No Zinc Chromate in a Rattle Can??

=== Craig, I am sorry to inform you that "it don't exist!!!" You will have to do with the paint bottles and mix with thinner and squirt your models with an airbrush, or a plain brush.

Cheers,

Ray Austin, TX ===

no airbrush for me....got lots of bottles.....the idea of spraying the sprue and being able to work the parts within minutes instead of hours sounded like a good idea. guess this paint color fell thru the cracks? Maybe I wll send off a letter to ModelMaster, Tamiya, etc...

Dang near every "older" USA aircraft had this color. Wonder why it was never made....

Craig

does seem like a no brainer for someone to make, though.

Actually, it IS available, except not specific to plastic models. Check a good hardware or paint store. For models, it's just the color of zinc chromate, but real zinc is used for priming aluminum. You might even have to look to an aviation supply outfit like

or I've done that for years, but having a real aircraft shop is a plus. :) Another thing is to look at various shades of dark greens, like ODs or yellow-greens. considering the variations in shades of zinc, you could have a lot of leeway. I've used a hunting camo shade of green (Krylon or Rustoleum) that had a zinc look to it, as well as a few other shades.

On Jun 7, 5:24 pm, snipped-for-privacy@some.domain.invalid wrote:

Had a can of Pactra ZC once...but it sucked...

Omagawd! I remember those! They were real suckers for clogging up and NOT spraying, or coming out with just enough pressure to run down over your hand. On the other hand, they DID have some nice Kandy Kolors for custom paint jobs. Did a Monogram 1:40 Cessna in a metallic plum (grape? some purple fruit) and white that looked awesome. Was a birthday present for a pal that flew one.

Real zinc chromate is not available in spray cans because it was deemed toxic. However, I assume what you want is the color.

There were many colors of zinc chromate. There are the yellow varieties, and the apple green varieties.

When I worked at McDonnell Douglas many years ago, they used LOTS of spray cans of the stuff (before it was deemed a toxin). They got in one big batch that the receiving inspectors rejected because of its color being off (protective qualities were still good). The whole batch was sent to a local surplus store. Our EAA chapter learned of this and many of us building homebuilts rushed over as soon as possible to snatch it up at bargain prices :-) It didn't last long!

Back to model colors- it is hard to find the proper shade for the yellow stuff but I have bought spray cans of medium flat green that matches that shade of chromate reasonably well. Old timers tell me that during the war folks did not worry as much about the color as McDD did in the seventies, and it apparently did vary somewhat in color then.

I gotta disagree, Don, real zinc chromate IS available in spray cans, as I said earlier. It's used on aluminum & most airplanes are aluminum & it's sold for use on aircraft. Or it was a few months ago at least, 'cause I bought some.

Geezus...............

For the unavailable zinc chromate in spray cans.

Heh...on the other hand, I've seen them touching up full scale cockpits with Testors MM...

Floquil Railroad Colors (made by Testor) #130601 - Zinc Chromate Primer

Of course, this may not be the color you're looking for -- it's a reddish brown, that I find to be ideal for painting the below-waterline hulls of ships.

I shouldn't have been so absolute on it. I was told by several hardware stores that they don't handle it any more 'cause it is not considered a consumer item any more because it is considered a carcinogen, and is a "professional item" not carried in their distribution network. They said it was only to be used in proper shops with the fancy traps and ventilation.

Hah! I'm no fancy shop & I assure you, anyone, yes, ANYONE, can order the stuff from Wag Aero! Trust me, they don't checredentials. I do recall when it was declared 'off-limits'. There was a USAR helo unit in one of our hangars here & that was the joke that it would kill you. Based on a test where they let a lab rat swim in a bucket of the stuff & yep, it died. Don't drink it, either. :) OTOH, regarding the 'shade' of zinc chromate, due to inconsistencies in mixing, it's actually the yellow shade, toned down 'in the field' with black, which creates the dark green shade. IMHO, you could use just about any shade of light green or yellow-green to an OD color & still be correct. My experience with the spray cans of real zinc however, is the color being pretty consistent.

On Jun 9, 8:49 am, Don Stauffer in Minnesota wrote: