"Chroming" Plastic at Home

There are services that will rechrome (actually vacuum metalize) your dash plastic parts, like Mr. G's and Quicksilver and Chrometech. However, if you have an airbrush, you can use a relatively new product called Alclad Chrome. This is a two-part system being used by many of the better model car builders to refinish old parts.

After stripping off the old chrome and wet-sanding the part, you shoot it with a high-gloss black paint. After that's dry, you shoot the chrome paint over it. It *must* be used with a black base. This turns out very realistic, and not at all like the cheesy "Chrome" aerosol paint you buy at the store.

Alclad has since released Ultra-Chrome, which I have not tried yet. But if it's even better than their first stuff, I'll be doing cartwheels. They also make several other airbrush finishes that simulate polished aluminum, satin aluminum, brass, and a variety of other stuff. The product line can be found in better hobby stores. If they don't stock it, they can usually get it from their distributors. Ebay vendors like "psfhobbies" also have these.

Finally, I might mention that some plating companies can actually chrome plate plastic. That is, real metal is used on the part, like a bumper. When you get it back it will weigh much more than the original, but it will hold up to the environment that much better. It will also clean out your wallet faster, but what the hell.

I hope this helps the resto guys a bit.

CobraJet

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CobraJet
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It helped me out. Now to try it..

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68GTXL

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