Removing Chrome Plating

[SfanGoch]

The plating was pretty ratty and I was planning on removing it anyway.

[stavanzer]

10 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

I was attempting to clean the front bumper/grille from an SMP 1961 Chrysler Imperial using Dawn Platinum Powerwash Spray. Scrubbing with a toothbrush, I discovered that it would completely remove the chrome plating.

But Did it remove the Lacquer undercoat?

[SfanGoch]

Yes, it did. I just stripped the rear bumper of an AMT '58 Plymouth down to its gray styrene. No lacquer undercoat left.

[Ulf]

After the owen cleaner, Tamiya lacquer thinner take the undercoat away over nigth. A Wood toothpick does the last whitout scratching the parts.

Edit: I have stripped old Monogram and new Round2 overnight and even a couple of nights without problems but you should probably test with a piece of the sprue to be sure. 

Happiness is taking parts out of the oven cleaner and see that there was no undercoat..

Edited June 17 by Ulf

[NOBLNG]

7 minutes ago, Ulf said:

After the owen cleaner, Tamiya lacquer thinner take the undercoat away over nigth. A Wood toothpick does the last whitout scratching the parts.

Is the “Tamiya” lacquer thinner weak enough that it won’t melt the styrene like generic LT will?

[Ulf]

49 minutes ago, NOBLNG said:

Is the “Tamiya” lacquer thinner weak enough that it won’t melt the styrene like generic LT will?

Se my edit.

[Ulf]

On 6/17/2025 at 4:52 PM, Ulf said:

After the owen cleaner, Tamiya lacquer thinner take the undercoat away over nigth. A Wood toothpick does the last whitout scratching the parts.

Edit: I have stripped old Monogram and new Round2 overnight and even a couple of nights without problems but you should probably test with a piece of the sprue to be sure. 

Happiness is taking parts out of the oven cleaner and see that there was no undercoat..

Update, I put a chromed part from Round2 directly into Tamiya's lacquer thinner and after 18 hours I just had to brush it lightly with a toothbrush and the chrome flakes flew like light snowflakes. Now I will skip the mess with my decanted oven cleaner as long as the Croweparts fit in the thinnerjar.

[Lionel]

On 9/6/2006 at 8:07 PM, Zoom Zoom said:

I'll second the fact that Easy Off is excellent at removing chrome (plating vanishes before your eyes, clear takes longer). In addition to gloves, you must wear some sort of mask as you cannot breathe the stuff.

I've been using this no-name brand that is "fume-free" (it still has an odor just not as harsh as other brands) which works great. I still use latex gloves though for handling.