Vallejo chrome

[majel]

I picked up a four pack of Vallejo Metal Color acrylic paint; silver, aluminum, dark aluminum, and steel.  So far I've been impressed with their ease of application and how "hard" they cure.  Has anyone tried their chrome paint?  I have heard that the Vallejo is more durable than Alclad and you don't have the lacquer smell.  I know a lot of aircraft modelers use Vallejo, but how about car guys?  

 

[peteski]

While I don't have any direct experience with Vallejo Chrome, all Vallejo paints are water-based acrylic enamels, so I wouldn't be surprised if Chrome paint does not have strong solvent odor.  It will probably smell like their other paints.

[Dave G.]

I watched one review where the guys impression was the Vallejo stainless steel made a better rendition of chrome than the chrome paint did. But he was impressed overall with the Vallejo metal colors as acrylics go ( his words not mine). I have no first hand experience, I've kind of settled on Molotow for my chrome paint till the magic bullet of chrome paints comes along.. Molotow is close to being that imo. It is touch sensitive but in a different way than Alclad, it doesn't flake off but goes dull when touched with any pressure and that area then looks silver. But it's highly reflective stuff otherwise.

[OldNYJim]

I watched a couple of YouTube videos where aircraft modellers praised this stuff, and I needed some metal finishes anyway so I ordered a set of four different metal finishes that included the chrome.  

They didn’t come yet, but I’m just reviving this thread in case anyone else has tried this stuff and has any tips in the meantime.  I’m thinking of laying it down just like I would lay down Alclad and see how it works out…

Will report back in a few days either way!

[El Roberto]

I haven't seen any acrylic metal paint which was very convincing.  They just don't have the shine of real metal.

You might try AK Interactive metal paints, they are enamel and look great. Easy to apply and are durable. 

[OldNYJim]

2 hours ago, El Roberto said:

I haven't seen any acrylic metal paint which was very convincing.  They just don't have the shine of real metal.

You might try AK Interactive metal paints, they are enamel and look great. Easy to apply and are durable. 

Me either, you're right - I've always got on well with Alclad, Spazstix and Molotow - I don't recall ever trying the AK stuff though.

Guess we'll see how Vallejo's offering compares!

[Nacho Z]

Just to add my 2 cents on AK Interactive Xtreme Metals, they are very, very nice paints.  I have had good results with all of them including their chrome. I have shot a good bit of Alclad as well EXCEPT for their chrome. I could never find it in stock when I was looking for it. Alclad probably stills holds the edge for metalizers.

[OldNYJim]

Ok, my acrylic chrome came today - I actually picked up a set with some other colors I wanted to try, but you can buy it on it’s own too…

I’m working on a 57 Chevy build so I prepped a bunch of parts to experiment on - mostly with gloss black enamel just like I would for Alclad / Spazstix…except for the big front and rear bumpers that I prepped with gloss black lacquer.  Reason for that being, if the results were horrible at least I can wash off the Vallejo fairly easily, recoat with gloss enamel clear and then I’ve got a surface ready for one of the other chromes.

First experiment, misted on over black enamel, straight out of the bottle:

Not bad - kind of has that polished metal look but not what I would call chrome.  I let it try for an hour or so in the dehydrator to see if it got any shiner, but nope. 

Next experiment, a couple of drops of Createx airbrush thinner to let it mist and atomize out of the airbrush a little better, shot over black enamel again:

Shinier!  It laid down smoother, atomized better coming out of the airbrush and is definitely a better result than shooting it unthinned.

Next experiment, this time thinned with a couple of drops of Sunnyside lacquer thinner:

Way better!  Actually got something approaching chrome this time.  It has a little bit of a haze to it, which is something I tend to get with Spazstix too (although not Alclad)…which, if it’s like Spazstix I should be able to buff out to a really nice reflective chrome finish.  I’ll let the parts dry for a couple of days and see if a polish-job improves them further.

Overall, I’m not blown away by this stuff so far, but I don’t dislike it either - it’s better than I thought it would be!  Not necessarily any better or worse than Spazstix / Alclad - just different!  

Edited July 3, 2021 by CabDriver

[Phirewriter]

In your photos it seems to lack some resemblance to chrome, but as with any of these types of paints they seem to need some experimentation. It does however have an excellent polished metal look, a little dark for aluminum but it still looks good and has numerous possibilities.  I'm definitely going to order some and give it a try. When rumors of airbrushing Metalizers being discontinued started a number of years ago I stocked up quite a bit but never hurts to have an alternative or even another variation for metal finishes. Thanks for the photos and review.

[OldNYJim]

1 hour ago, Phirewriter said:

In your photos it seems to lack some resemblance to chrome, but as with any of these types of paints they seem to need some experimentation. It does however have an excellent polished metal look, a little dark for aluminum but it still looks good and has numerous possibilities.  I'm definitely going to order some and give it a try. When rumors of airbrushing Metalizers being discontinued started a number of years ago I stocked up quite a bit but never hurts to have an alternative or even another variation for metal finishes. Thanks for the photos and review.

I agree, it’s not quite a perfect mirror finish like you’d hope.  And if you have to shoot a black base like you would for Alclad and then add lacquer thinners to make it even more like Alclad then I guess I may as well use, well, Alclad ?

As you rightly mention though, it’s nice to have different sheens and colors for these metal finishes - I mix between Alclad and Spazstix a lot because to my eye they have their own looks somewhat.

I’m hoping that after a couple of days I’ll be able to buff these parts with a q-tip like I like to do with Spazstix and they’ll really start to pop…I’ll report back if it works (or, indeed, if it doesn’t…)