Lindberg 1/8th scale Big Red Rod, no chrome???

[Oldmopars]

I just got the Big Red Rod from Lindberg and when I opened it up, there was no chrome. I also found a reviewer on Amazon that said the same thing. When I looked at the instructions they call the sprues Grey, not chrome, they are grey. 

Anyone know why they are grey and not chromed? I had heard the chrome was rather poor, did they just give up and not bother? Is there 2 versions, one chrome and the other not?

It is very strange to me. Its OK, as I had heard the chrome was not good anyway. 

[CabDriver]

There was a bunch of discussion about this on the Ollie’s thread when they had stock of these recently - if you ordered from Amazon it might well have just been a seller who had bought a bunch of them from Ollie’s and resold on Amazon.

[Casey]

Looks like the most recent issue skipped the chrome plating, while older issues had it:

New:

Old:

Edited December 15, 2020 by Casey

[Mark]

I haven't seen one of the newer kits without plating, but I'm betting J. Lloyd used the old box art still showing plating!

This isn't a first, though.  There's a Revell-Germany issue of the Monogram 1/8 scale '32 Ford that has some usually-plated parts furnished in silver plastic.  The old Revell double car kits (the ones made up of Custom Car Parts packs) have some of the parts trees in silver or black plastic that were plated when issued as separate packs.  I haven't got any of the boxes for those kits, so I don't know how those parts are shown in the box art.

If I remember right, the SSP reissue of the Mickey Thompson Challenger I from the late Nineties has the "plated" tree molded in silver.  And then there are the Advent issues of Revell car kits, some of which have plating and others that have silver plastic instead.

[Deuces ll]

I have a Revell '64 Thunderbolt bolt 427 kit that came in a plain white box and the chrome trees were plated bright aluminum.... I'll have to post some pictures of those when I get a chance... Maybe after work today.... ?

[Mark]

There was also a Monogram '66 Shelby GT350 kit with the dull finish plating.  Revell-Monogram had a display at a Toledo toy show that year, I asked them why that was done because it was actually extra work (dull spray over the plating).  The reply I got was "we did that because the engine parts on the plated tree needed an aluminum finish, you can apply clear gloss over it to get shiny chrome on the bumpers".  My reply was "it's easier for the builder to make bright plating dull, than to make dull plating bright", also that the other Shelby kits had bright plating so they should have been consistent.  The T-Bolt kit was out around that time too, as I understand the guy who commissioned that production run had the brainstorm to ask for dull finish chrome.  That kit was the first issue of the 'Bolt to be molded in white plastic.

Edited December 16, 2020 by Mark
Spelling

[Chuckyg1]

I recently receive the opel admiral from ICM with no plated parts. The kit is also boxed as an RoG kit. Might be a connection there.

[Deuces ll]

On 12/16/2020 at 6:22 AM, Mark said:

There was also a Monogram '66 Shelby GT350 kit with the dull finish plating.  Revell-Monogram had a display at a Toledo toy show that year, I asked them why that was done because it was actually extra work (dull spray over the plating).  The reply I got was "we did that because the engine parts on the plated tree needed an aluminum finish, you can apply clear gloss over it to get shiny chrome on the bumpers".  My reply was "it's easier for the builder to make bright plating dull, than to make dull plating bright", also that the other Shelby kits had bright plating so they should have been consistent.  The T-Bolt kit was out around that time too, as I understand the guy who commissioned that production run had the brainstorm to ask for dull finish chrome.  That kit was the first issue of the 'Bolt to be molded in white plastic.

Ok, cool!... Thanks!... ??

[peteski]

On 12/16/2020 at 6:22 AM, Mark said:

There was also a Monogram '66 Shelby GT350 kit with the dull finish plating.  Revell-Monogram had a display at a Toledo toy show that year, I asked them why that was done because it was actually extra work (dull spray over the plating).  The reply I got was "we did that because the engine parts on the plated tree needed an aluminum finish, you can apply clear gloss over it to get shiny chrome on the bumpers".  My reply was "it's easier for the builder to make bright plating dull, than to make dull plating bright", also that the other Shelby kits had bright plating so they should have been consistent.  The T-Bolt kit was out around that time too, as I understand the guy who commissioned that production run had the brainstorm to ask for dull finish chrome.  That kit was the first issue of the 'Bolt to be molded in white plastic.

I don't know if all the model companies do that (or done it in the past), but I have seen vacuum metalized "chromed" parts have clear gloss base coat, then a layer or metalization (which is very thin and fragile) and a top gloss coat (to protect the metal layer).  So using satin instead of gloss top coat would not really require any extra work for the manufacturer.

I also noticed that Japanese models (Tamiya, Fujimi, Hasagawa, Aoshima for example) sometimes only apply the gloss clear undercoat to what they consider the "front" of the chromed pieces on the tree.   Then the front and back are matalized.  That results in one side having shiny metallic, and the other satin metallic finish

[zootlootUK]

I'm in the UK and my purchase of the Big Red Rod just got here from California. Have to say, I am not happy with this at all. No chrome, no slide-on decals. It feels like a cheapie. This can only be a money saving trick. I bought this kit 8 years ago, it came with plated parts and a nice set of decals. Note that the box still shows the original kit with the plated parts.

With the purchase, shipping and import tax, this was an expensive kit. Ever been scammed?

[Dave G.]

It would be novel, admirable even if they posted on the box the parts are not chromed. As to myself on a T bucket I could easily go without the chrome. Much of what may be chrome in my case would likely be painted anyway because I like that look on a T. And things like valve covers etc I'd probably spray with Molotow ( you can run Molotow ink through an airbrush to good effect). After market wheels would be aluminum, so no loss to me, in fact maybe a gain. It still would be nice to know though.

Edited January 25, 2021 by Dave G.

[Dave G.]

On 12/15/2020 at 6:46 PM, Mark said:

I haven't seen one of the newer kits without plating, but I'm betting J. Lloyd used the old box art still showing plating!

This isn't a first, though.  There's a Revell-Germany issue of the Monogram 1/8 scale '32 Ford that has some usually-plated parts furnished in silver plastic.  The old Revell double car kits (the ones made up of Custom Car Parts packs) have some of the parts trees in silver or black plastic that were plated when issued as separate packs.  I haven't got any of the boxes for those kits, so I don't know how those parts are shown in the box art.

If I remember right, the SSP reissue of the Mickey Thompson Challenger I from the late Nineties has the "plated" tree molded in silver.  And then there are the Advent issues of Revell car kits, some of which have plating and others that have silver plastic instead.

Is that Deuce a current issue do you know ?

[Mark]

No, that one was some years ago.

[Dave G.]

11 minutes ago, Mark said:

No, that one was some years ago.

Thanks Mark.

[Casey]

On 12/14/2020 at 8:39 PM, Oldmopars said:

I just got the Big Red Rod from Lindberg

This one?:

[Oldmopars]

11 hours ago, Casey said:

This one?:

Yes, this is the kit. For me it has turned out to be a good thing the kit has no Chrome. I have purchased 3 of these recently as I have found a vendor on Amazon that will list them at $60 with Prime free shipping. So it cost me about the same as 2 regular priced 1/25th kits. No too bad. 

As for the no Chrome, I like it, it allows me to paint everything and not have to remove all the chrome. I prefer a more home built low buck rod than the high dollar full chrome show rod anyway. 

For me, if they changed anything it would be to use styrene instead of the crappy vinyl for the interior parts. I am not using them anyway, but it would be nice to be able to paint them or glue them. 

One of my current Big Red Rods. Not done and still just mocked up. 

[Dave G.]

8 hours ago, Oldmopars said:

Yes, this is the kit. For me it has turned out to be a good thing the kit has no Chrome. I have purchased 3 of these recently as I have found a vendor on Amazon that will list them at $60 with Prime free shipping. So it cost me about the same as 2 regular priced 1/25th kits. No too bad. 

As for the no Chrome, I like it, it allows me to paint everything and not have to remove all the chrome. I prefer a more home built low buck rod than the high dollar full chrome show rod anyway. 

For me, if they changed anything it would be to use styrene instead of the crappy vinyl for the interior parts. I am not using them anyway, but it would be nice to be able to paint them or glue them. 

One of my current Big Red Rods. Not done and still just mocked up. 

Scott, what's the brass done in ? It came out great. The headlight buckets I'd probably have done in one of the blues but that car looks great !! This is what I meant in earlier post actually, that I'd probably prefer no chrome.

[Oldmopars]

1 hour ago, Dave G. said:

Scott, what's the brass done in ? It came out great. The headlight buckets I'd probably have done in one of the blues but that car looks great !! This is what I meant in earlier post actually, that I'd probably prefer no chrome.

The Brass is from ACE Hardware, its Interior Metallic paint called Mirrored Gold. I was really pleased with how it turned out, I did not think I would find anything that looked like Brass

[Dave G.]

8 hours ago, Oldmopars said:

The Brass is from ACE Hardware, its Interior Metallic paint called Mirrored Gold. I was really pleased with how it turned out, I did not think I would find anything that looked like Brass

Wow, so simple ! Did you polish it ? That tank in particular is amazing looking.

[Oldmopars]

9 hours ago, Dave G. said:

Wow, so simple ! Did you polish it ? That tank in particular is amazing looking.

Thanks, that is just sprayed out of the can, nothing else done.