Aluminum tape or Rust-Oleum aluminum spray paint?

[flyboi]

i am about to build a P51 Mustang and give it a Tuskegee airman style paint job. now here is my predicament. the Tuskegee airman plane that I am going to recreate ( P-51C Mustang Tuskegee Airmen, tail number N61429 ), and there is a bunch of exposed (silver) aluminum. and I am wondering what should I use. aluminum tape, or Rust-Oleum aluminum spray paint.

 

[flyboi]

the rust-oleum paint that i want to use is here

 

[Whit Armstrong]

i am about to build a P51 Mustang and give it a Tuskegee airman style paint job. now here is my predicament. the Tuskegee airman plane that I am going to recreate ( P-51C Mustang Tuskegee Airmen, tail number N61429 ), and there is a bunch of exposed (silver) aluminum. and I am wondering what should I use. aluminum tape, or Rust-Oleum aluminum spray paint.

I found a silver foil vinyl type thing on amazon, which I used for my P-47. I can't remember the name, but any silver foil will do. Make sure to apply the foil to the parts before forming/assembling, if you choose to do that method.

 

[Tench745]

The foil tape tends to give a more even, shiny, metalic finish. Foil tape will add more weight than paint will, unless you really pour on the paint. There is also a slight concern that the foil tape can block radio signal. Some people have used it and said they had no signal issues, others have said they lost the model from it. To be safe, you can stick the antennas outside the model.

 

[sprzout]

I'd recommend the paint instead. The aluminum tape might wrinkle as you start forming the foam, or if you are applying it over the plane and it doesn't lay down correctly on the curved sections, you'll see wrinkling on the edges. I think tape will be more trouble than it's worth...

 

[Whit Armstrong]

I'd recommend the paint instead. The aluminum tape might wrinkle as you start forming the foam, or if you are applying it over the plane and it doesn't lay down correctly on the curved sections, you'll see wrinkling on the edges. I think tape will be more trouble than it's worth...

That's why you have to apply it beforehand. It will guarantee no wrinkles, because you are only stretching it.

 

[Bassfisher]

I prefer to use alum furnace tape. It just takes time ans patience to learn how to apply it. The weight gain is minimal. Just find the thinnest that you can find. Start on an older model first