Lettering, emblems and ornaments pre-chromium-plating

[PeterLepold]

Hi

Somebody have problems to chromium-plating small parts like lettering, emblems, ornaments, door handles, door locks and so on. Most people paint it with silver color, but this is not looking good and you never can get a realistic look with silver color paint. Here is a small but effective trick how to do this.

You need Bare Metal Foil, a sharp hobby knife (X-Acto as example), tweezers, cotton bud and toothpick.

I'll show you the trick on the "PLYMOUTH" lettering of a '70 Superbird.

The original car with its lettering "PLYMOUTH" on the rear sheet:

First step is, put Bare Metal Foil onto the lettering and cut out the Bare Metal Foil as scarcely as possible around the individual letters. use tooth pick and cotton bud to smooth the foil and above all the edges of the foil.

Second step, you prime the parts/body as usual. But now begins the trick. The primer covered the lettering including the Bare Metal Foil. So that the signature becomes again visible, the letters are polished. So long, until all letters are again visible. Please do not use sanding paper or other thing for sanding, this will destroy the Bare Metal Foil.

I'm use German polish named "UNIPOL", a very great polish to make these things great.

Third and last step, paint the body/parts as usual. After it is painted, polish again the lettering to make the lettering visible.

Hope this was understandable and helps you to give lettering a realistic look.

Here are another example at which I did the same trick.

1966 Park Lane, emblemes and all lettering I did with the same trick.

Greetings from Germany

Peter

[KT EASTMAN]

Great tip Peter!! BTW, I think that 1:1 Superbird pic was taken at Bandimere Speedwy in Morrison, Colorado!!!

[59 Impala]

Great tip Peter. I'm going to try that on my next build. Dan

[FASTBACK340]

I always wondered if the bare metal would lay down enough to not be visible under the primer & paint.

Now I know. THANKS !!!!!!!!!!!

[ismaelg]

Thanks Peter!

I had a vague idea but you made it clear. I'm trying that on my current build.

Thanks,

[walt francis]

Just wanted to give one little tip on what I use for burnishing my foil, what I use is balsawood it's soft enough not to rip the foil and stiff enough to get the foil down in the real small spots and get it smoothed out nice

Walt

[JayVee]

I thought I'd add that I've had success doing a similar technique after final painting. I foiled this emblem and trimmed the foil closely to the outer contours of the script, and then I flowed small amounts of the body color paint into the recesses of the inner part of the script:

[jbwelda]

why do you polish it twice, once after primer and then again after the final paint? why not just do it once after the final paint? is it to keep the paint thickness relatively thin and so not disturb the foil too much?

[Jairus]

So the primer dosn't show as a thin line around the letter upon polishing... I think.

J

[jbwelda]

gotcha.

gotta try this on my next project.

[JAFFA]

wow, that really does give a better result, and its (seemingly) easier than painting small details!!

btw, JayVee, where did ya get those rims on that white pickup??

[Mr. Metallic]

Great technique. I've heard people talk about it before, but now I know how to do it. I look forward to trying it! Thanks for the tutorial.

[Keef]

im sure that works with enamel paints but it BMF compatible with Dupli-Color Lacquers?

[JTRACING]

im sure that works with enamel paints but it BMF compatible with Dupli-Color Lacquers?

Yes, you should have no problems with any lacquer paints

[Wildrice]

Yup.

Hey Steve and others. What do you use to polish your BMF below the primer and paint? I want to try this on my next build. I know I can't find the stuff thats in Germany around here.

[Steve H.]

Wildrice, I use a very fine sanding stick or polishing cloth. May take longer to clean it off, but less chance of damaging the surrounding area.

[Wildrice]

Wildrice, I use a very fine sanding stick or polishing cloth. May take longer to clean it off, but less chance of damaging the surrounding area.

How fine a sanding stick? What polishing cloth? I just want to use the right stuff and not mess up a build.

[Steve H.]

I have a triple grit sanding stick that starts at 3200 and has 2 finer grits. 3200 will work just fine, just go at it carefully. Thinking about it more, I'd use a sanding stick instead of cloth, because you can better control the area that touches the model. Don't stress about it too much, its a pretty easy technique and after you do it once, you'll wonder why you were stressed.

[m408]

Hi

Somebody have problems to chromium-plating small parts like lettering, emblems, ornaments, door handles, door locks and so on. Most people paint it with silver color, but this is not looking good and you never can get a realistic look with silver color paint. Here is a small but effective trick how to do this.

You need Bare Metal Foil, a sharp hobby knife (X-Acto as example), tweezers, cotton bud and toothpick.

I'll show you the trick on the "PLYMOUTH" lettering of a '70 Superbird.

The original car with its lettering "PLYMOUTH" on the rear sheet:

First step is, put Bare Metal Foil onto the lettering and cut out the Bare Metal Foil as scarcely as possible around the individual letters. use tooth pick and cotton bud to smooth the foil and above all the edges of the foil.

Second step, you prime the parts/body as usual. But now begins the trick. The primer covered the lettering including the Bare Metal Foil. So that the signature becomes again visible, the letters are polished. So long, until all letters are again visible. Please do not use sanding paper or other thing for sanding, this will destroy the Bare Metal Foil.

I'm use German polish named "UNIPOL", a very great polish to make these things great.

Third and last step, paint the body/parts as usual. After it is painted, polish again the lettering to make the lettering visible.

Hope this was understandable and helps you to give lettering a realistic look.

Here are another example at which I did the same trick.

1966 Park Lane, emblemes and all lettering I did with the same trick.

Greetings from Germany

Peter

Hey Peter,

This may sound silly but...Why couldn't you use the same procedure for all add on chrome parts? ie... side trim, window molding, street rod door hinges, etc...

[Olle F]

I thought I'd add that I've had success doing a similar technique after final painting. I foiled this emblem and trimmed the foil closely to the outer contours of the script, and then I flowed small amounts of the body color paint into the recesses of the inner part of the script

I have never had the balls to do the BMF before paint as I have always been afraid of those primer "ghost lines" Jairus is talking about. Laying the BMF after the paint and then touching up sounds like a safer option, I was actually thinking about doing something like that on my '65 Impala build.

[Guest Davkin]

I use the same technique but do it in a slightly different way. First, I actually purposely use a single large piece of foil. This is so I can do several applications of primer over the area and between coats feather the edge of the foil piece with fine sand paper to eliminate any chance of the edges of the foil showing during paint application. The other way I differ is I don't polish to expose the foil, I use a micro brush and nail polish remover to remove the primer and paint. I however do as Peter does and do it both after primer and then again after painting, it's much more difficult to remove both the primer and paint in one shot.

David

[PlasticFanatic67]

Very awesome work and thank everyone for the tips. It makes it an even greater hobby with everyone sharing there tips and techniques. I always do custom cars so I can just sand off the emblems and say it was shaved anyway. Now with this technique I can finally do some stock modeling.... Thank you again to everyone...