Removing Chrome Plating

[Kit Basher]

I asked this question once and one of the replies I got was Westley's Bleche-Wite. I happened to have some so I've tried it twice. Bare plastic in like a half-hour. May be beginner's luck, worked for me tho.

[JTRACING]

I use normal bleach, chrome is gone in a few mins tops

AMT chrome is normally a bit harder to strip than Revell

Edited May 2, 2011 by JTRACING

[scalenut]

plain old bleach in a mason jar ,, revell chrome ...30 seconds

amt chrome can take up to an hour,, everything else goes pretty quick.

I figure everyone has bleach..and it's cheap !

it won't remove the clear undercoat but thats easily sanded if necessary

Edited May 3, 2011 by scalenut

[evilone]

Dot 3 brake fluid or my favorite windex

[kenlwest]

I recently bought the MPC 1/20 Indy Turbine Car on EBAY (Now I am broke), and I wanted to strip the obnoxious chrome off the parts, so I was reading through this thread for tips.

But I discovered yet another method on my own and thought I would share it with you.

TSP Substitute.

You can buy it at any hardware store. Just make sure that if you get the regular TSP, that you try it on a piece of sprue first before dunking the good parts.

Worked in 30 minutes. (No smell either)

Ken

[Dr. Cranky]

Mr. Cole, I made this one for you, and I hope it helps. Remember that there are many ways of skinning a cat, or so the saying goes.

[highway]

Mr. Cole, I made this one for you, and I hope it helps. Remember that there are many ways of skinning a cat, or so the saying goes.

I'm sorry, but I still say the best is the Dawn Power Dissolver, you don't need Haz-Mat protection to use it!

NO FUMES!!

NO GLOVES NEEDED!!

SAFE FOR THE FAMILY!!

[Dr. Cranky]

That's another good way, although I have not had it remove the chrome as fast. But if you let it sit overnight, it will do the work.

One thing you learn on this forum is that there's always lots of different ways of getting the results you are looking for.

[evilone]

Mr. Cole, I made this one for you, and I hope it helps. Remember that there are many ways of skinning a cat, or so the saying goes.

Aww come on doc you missed the best steps.

Place a towel over your head and the bowl and breath deeply lol.

JK thats a good tip but i still like my dot 3 and my windex lol

[Dr. Cranky]

Maybe what we need to do in the Lab-RAT-ory is a Comparo Experiment of all the different methods and solutions, and really take notes, draw up a pros and cons list.

I like that . . .

[highway]

Maybe what we need to do in the Lab-RAT-ory is a Comparo Experiment of all the different methods and solutions, and really take notes, draw up a pros and cons list.

I like that . . .

Well, the pic I posted earlier in the thread with the Power Dissovler bottle in it was in about 3-4 hours, and completely removed both the chrome and the lacquer undercoat, with just a slight cleanup with an old toothbrush required.

The other parts were "spray and forgot", and required only a water washup.

[scalenut]

I have had good luck with plain bleach so far ,, I recently received a large parts lot of wheels and tires.

most of the wheels were pretty scratchy grimed and dirty.They were from several types and years of kits.

After I disassembled all the wheels I was able to fill a large mason jar full, I poured in plain bleach.And capped it

most of the wheels almost instantly stripped , some were a little more stubborn, I just let them sit while I had dinner

everything was completely clean by the time I finshed

I drained the bleach back into the bottle and rinsed out the wheels.

with a little caution it's a very safe( I do it in the kitchen sink) and not very smelly ( I cap the jar) means of doing it. I would imagine oven cleaners and stronger messy things would work quicker on some of the more stubborn chromes

.. I do notice that on some chrome parts the underlying gloss coat does remain when using bleach ,, but having a nice glossy surface can be a benefit if respraying with something like a gloss black followed by alclad. less polishing

I always amazed by how many things I never thought of will strip chrome ,, from what I understand it's not actually chrome,it's vaporised aluminum, much the same as the reflective surface of CD's

[Dr. Cranky]

Interesting, which is also the reason why Alclad comes pretty close to it.

[Casey]

I'm sorry, but I still say the best is the Dawn Power Dissolver, you don't need Haz-Mat protection to use it!

NO FUMES!!

NO GLOVES NEEDED!!

SAFE FOR THE FAMILY!!

Be aware that the active ingredient in DPD is lye (Sodium Hydroxide- NaOH), the same as in Drano, Easy-Off Oven Cleaner (in the yellow can), and many others.

[charlie8575]

I use bleach in an all-plastic jar- jar and lid, too. The reason I do this is that chlorine fumes will corrode any metal they come in contact with. The plastic won't have this problem.

I've had bleach work in as short as ten minute to a couple of hours. I don't mind the lacquer undercoat, it acts as a primer, so I can paint directly on it.

Charlie Larkin

[brad4321]

I have usually never had a problem stripping chrome. I use some brand of oven cleaner and it takes it right off. But with the last two Revell kits, I'm left with a yellowish residue which is hard to remove. After using some alcohal and soaking the parts in warm soapy water it appeared gone. When I sprayed the parts with Testors Metallizer, a lot of cracking appeared when the paint dried. And this has happened multiple times.

Help!

Thanks!

[imatt88]

Hmmm, I also use Easy Off, but I've also started using Purple Power to strip chrome.

That might help take off the pesky undercoat some companies use

Cheers, Ian

[TurboKitty]

soak them in bleach for an hour, then scrub with an old toothbrush and rinse clean.

[kittesvsr71]

Hi all, its been a while since I posted on here, my hd crashed and long story short, I finally got back on here. I screwed up my black and gold paintjob on my 1982 trans am (both colors I used Testors Spray Can Enamels), and I got the Dawn Power Dissolver yesterday at Wal Mart. But my question is this - do I need to just spray the Dawn Power Dissolver on the car body all over and let it set, or do I need to put the car body into a container and remove the spray attachment and just pour it all over the car letting it soak and possibly submerge the whole car?

All help is Greatly Appreciated

Thanks

Jeff

Edited November 1, 2011 by kittesvsr71

[Casey]

I've tired Easy-Off and 91% isopropyl alcohol, and the chrome plating undercoat is not coming off. Dave Z, if you read this, does Dawn Power Dissolver work for this?

The wheels in question are from AMT's prefinished Phantom Vickie kit.

[GeeBee]

I had the same problem with the '32 Chrysler I'm building at the moment, for the first time, I tried the household bleach to remove the chrome, it did this but left behind the lacquer base that the chrome adhere's to, so it went back into the Pyrex dish and left to soak in a coat of Fairy Power spray, which over there, is branded as Dawn Power Dissolver.

[Foxer]

I do use Dawn Power Dissolver to remove the undercoat but it still takes time .. matter of days sometimes.

[Casey]

Thanks. DPD it will be.

[JMD904]

Wanna go crazy? Try Coca-Cola or brake fluid. Seems the AMT kits has to be worse for chrome removal. I've had some luck with simple green too! Just brake fluid will make the plastic too soft if left in it too long. Just some patience and a serious scrubber will do.

[MrObsessive]

Are you using the regular Easy Off and NOT the "Fume Free" junk?

I've used the regular Easy Off (yellow can) in the past and it's never been a problem for me. Unfortunately, it may have been changed as more companies try to be "environmentally friendly".