Chrome your own parts

[46SuperDeluxe]

Hey I was also wondering about something that I saw on another model site. Does anybody have any experience, or now how this might work- apparently there are some women's nail polishes called Chrome that sound like they might work or be a starting point for exploring. Not mirrorlike, but very brite silver, maybe could be polished. They are extremely fast drying which suggests a lacquer base of some kind. There are a number of brands, and can be purchased (by your wife,girlfriend, or sister!) at places like Wallyworld, Walgreens, Rite-Aid, etc. in the $1.99 -$4.99 range. Probably could be easily airbrushed, etc.... Gary

[Deuces-wild]

......... Do you know the brand name of the chrome nail polish?? I could get my girlfriend to get me some..... Of coarse I'd have to go with her..

[46SuperDeluxe]

No, I don't. I'm gonna go over there with my wife and see what I can find out. I guess there are a number of metallic colors called "chrome" and we are looking for a pure silver. Ask your girlfriend, she might already know what I'm talkin about. See there is a relatively new process to mill the aluminum particles micro fine, that gets the brightest silver. That metal polish is the same, micro fine abrasive. I think might come out of this. Thanks- Gary

[Deuces-wild]

We have a Walgreen's just down the road a bit.. Maybe we'll go look tomorrow... Right now I'm working on plans or a 40 inch wide spray booth for air brushing.. Why that wide do you ask???..... Let's just say I need the elbow room.....

[Don Garrett]

Guys, keep in mind that in the effort to get that real chrome look with paint....the part you are painting HAS TO BE AS SMOOTH AND PERFECT AS YOU CAN POSSIBLY GET IT! Any kind of texture or micro surface imperfections will dull the finish coat as they bend and fracture the reflected light being bounced back to your eye. There are some really good paints out there and if you get an ultra smooth black finish on your parts before you spray the chrome it looks great....problem is, polishing something like a steelies between multiple coats is a real pain.

[46SuperDeluxe]

Hey Don,
Sorry if it seemed like I was stepping on your efforts. On the contrary, I applaud your effort to get the shiniest effect at the least expense. The holy grail for a home system has always been to achieve a mirror like finish. What I was suggesting was possibly another way to get it utilizing your ground work. All of these super bright paints have micro particles of aluminum throughout the paint. These new polishes have micro abrasives that are very gentle. The guy that I saw demoing the polish at the Marchmeet barely daubed some of it on the bottom of a Coke can then wiped it off with a soft cloth, and poof - mirror shine. They had a (zinc) galvanized bucket that looked like it just got chromed. What I was suggesting would be like rubbing out a Lacquer paint job on a car in the old days to get that shine, only a lot less work. I was just trying to stimulate more dialog, and more experimentation. Respectfully-Gary

[Deuces-wild]

I found some new chrome paints in spray cans that I'll be trying out soon..... I'll try these out and see which one is the brightest. Once I get that done, I'll post some pictures... I finally got my digital camera sorted out.