cut back which is a liquid petroleum product produced by fluxing an asphaltic base with suitable distillates it has been found that reducing a bodied or blown asphalt in aliphatic solvent to about 65 u00b1 10 percent solids produces a suitable cut back with parrafinic naphthenic or aromatic asphalts all being satisfactory for such reduction about 50 65 percent by weight of this component appears to provide a satisfactory product the second component is aluminum paste which typically contains about 65 percent metal solids federal specification tt p 320c type ii class 3 pigment has been found to perform well but either coarser or finer pigments may be used with the same percentage reductions the third component is solid filler particles which function to give body to the coating composition perlite which is volcanic glass has been found to present satisfactory performance characteristics although other similar materials may be substituted the fourth component is a gelling agent which functions both as a filler and a viscosity control agent attapulgite or sepiolite clay have been found to perform well in place of the asbestos fibers typically used to provide this function although other similar functioning materials are probably acceptable and are intended to come within the scope of this disclosure the fifth component is a dehydrating agent which functions to absorb and remove any residual water found in the formulation as previously described in greater detail the presence of moisture in coating compositions containing aluminum is rather deleterious a dehydrating agent such as fine silica sio 2 has been found to function well in.