Highly Polished Aluminum Finish

Gallery Article by David Rapasi on Dec 27 2011

In the '60s after a lot of experimenting, I found that RubN'Buff could be thinned with turpentine and sprayed with and airbrush. Any other thinner turned it to paint.

After it is thoroughly dry it can be polished with a soft cloth to a high gloss aluminum finish.

Before applying the RubN'Buff the entire model has to be polished with a clean, dry, Dremel buffing wheel, especially the primed areas. 

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All of the colored enamel painted areas have to be masked off and painted first. When all of the painted areas are dry, they have to be masked off and the RubN'Buff areas painted and polished.

The decals are then applied in a normal manner.

No clear coat can be applied because it attacks the RubN'Buff and makes it look like aluminum paint. In the '60s I found a water based clear that didn't effect the finish. I haven't been able to find a usable clear recently.

Also making this a difficult procedure, the RubN'Buff surface cannot be touched with a bare hand. The acid in your skin will leave finger prints in the RubN'Buff.

This is a difficult process, but there are some uses for this method even today.

This model depicts a P 47 of the 9th Air Force, 57FG/66FS in early September 1944. This is how the aircraft appeared on one of it's first missions flying from Corsica to Italy.

David Rapasi

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Photos and text © by David Rapasi