Thanks, Louis (@lgardner) and Spiros (@fiveten). The good news about Alclad is that it dries very quickly. I let the plane dry for about 4 hours, and then I sanded the affected area with 5 or 6 grits of sanding sticks. Any ideas on the best way to fix it? I am thinking about repriming the area with black, then attacking it again with the Alclad. Another option exists: Some of these planes had the top of the plane painted white with a dark blue stripe separating the white paint and the metal surface. I am thinking that I would be asking for trouble with all the masking required. I had a 1" thick piece of foam in the bottom of my spray booth that collected most of the Alclad runoff. There is not doubt that the Alclad is a really strong lacquer. It readily melted the foam all the way through. I attached a photo below.

Hi Louis: I had several bottles of Alclad II, but I had never actually tried them. I had heard that the finish could be delicate, but I haven't seen that, so far. They recommend that you spray it over a gloss black base, but I suspect that the smooth finish compromises the metal's ability to stay stuck to the model. I sprayed mine with flat/semi-gloss black, which I think gives it a little tooth to hold on to. This stuff is really thin, so any blemishes on the model will be instantly visible in the metal finish. This is all a really big experiment.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great save, George @gblair
A pity you had some extra work to this one.
Never thought that this paint would be so aggrassive to plastics.

I plunged in to the fix for yesterday's disaster. I think I went into the deep end of the pool accidentally. If you can conceive of the easiest way to fix my problem from yesterday, I chose the exact opposite. I started working out a plan to prepare the plastic again, then reprime, and then spray the Alclad again. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a smooth, consistent finish that would match what was already on the plane. I finally decided to sand the entire plane with increasingly finer sandpaper, then repaint the entire plane. I wasn't all that excited by the Alclad finish, so I decided to refinish the plane using Humbrol Polished Aluminum from a spray can. I have had good luck with the Humbrol on previous builds, but it was just on small sections of metal, not an entire plane. I wiped the plane with a soft cloth, then sprayed several light layers of the Humbrol. I really like this paint. It is easy to control, covers well, and doesn't build up quickly. Anyway, the proof is in the pudding. I plan to let it dry overnight, then I will see how it came out.

Another glitch suddenly appeared today. I have had the model sitting in a cradle for the last several days while I was working on it. I had sufficient weight in the nose to keep it from being a tail-sitter, but I didn't have the tail attached when I tested it. Well, the tail is on, and the plane is definitely a tail-sitter now. The weight of the twin tails changed everything. So, I guess I need to find somewhere to stuff some more weight. I will figure it out tomorrow.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great minds think alike, Tom (@tom-bebout). I specifically left the cowlings off just in case something like this happened. I also have some room through the access hatch into the area behind the cockpit. I have been two steps behind this model the whole time, but I will eventually beat it into submission.

Have to say, as one who has used Alclad for years, I have never had any issues with it like you just had. I have had to sand, re-prime and spray again when the paint pulled up. You have to mist Alclad on in layers

However, you rescued it and the Humbrol looks just fine. Good save.

Those weighty issues can weigh in again with the best made plans. I ended up adding weighs to the cowlings on my kit, problem solved. Or you correct one problem and create another. After getting the landing gear and the wheels on after ,awhile the main gear started to splay outwards like, a mule that had been given too much to carry. I reinforced the main gear struts with piano wire that doubles as brake lines. Lookin good George R Blair Jr (@gblair)

Today was my day to move forward from the "Great Sloshing Incident of 2023". I painted the Humbrol Polished Aluminum yesterday, and it had 24 hours to dry. I polished the surface using a micro-fiber cloth, and then planned my attack for the rest of the metallics. I decided to use Vallejo Acrylic Metal paints. One of the big advantages of this paint is that if you make a mistake, all you have to do is wipe it off the model with a paper towel before it dries. Neat and simple.

I wanted to get some subtle panel variation, and as you all know, "subtle" is not a term usually associated with me. Although the metallics can be used directly from the bottle, I usually thin it about 20% with Vallejo Airbrush Thinner. This allows me to build the color up slowly. If you put it on too heavy, it will bead up on the smooth surface of the model, but it is easy to wipe it off with a paper towel and attack again. The control surfaces are fabric, and they are very faded and light-colored in the photos I have. I used White Aluminum #706 with a little Model Air White mixed in. This gave me the look I wanted. The metal finish on the planes in the photos I have appears to be fairly uniform, with no panels that stick out as really darker or lighter. I misted on several different colors of Vallejo Metals on a few panels. I plan to let it dry overnight and take another look at it. The planes in the photos appear to be a little weary, but fairly clean. I plan to do some work with post-shading and artist's oil to further accentuate some of the panels.

I also added some more weight to the area behind the cockpit. I heard the plane laughing as it settled on its tail skid again. I am using up all of my lead fishing weights on this plane. I will add some more weight tomorrow.

See you all tomorrow. Cheers.

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks, Spiros (@fiveten). I still have a lot to do, but slowly getting there.