painting copper

[ronnie42]

Copper wire is easy to use for handles, camouflage loops etc. Only downside is that paint does not stick very well, have tried Mr Metal Primer ,Hammerite special primer and the usual model pant primers .So whats you trick for painting copper, next build will use steel wire.

[jarndice]

I had a couple of Copper tow ropes for a Panzer4 and I needed them to be Steel coloured,
I soaked them overnight in Acrylic Thinners then let them dry then I tied a length of cotton to one end of each tow rope and immersed them in a can of "Hammerite Smooth Silver Metal Paint" for a week then using the cotton I pulled them out of the paint can and hung them to dry tied to the inside of an old cardboard tube ensuring they were not touching the sides of the tube,
A week later I took them out of the tube and I had two "Steel" tow ropes and the paint did not flake off when I twisted the tow ropes to shape.
What can I say ?
It worked for me

[Son of a gun-ner]

This shouldn't make me laugh, but I can't help but laugh about paint not properly bonding to copper.
The number of times I've sworn because of someone painting copper pipes with emulsion paint and I've had to make a new connection or repair in the plumbing, and the only way to remove it apart from using the blow torch is scraping it off with a knife.

You could try tinning the copper wire with a thin coat of solder before fitting and painting, if coated copper wire isn't an option for you. That way, if it did get a paint chip, it would look more steel like at the chip.

[BarryC]

Why not use brass"?

It may cost a little more but comes in many sizes and takes paint if cleaned and primed.

Barry

[midlife306]

a mixture of distilled water and sulfurated potash will turn copper black with no problem


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[ronnie42]

Thanks for the info, brass does not chip or flake off compared to the copper with handling or scuffing on my tanks. The blacking of copper must remember that one. Don't think leaving the tank in a 5 gallon tin of Hammerite is the way to go

[jarndice]

What a fool you must think me to be.
Fancy me not knowing you had one of those common as muck 1:16 Brass Tanks
I was foolish enough to think you meant components.

[Son of a gun-ner]

Don't know why I didn't mention/think of this before. Another alternative for detailing made from wire, would be galvanised wire. The primer for galvanizing is water based, therefore I'm guessing most water based primers should adhere.
I made my daughter a four foot by three foot magnetic blackboard some time ago, out of a galvanised steel sheet for her kitchen wall above a radiator, and just painted it with two coats of water based blackboard paint after giving the plate a good degreasing clean, and a couple of years later with lots of use, it's still as good a new.
Something worth remembering, even if my memory gets cloudy from time to time