Chrome

[paddy]

Ok everyone, what's your go to paint for "chrome" ?

I have been told to go for a Molotow-Liquid-Chrome-Refill-Marker refill and use it in an airbrush ? possibly thinned with vallejo thinners ?

this is built up with several coats but doesnt require a black base

Point is this stuff is £20 GBP where as Vallejo chrome is £ GBP ?

 

[moon puppy]

Why yes we have. I've been using it for ole struts and I have threatened to use it on a NMF. The refill bottle is even a better deal.

Yep I used it on the woefully failed Eindecker for the machined metal finish.

Eindecker IV

Smaller tip brush would look even better but what you have there looks pretty good anyway!:ro:

modelersalliance.org

 

[Heavens Eagle]

I used Alclad Chrome on my P-47 build and it gave a really decent finish. I then went over areas with other colors of Alclad so it didn't look like a new polished mirror. The trick was to clean the plastic first. I used Windex with a couple of cotton balls and wiped it dry with soft paper towel.

Then coated with Alclad Gloss Black. It can tend to spray and have some orange peel with other bits. This was expected. The solution was to take some Mr. Color Leveling Thinner and put a heavy mist on the Gloss black to "wet" the surface. Not enough to make things run, just enough to "wet" it. You will see the orange peel and other paint surface defects just disappear. This is the most important part. If the black isn't smooth and glossy the chrome color won't work.

Thin spray on the Chrome. You spray it from a ways back and want it to just mist on almost dry. It takes a bunch of light coats to build up, but eventually you will see the reflectivity of it. Once done it is really dry and the gloss and thinner dry really fast. I did the gloss, thinner, chrome and other colors in an evening including the masking and clean up.

Here is the link to my P-47D build.

 

[moon puppy]

I misread your post Paddy, like Paul I used the Alclad Chrome on a P47 and it had good results. Model Masters is a good one also but I've never sprayed it.

 

[paddy]

I found this on the net which is the Molotow-Liquid-Chrome. The advantage of alclad is i have used it before, i found it worked quite well but you need to know when to stop because its very easy to turn the chrome effect into just silver with too many mist coats if you cover the gloss black.
Do you need to use alclad black or will any gloss black do the job ?

 

[jeaton01]

Any gloss cxolor. I often use from a stock of gloss car colors, like Ford Engine Blue, or any dark gloss. I like blue because I think a lot of what we see in real life on aluminum is the reflection of the sky.

 

[paddy]

Very true John, most chrome does look blue, i think i need to do some experiments.

 

[moon puppy]

Good idea John. I tried a defused pattern of various colors once on an F86, looked ok but needed work. Maybe when I retire when I'm 85 I'll try some more experiments..

 

[ausf]

I have the Molotow chrome refill, but only brushed it on. It's fantastic. I'll be airbrushing it soon, just haven't got around to it yet. It's alcohol based, I'm thinking iso as a thinner/ab cleaner. Only downside I can see is it's $30 for 30ml, so I want to make it count. It's supposed to be a fragile finish, but I waited a week after applying them rubbed it like mad, didn't come off or collect fingerprints. I then dipped it in Future and it only slightly muted the look.

Besides that, I've tried the AK True Metals wax and that stuff is amazing too. Silver is pretty damn bright, you get a reflection after buffing, but not quite chrome. It'd look great as a NMF.

Unfortunately I have a bunch of nice new 1/32 AC kits but zero mojo to build them to try out the stuff. I'm working on slot cars at the moment and the chrome is for those, bumpers and rims.