Hawk312

Thanks for all the advice and details guys. I am using the alumilite kit, both their resin and casting silicone. I would like to try having them plated after a coat of lacquer, but is that even possible? They are perfectly smooth after some primer. Thanks again.

Some of you are familiar with my saga, trying to get my resin casted wheels chrome plated. I have sent them out three times to a reputable plater, only to have them return with tiny bubbles all over them each time. In my latest effort, I created the master, created a mold using no release agent on the master, casted a dozen or so wheels with no release agents used and heating the mold, removed the parts from the mold, mounted them, and shipped them off to be chromed. I have been using the Alumilite mold silicone and their casting resin as well. Both have been purchased withing the last six months. I am able to spray paint the resin castings without any issues, perfectly smooth. I can also use products like spaztix and have it come very close to chrome. However, the chroming always fails with the pitting, yellowing, and tin pin holes in the chrome. I have been thinking about this, and have been searching the forum. Even though from start to finish I am not using a release agent, do I still need to use some type of degreaser on the parts before having them chromed because of the silicone mold? I see many people mentioning Wesleys bleche white. Since this is no longer available, is there something else I can use? I really need to get this working. You guys who are getting your resin castings chromed, what is the method of your success? Thanks.

Thanks again everyone! Thanks! I have been looking through m past posts, and realized alot of my Corvettes haven`t been posted yet in Under Glass. Maybe I will compile them all and create a completed builds for the past decade.

Thanks everyone! Glad to see some like that Mustang.

Can enamel paint really be chromed plated? And if enamel, what about lacquer? I am able to get these nearly perfect, at least as far as texture, with duplicolor primer. That`s a simple fix if it can be plated over.

I use duplicolor clear almost exclusively. I try to avoid all others whenever possible. The big scale beauty car was all Duplicolor from memory: Now I have had fogging issues, but only when humidity is high, and it also tends to diminish when I let it cure inside the house. This Willy`s actually looked primer gray (not an exaggeration!!) after spraying about 5 coats of clear. After a couple weeks of curing in air condition, and after a good rub down, it looks like this to this day: Go easy on me with the graphics. It was built 15 years ago, and I was "experimenting."

Thanks everyone. Life has really gotten in the way of building and posting lately. Last week, I managed to get some better pics of the black Mustang for a contest I am entering. I`ll just post them here quick:

I haven't yet because this guy, after reading the comments on here, seems very reputable. Also, the bumper that came from the kit that he chromed for me looks almost perfect. . Maybe I will start looking at other players though. Anyone have recommendations besides chrometech?

Well, I just got the parts back from the platers, and I think these are worse than the 2 prior batches. I am really at a loss. Some of them look like flat aluminum. Some of them have the bad pinhole issue. Some of them appear to have a yellowish tint. I looked at the backs of them, and the rack that I mounted them on, and the chrome on them seems to be decent. So I dont know what to do, except for maybe start this whole process ever again, fabricating a completely new master from scratch. If anyone has any ideas, I would appreciate it.

Thanks Monty! I have the help of several 1:1 owners who help me with originality etc. One of them is giving me a hard time because he doesn`t like the shade of the tie-rod ends. :D But, as best I can tell from pictures of the real car, it is close. I`m not sure I`ll undertake another one of these without the sidepipes. The kit only comes with the parts for the sidepipes, so everything from the exhaust manifolds to the tailpipe ends had to be fabricated. It was fun trying to bend everything and have everything line up perfectly and mate up with the tailpipe ends that must go through the center of the outlet in the body. And those bends right over the rear leaf springs are tighter and more complicated then they look.

Thanks everyone! It is the Revell 1/25 GT350H kit from memory.

Great work. Your drag builds are crazy!

They all look fantastic. Again, I really like that black `cuda with the Keystones.

They all look so real! Very nice! I really like this one. Is that the AMT kit?

Not nearly as many as I would have like to have finished mostly because life got in the way, but also because of the L88 build which has taken nearly all year so far. Here is what I have so far. Only three total completions this year... And here is what I have so far on the 1/12 L88. I hope to have it finished next week assuming parts make it here from the platers:

These still look incredible Kenny! Glad to see this post back up at the top again. It looks like you are distracted with the Peterbuilt. Once you are done with that, you should give another one of these a try. I would love to see what you do with it.

Not a surprise to those of you who know me, or who have "Styrene Stars", but mine of course is : I really wish they would re-release this kit. The big Camaro is about a tie on my list. And these two are close seconds:

Does seem quite high. However..... As someone else mentioned, for a commissioned build, that is not unreasonable. I was just browsing through an old issue of "the other magazine" from about 10 years ago. In it, a "professional builder" said his builds can cost up to $1500, and that was 10 years ago. Also, if you don`t like the price, pick up another one somewhere else. I`m sure Walmart has them, right? Oh wait, this one is one of a kind?

Nice work so far! Those colors, both the interior and exterior, look like they are spot on! Did you clear over the decal? If so, how long did you allow the decal to cure?

After doing your search in Google, the top line for each result should be in blue, and right below that should be the actual URL (http://www.modelcarsmagforum.com/....). I just searched for my Elaenor Mustang, and the line ended with "Under Glass." Right beside the "Under Glass" is a small arrow that, if clicked, should display "Cached." Are you not seeing that? If you are not seeing this option, does anything pop up when you mouse-over either the link or the URL in the results? Sorry if this seems elementary, but I have a feeling many others at varying levels of internet savvy will be reading this in the future.

Thanks Gregg. As I said in my other post, this is my favorite modeling forum on the net.

I can personally attest to this. Never, ever, does everything go as planned with a server migration!! Thanks for your hard work Gregg and the admins, keeping the best modeling forum on the net IMO running.

Thanks guys for all the advice! I took a good bit of time sanding my master and then actually buffing it out a little last night. I then created a new mold with no release agent whatsoever. I cast my parts this morning and I no longer have the issue with pinholes!! I can`t thank you guys enough. Now hopefully I can get these wheels off to chrome, get them installed, and have a unique build for you guys to see. Oh, and sorry for any contention...definitely wasn`t my intention...

Thanks wisdonm. So basically you are saying to just pour the Silicon directly onto the bare part, no release? That would certainly simplify things for me, as you might guess if you are familiar with my previous thread regarding the chrome issues. Thanks!

Ok, I think I finally have my resin issue solved! I have a resin master that looks acceptable, but it is in primer. I am considering using baby/talcum powder this time as a mold release on my master. Will this work? I know a lot of you guys use this for the resin copies you are making, but what about the master when making the mold? Thanks!