were sent for some obscure reason). Have to wait and see if they think it's legitimate or another piece of internet spam.

Thanks for your help...., have any other suggestions for the "Real Aluminum Card Quest" while we'er at it?

Best regards, Gil

[Square]

Wow
trying to get this in a small quantity is a little harder than anticipated. the A4 and stock that needs to be cut. the prices all start at .50 a sheet for the first 500 and then goes to .01 and thats just for cutting it :( .. Gil is having better luck with the metallic paper than I ... anyone live in Washington? close to the paper plant there? the bigger plants do funding with the universities for making things with paper. like bike races... maybe we could get them to come to our boards and talk to us.......
ok maybe in 3 years :)
Square

[Gil]

Square it's nice to have company....,

Reviewing Darwin's original post resulted in my looking more closely at food packaging. I've found that what we're probably looking for isn't paper but a layered film with one of the surfaces being composed of aluminum. I suspect that it's a composite of polyethylene (for ease of closure), mylar (for rugedness) and aluminum (as a vapor seal). I'm including a photograph showing to some effect the visual properties of this material. Now to see if it can be bonded to card stock or better yet to find some enterprising manufacturer that has this available in their product folio.

Knowing what you're looking for does help...., A LOT!

Best regards, Gil

P.S. After further examination it was discovered that the material does have a paper layer after all!

(Photo no longer available for viewing)

[Sticky Fingers]

It should bond to card stock with spray adhesive. But the trick will be just how well will it print. :? :?

[Gil]

Hello All,

Finally found the right name for the product. ALUMINUM FOIL PAPER...., the following is from a Chinese website. The quote terms are on a 20 MT basis. Thaaaaaaat's right 20 Metric Tons! Now to trace down a user that has scraps to sell off. It has what appears to be a water activated acrylic glue backing for laminating..., nice, very nice.

Best regards, Gil

Description Of Self Adhesive Aluminum Foil Paper
Product Name: Self Adhesive Aluminum Foil Paper
Model Number: YY-771
Place of Origin: China
Specifications:
1)Face paper: 80g flat-silver gloss aluminum foil paper
2)Bottom paper: 95g yellow bottom anti-stick paper
3)Glue water: acrylate emulsion adhesive
4)Weight: 210g/sqm
5)Specification:
a) Sheets: (10 x 10 – 78.7 x 109.2cm)
b) Rolls: (6 – 109.2cm)
6)Packaging: sheets in cartons, rolls in woven bags or cardboard
7)Main uses: facture non-drying brands and adhesive labels
8)Supply capacity: long-term supply without limit
9)Delivery period: on basis of 20MT/7 days
10)Remarks: face paper, bottom paper adhesive and packaging at client's option

[Square]

Gil
I will jump into my Geo Metro and be right over to pick it all up at once <G> ok so how much is a metric ton ($) (not weight)
and how much to ship it <G>
let me guess after you stopped coughing you didnt bother :)


I think we are back to figuring out how and what to laminate
anyone try using both sides of Reynolds wrap?
Square

[Gil]

Hello All,

Square, don't laugh but the following photograph shows some experiments regarding regular old Reynolds Wrap (common name for Aluminum foil) in an effort to make Aluminum Foil Paper.

I First had to find a glue that would bond the foil to the paper backing. After going through what I thought should work (and didn't) I found that Alene's tacky glue worked extremely well. I experimented with first bonding a light layer of 24# bond paper to the foil to minimize glue use and drying time (see #3.) below). After drying the paper can be bonded to the desired weight card stock. The foil was worked on a pane of glass with a cotton napkin and finger tip action to smooth out any wrinkles in preparation for bonding to the paper (sample is shown in #1.) below). The foil is dead soft and can be worked quite a bit before it work hardens and needs to be reheated to anneal it. The Alene's tacky glue was thinned with a small amount of water and was painted on the paper. The excess was then squeegeed off before applying the foil bright side down. The reason for bonding the bright side was due to a pattern on the bright side surface and besides the dull side looks better for modeling purposes. The lay-up was then placed between two panes of glass and allowed to dry.

The other experiment concerns the tea wrapper pictured earlier in this thread. It was bonded to a piece of 67# card stock and allowed to dry (see #2.) below).

I was pleasantly suprised that the hand made foil paper looked nearly identical if not better than the commercial. I made some small test pieces and subjected them to embossing tests shown below in 4.) and 5.) below. Longeron lines, rivet detail, corrugation detail and embossed panel lines were tried. I have to admit this was actually a lot of fun as the amount of sharp, crisp detail allowed by the foil is many times that of normal card stock.

Enough for now...,

Best regards, Gil

[jrts]

Hi all

I have been watching this with intrest and thought I would show the foil tape I use to produce a metalic finish!!

This is T 303 BOC Foil Tape used for the joints on pipe insulation world wide, it will stick to anything so longs as its not wet.
It comes in loads of sizes.

The roll shown is a bit battered as it has been rolling around my car for a while :roll: This is a two inch (50mm) wide roll 45mt long and costs about $12 a roll.

I have used this in rolls upto 100mm (four inch) but by order you can get bigger sizes. when used right you can laminate an A4 sheet with no joints showing.

Hope this helps

Regards

Rob

[Gil]

Rob,

Great input! The foil tape is great for doing landing gear and polished shafts. Cut a thin strip and it adds the extra detail to aircraft oleos. Cut in thin strips it can also be used as canopy structure over clear plastic sheet. It forms well and will follow compound curves.

I've tried your method of covering a card sheet with it with varying results. It's still difficult to impossible to print on. The glue stick coating in alcohol may overcome this. This brings up an intersting observation of the glue stick. I've found that the denatured alcohol removes the adhesive ability of the material after it becmes fully dissolved. This is absolutely perfect for the print application.

Full page tests are next....,

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Hello All,

Made and destroyed numerous test samples of Aluminium Foil Paper Card Stock attempting to develop a method for representing panel lines and rivet detail on the foil surface. The closeup below is the result of that work so far. The piece measures approximately 5 x 8 cm.

Any comments?

Best regards, Gil

[Square]

I was kinda saving this thought ..... but what about using silver leaf.... theres also gold leaf .... any automotive paint store carrys this stuff and other metals to .... its very thin ..... and 3M is usually the approved glue for it .... and its like about .00015" thick .... and any that doesnt stick can be lightly removed ... as for the reynolds wrap lamination ... has posabilitys in the hub caps for cars use a water proof glue then lightly wet the paper and push into something to form hub caps the aluminum would hold the shape till the paper drys ... think Im going to have to start some experiments gil :) been working on some models and want to really deck them out ...
Square

[jrts]

Hi Gil

It looks as if you have scored the lines with a blunt knife or pin? this can cause a drag effect on the foil, rippling the finish in the groove. I have in the past used a blunt roller cutter to give a nice neat line.
I will get it back of the wife tomorrow and have a go to show what I mean. To get it now I would have to wake her up and I don't want to be battered to death right now :lol: I gave it to her for making her greeting cards.

I will post results tomorrow when I come in from work.
Great idea it will be well intresting to see how this goes.

Regards

Rob

[jrts]

Hi Gil

A PS to that last post.
These are some of the embossing bobins I use to make rivit marks and domes they cost about $0.75 each and can be had from most craft stores.

Regards

Rob

[Gil]

Rob,

Very observant! The closeup is good enough to see the tearing. I know the tool of which you refer to. I took a photo to show most of the tools I use in embossing surfaces.

The rotary mini "pizza cutter" is too wide to make a credible seam at this scale. I'll have to remove the wheel and grind the edge down to around 2 or 3 mils for it to work right. Another source would be a circular Olfa cutter with the cutting wheel edge dulled (probably the better solution).

The tools with the spur looking ends are called "pounce wheels" and are used to transfer outlines from paper to wood or material surfaces with the aid of chalk. The wheel punches holes in the paper which is then laid over the target surface and chalk rubbed over the holes. Modelers use them to make quick and dirty rivet lines. The rivet head size is controlled by the underlying supporting surface when the wheels are used. Soft material like cork or newspapers yields old fashioned bridge/train/boiler style rivets. For this application where flush rivets are simulated I used a glass pane. A ruler is used as a guide when the rivet lines are long otherwise they're done freehand.

Best regards, Gil

P.S. Almost forgot the scrap piece of acrylic plastic that I scribed a recessed line in with dental pick type tools of the proper width. The scribe line is repeated until the proper depth is attained. Placing the paper over the scribed line and using the pizza cutter wheel to emboss a line allows folding lines to be embossed on the card stock. It also makes impressive rib and longeron lines as well. If you're looking for really crisp square corner folds this is the way to go!

[Gil]

Hi All,

I've run into an interesting problem. It's the delamination of the aluminum foil from the card stock. 3M 77 spary and Easy Roller double-sided tape don't have ths problem. All the water based glues seem to share this same problem to varying degrees. The following glues have been tested:

1.) RC-56 (still under test)
2.) Aleene's Tacky Glue
3.) Generic Glue Stick (thinned and unthinned)
4.) 3M 77 Spray Mounting Cement
5.) Easy Roller

Another interesting problem is that the foil delaminates when a sharp inward curve is formed. Again the 3M Spray doesn't have this problem but the Easy Roller does. The RC-56 is still under test but seems to be in betwen the 3M and the Aleene's. The Aleene's did much better on these tests when the first coat was allowed to set before applying a squeegeed coat for bonding the aluminum. The 3M Spray has the problem of an inadequate spray misting. Large droplets result on the surface which show right through the foil when it's burnished down (naturally).

Enough for now....,

Best regardds, Gil

[jrts]

Hi Gil

I tried my roller on the foil but it was a new one and very sharpe (bad idea to use it) cut clean through it every time :cry: I will be out tomorrow and get roller from the old craft sotre and try again then. Hope it works as I have a plane I want to build in foil card to get the right effect.

Regards

Rob

[Gil]

Rob,

One big problem with the foil is that it's very delicate or more so than the surface of normal card stock. I think the reflective surface amplifies any small surface imperfection. The thickness of the card backing and the surface on which the embossing takes place control the amount of detail imparted to the work. It's really an art form to get just the right effect for the conditions at hand.

I tried another adhesive today. It's from Delta Renaissance Foil, Easy Gold Leafing System. It's water based and stays tacky when dry. The system uses plastic film which is vacuum metallic coated and contains a backing of some sort. It's a multi step process of painting down a primer layer followed by two layers of adhesive before the plastic "gold leaf" is layed down (each layer is allowed to dry including the last one before application of the gold leaf). I simply painted some on a card surface, squeegeed till the coating was smooth and let it to set for arround 5~7 minutes while preparing some Al foil for the test. The foil was layed down and rubbed into the surface till smooth. The entire piece was left to set for several hours. The application and rubbing process went very well without any problems. The resulting pieces still have problems with sharp internal radius wrinkling which I now believe is a function of the thickness of the card stock and not just the adhesive used. Has a lot to due with the deflection of surfaces under load and all that material science stuff. Using a lighter card stock may well solve this problem. These tests were all done with 0.3 mm (0.012 mil) card stock. Reducing this to 0.15 mm (0.06 mil) might work to reduce this one drawback. More tomorrow.

Best regards, Gil

P.S. All the pictures have disappeared from the thread except a few on this Page?????

[Gil]

Square,

I tried out your idea for hubcaps. You'll be glad to know that it's really too easy. I took some of the foil paper cut out a disc and then proceeded to form it in a hemispherical dapping block (jewelers metalsmithing tool) with a wax modeling spoon. You can then polish the results to mirror finish ready for mounting. I'd post a picture but they are being edited out so it's not worth the effort any longer. Hope this doesn't keep you from completing your idea.

Best regards, Gil

[Square]

Thanx Gil
The pics are nice but not needed
Square

[Gil]

Hello All,

The right adhesive has finally been found. It is easy to work with bonds both paper and foil and does not delaminate. In fact the paper feels just like dead soft aluminum when it's deformed and can't be detected from the actual article. Much thanks to all who have helped in this investigation.

Best regards, Gil

[rickstef]

Well Man?!?!?!?

don't leave us in suspense

TELL US

Rick

[SteveM]

Hello All,

The right adhesive has finally been found.


And that would be...:?:

SteveM

[Gil]

Acrylic Hard Modeling Paste...,

Gil

[cecil_severs]

Who makes it and where can it be obtained?

Cecil

[wunwinglow]

Gil is trying to corner the market before he tells us all.....

Tim P

[Ashrunner]

I don't know, but am I missing something here? All this talk about what is best for a metal look and how to adapt it to paper models and all when there is this stuff? http://www.bare-metal.com/

[Gil]

Hello All,

Taking a break from further experiments. Still haven't made a full page, that's next.

The product I'm using currently is manufactured by Golden, Gel Mediums, Hard Molding Paste. Gel Medium Modeling Pastes are used in art for building up texture of paints and as a glue for paper mache. I use Golden as it's usually lower in price than Liquitex which offers comparable products. I use Liquitex Gloss Medium & Varnish as a thinner for the above product. Do not thin with water as it changes the shringkage coeffeicient yielding undesirable effects.

The aluminum foil needs to be prepared prior to bonding. Again, you need an adequately sized clean glass pane for rubbing or burnishing the foil to smooth out wrinkles. Use a chamois or cotton cloth and rub from the center in one direction toward the edge gently holding the edge to prevent movement. Rotate the piece to smoot out the other side. If a small bump appears it means that a piece of dirt is underneath. It must be cleaned off before gently burnishing out the defect. Keep a sharp single edged razor to run over the glass to insure that the surface is clear. The foil needs to have it's surface cleaned with alcohol removing any contaminant that will prevent bonding.

Spread the acrylic molding paste over the surface of the paper and roll out with a printers roller till a fairly even layer coats the paper. Small pieces can be simply done with a small spatula or squeegee. Place the pasted paper on top of the foil rolling it down from the middle to the outer edges to prevent trapping air. Turn the laminate over and burnish the foil from the center toward the outer edges with either a chamois or cotton cloth. Let dry overnight before coating with PVA for printing (which I haven't done yet...,).

I've thought about printing on the paper side of the laminate and then cutting out the sections and applying panel lines and rivet detail from that side. But this is another subject all together.

Bare Metal foil is geared toward plastic modelers and can probably be used for paper models. 3M Aluminum metal tape mentioned earlier is probably an easier substitute and is widely available at your local hardware dealer. This tape is delivered dead soft and forms well over complex shapes. One tip is to gently warm the surface of the roll with a heat gun or hair dryer to loosen the adhesive before removing a section. This prevents "chatter marks" from forming which would have to be removed through burnishing.

The quest is to find a card stock that looks real when "printed and assembled into a model". Letraset is only available in the EU and aluminum foil paper is not offered in the consumer space leaving little choice but to develop your own. Besides that it's been fun and I just go into the kitchen and simply pull out a couple of feet of whenever I need some (short order process). One other point is that this technique will work with any metal foil. I use K&S Metals foil for other projects but that isn't paper and you all must remember, "Did I tell you that's it made from paper?"....,

I also use Gloss Medium & Varnish to make my own magic modeling paste. I mix it with micro balloons to make a paste mixture which is light and adheres well to paper. It's good to seal the paper first with either acrylic matte spray or lacquer to keep it from "sogging out".

That's all for now....,

Best regards, Gil

P.S. Corner the market? Jeez....,

[Gil]

Hello Everyone,

As luck would have it I just discovered a source of metallic card stock! It's not coated for inkjet printing but has the same appearence as the Lectraset. I rollered the aclcohol-water glue stick coating on it, put it in the drying oven at 125 degrees Fahrenheit to dry for 10 minutes. Put it in the Canon inkjet and printed the first page of FG's Dakota. The result was put back into the drying oven followed by a coating of matte acrylic sealer. The source has several varieties to choose from (I ordered a minimum of 250 sheets picking it up tomorrow).

Now the bad news, they're not going to carry it any longer and the replacement stock just isn't in the same class. They carry another manufacturers stock but need to order it. I'll probably do that tomorrow.

The source is Kelly Paper Inc. website: http://www.kellypaper.com and they accept online orders but limit it to North America. The paper type that I ordered is called Cadillac 2000 Silver Item No. 5676H. The site doesn't contain photographs unfortunately. If you want I'll post some photographs for your perusal.

More tomorrow....,

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Hello All,

Still trying to improve my homebrew inkjet coating method.

Settled on a mixture of 3M glue stick (vinyl acetate), water and methyl cellulose (used in to strengthen paper fiber in production and as hair gel). I roll it on with a small fine texture roller and then dry in a drying oven set at 125 degrees Fahrenheit.

The inkjet ink does not surface bead but adheres well with dot growth now contained. Surface penetration is not what I would want it to be but is sufficient for now. The print is still delicate and must be handled with care in transport to the drying oven to dry the ink. It's then sprayed with a protective acrylic matte fillm. This method seems to work for just about any printable surface.

Research on this subject and has found that the item in question is called "polyester receptor coatings for inkjet printing". I'll be speaking with some local experts next week in an effort to see if there's a local jobber that is willing to coat small lots (<1000). If anyone knows of a source for the receptor coating please let us know. This would make a great spray can product beyond just the card modeling application.

Now to see if anyone wants metallic paper?

More as I make it, or as it comes in, which ever...,

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Interim results report...,

Don't use the vinyl acetate (glue stick) and methyl cellulose as an inkjet coating. The inkjet does print well on it but it doesn't hold up well enough for modeling puroposes. Still researching a good solution for this.

Will be getting some metallic card from the UK in a few days so I'll be able to do a side by side comparison of all those that have been collected during this investigation. I'll report on those after their received in the mail.

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Additional results:

A test using PVA based glues has provided interesting results. Simple white glue rolled onto the problem card stock seems to work well. Getting it to coat well without texturing is still a point of developing art. I printed out Nobi's Saab on test sheets and took some close-up photographs which are shown below. Note the speckle areas in the green fill where the print ink failed to adhere to the surface. The surface texture mottle needs to also be reduced. I believe both to be a coating application issue.

Direction now is to to investigate an addititve which keeps down the tendency of the coating to form bubbles during the rolling process. I tried thinning with water finding that this inhibited the adherence of not only the coating but also the ink. The PVA has to be rolled full strength to achieve fair results. I have some alcohols that might be compatible but haven't tried them yet. Isopropyl and denatured alcohols react with the PVA to form some sort of polyvinyl plastic that doesn't take the ink at all but acts as a varnish instead.

More to come...,

Best regards, Gil

[Square]

Then you did find a new product? a varnish coat?

[Gil]

Additional Results:

One alcohol worked as a thinner for the PVA. Mixture applied smoothly forming an adherent and conformal coating of the surface. Dried surface has a slight gloss.

Inkjet print applied smoothly and with high surface reflectivity. Some bleed of black lines into areas of green were noticed; printhead overdrive in high saturation areas are suspect. Finer control of the print output is needed to solve this problem. Printed sheet was dried for 15 minutes at 125 degrees Farhrenheit after which the ink was dry and stable. Print quality is on a par with photographic paper exhibiting a gloss reflective surface.

Topcoat protectors haven't as yet been applied but aren't expected to be a problem.

In summary this is as good as any inkjet receptor media that one could reasonably expect to make from readily available source materials. It remains to be used in the assembly of an actual model but again no problem is expected.

Best regards, Gil

P.S. It's not a varnish coat. Correct terminology is an "inkjet receptor coating media" and yes, it's a new product.

[Gil]

Hello All,

Nobi's Saab J-21 looks great printed on the new media coating. I printed on the Cadillac silver cover stock which reflects back through the ink layer giving the print a vividness that's just not achievable on paper. The surface is glossy like photogrphic paper and the ink is unbelievably stable.

Next step is an experiment with dry transfer decals...,

Best, Gil

[Fishcarver]

Gil: Try cutting the PVA with acrylic Matte Medium/Varnish, mixed with a few drops of Acrylic Flow Medium: I'd suggest a 2:1 ratio, diluted with a bit of distilled H2O. VERY thoroughly mix the medium with the PVA, then apply to the stock in a very thin layer (such as, with a squeegee) and allow to dry. Use plastic food wrap to separate sheets of stock, and press them while waiting for them to dry.

Stay away from alcohol as a drying agent when working with PVA. It is, as you have observed, NFG.

Flow Medium is nothing but high-class detergent: it breaks down the surface tension of whatever it is mixed with, allowing uniform penetration of the surface to which it is applied. Liquitex and Jo Sonja (Chroma Acrylics) are well-known brands: any good Art Supply store should have it.

FC

[Gil]

Follow on:

One caveat about this coating..., it needs to be protected by a topcoat of crystal clear or matte spray finish. It is easily damaged by water in the same way as photographic inkjet paper.

I forgot to explain the application method! I use a foam mini-roller that's intended for applications where very smooth finishes are desired. Extra rollers are sold separately and it's a good idea to buy several packs as it comes in for the occasional touch-up around the house as well (another way of sneaking it into your hobby budget). I premix the approximately 80% PVA white glue and the 20% Polyvinyl Alcohol (PV Alcohol is used as a mold release for polyester and epoxy castings and can be found in shops that cater to those applications areas) . This is then added to a 2 quart flat bottomed pyrex cooking dish that I use as a rolling tray (easy cleanup). The roller is rolled in the mixture to coat and then rolled to even out the distribution on the roller. An old cardboard box is used to roll out the first strokes to even out and dry the amount the roller will apply to the card stock to be coated. The roller needs to be almost dry to achieve a nice even coating of the card surface otherwise you'll end up with a bumpy surface. The first pass will only partially coat the surface. After several passes the coating will be spread and evenly coat the surface. I use a piece of rubber gasket cloth underneath for ease of cleanup. Wipe this off between coatings otherwise the card will begin sticking to it (yes, you can use it to laminate with also). When the coating is nice and even and shows a nice even sheen against the light it is placed in a drying area for several hours until completely dry. The dry surface will have a nice
gloss/semi-gloss sheen and are ready to for the inkjet printer. Remember to let the ink dry after printing for several hours and then coat it with your choice of topcoat.

Tim sent me an email with an very interesting product which will be the next subject in this Topic series...,

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Jim,

I tried mixing the acrylic varnish with the PVA and the results were disapointing. The ink failed to adhere to the surface which is a clear indicator that something is very wrong with the receptor chemistry.

Successful candidates for coating have to exhbiit -OH radical attachment points for compatibility with water based inkjet inks. Some of the base radical series of Polyamides and imides are used for coatings for this reason.

A product group with those attributes is next in this Topic Series.

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Jim,

I tried mixing the acrylic varnish with the PVA and the results were disapointing. The ink failed to adhere to the surface which is a clear indicator that something is very wrong with the receptor chemistry.

Jim, I had second thoughts about this and went back to my notes and realized that I had mistaken another mixture for a PVA-Acrylic combination. A mixture of half PVA and half acrylic gloss medium varnish was mixed well and then used to coat the problem surface using a roller.

Guess what? Your idea works extremely well! In fact better than using the PV Alcohol to reduce the viscosity of the rolling mixture. The print not only adheres to the surface but exhibits zero pinholes in filled areas! Thick black lines still exhibit a ragged bleeding into filled areas which I believe to be an overdrive issue related to the print driver. The surface texture is semi-gloss and has a texture mottle which is an artifact of the coating method (see first photo below). It's weatherability is still in question but will probably be much better than with the PVA alone.

I've also attached a photo of a wright cyclone R-1820-97...., sorry for the quality of the photograph but this was printed on a bulk piece of photocopier overhead film ($0.05 a sheet in bulk). It was placed on a sheet of metallized cover stock to take the photo. This formula seems to work well on a variety of surfaces that were impossible to print on before and the ingredients are available World Wide!

Thanks Jim, Gil

P.S. Anyone else try this yet? I am using a Canon i560 and would like to get feedback on whether HP and Epson inks are also compatible with the coating.

[Gil]

Hello All,

I was wondering if anyone in the U.K. is familiar with a product offered by Bright Ideas which used to be called Ultra Foil when it was offered by Reynolds (Alcoa) before the line was sold to Bright Ideas. This is aluminum foil paper with a plastic coating. It may be too "chrome" to do anything with but I want to chase it down just the same.

The other interesting discovery is that I had a roll of aluminum foil paper for the last several months and didn't realize it. It came in the form of silver wrapping paper. I finally took a test sample and simply burnt off the paper to see if the foil remained. It did. The paper has a shiney surface but is mottled by the varying paper thickness to which it is bonded. The foil thickness is very thin being under 0.01 mm which is probably too thin to serve well as a candidate for card modeling.

I am still waiting for Post from the U.K. containing sample stock. I'll report on the aluminum card stock surveyed so far then.

Best regards, Gil

[Gil]

Back again for an update,

The silver wrapping paper mentioned earlier takes on the appearence of aluminum sheet when buffed with a Super Fine #0000 steel wool pad. It passes the test of being put next to a sheet of similarly treated aluminum not being discernable as wrapping paper. The foil is less than 0.0005 inch thick and can't be worked like thicker foils.

Need to go back and pick up a few more rolls from Michael's tomorrow (it was fairly cheap). This is Aluminum Foil Paper and can easily be glued to card stock for models requiring an aluminum surface. This stuff was in my way all this time and it never occured to buff it with steel wool...,

Best, Gil

P.S. I have visions of many of you being caught buffing wrapping paper with steel wool in the middle of the night...,

[Bengt F]

See also the thread "Boeing 707-320 PanAm 1:120 scale finished!" under "Designer´s Corner" for a further discussion on this subject.

Shine on!
Bengt8)

[dimas Karabas]

Here is a picture of my make of Kampflieger's Blohm and Voss Ha 137 in 1:32 scale and made from aluminum construction tape.

http://img393.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bv6fr.jpg

[Bengt F]

Hi Dimas!

Wowie Zowie! That´s some awsome machine! I can see why you put not-to-touch-strings all around it...
How did you get the tape to stick? Did you tape it to paper first or did you put it on the assembled parts? Is there any embossing of lines involved? Tell me a little more about the technique - I´m very interested to learn more... I have several silver projects planned!
best regards,
Bengt

[sparrowhawk]

Yeah, bring on your techniques. I got the JSC P-51D "Lil Margaret" as my next project and this is one highly polished Mustang!