Need ideas on how to do shiny chrome on airplane fuselage?

[bh1701]

Gang,

I need your ideas! 

I will be building a model of the Lockheed Jetstart VC140B - painted in the presidential aircraft colors. I have a Roden 1/44th scale model of this plane.

The actual plane has several areas that have ae bright shiny chrome finish. Any ideas on how I could replicate this finish on the model? A couple of pictures of the plane are attached below.

Some of my thoughts were:

• Using BareMetal foil
  • I'd mark the shape of the chromed areas with Tamiya Masking Tape and then apply the foil. I figure the masking tape under the foil would give me a path to follow with my Xacto knife.
• Using the FusionFirm Silver that has been discussed in other posts
  • I bought some of this and it is very shiny!
  • However, I am worried about the issues when it gets touched and turns dull. Being on a number of areas on the plane, I would worry that these areas might be touched at some time during assembly or after.
• Using Tamiya's TS-83 Metallic Silver
  • They recommend applying it over a gloss black layer, and also say NOT to put clear over it.
  • This makes me worry that it is just like many other good chrome finishes that suffer when it is cleared or is subject to dulling when touched.

What other ideas might you have for me?

Thanks,

Bart

 

 

[Oldriginal86]

BMF would be the most durable and can be polished to a very high luster.

[Old Buckaroo]

Id go with the Bare Metal Foil myself.  I once painted a P-38 with Alclad and it looked great but was fragile to touch. Ive seen modelers over in England glue strips of aluminum foil over B-17's also. They looked great but a tedious task. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Well, it's not "chrome". It's highly polished aluminum.

BMF, actually being aluminum, would produce the most realistic finish, and it's thin enough for rivet and panel lines to show through when it's burnished down.

There's only one "chrome" paint I'm aware of that can be clear-coated and is durable, but it's not really cost-effective to do only one small model with it.

Some of the 'dulling' of "chrome" paint can be mitigated by wearing thin cotton gloves during assembly.

[DJMar]

Given the 1:144 scale, I'd say that no matter what option you choose, you've got your work cut out for you.

As someone who has built this kit (the C140A version) I salute your ambitions.

 

 

[mcs1056]

Plenty of detail remains when he's done. Besides, on model kits, rivets and panel lines are almost always exaggerated. This allows polishing that BMF would never stand up to.

On real aircraft, we always follow the final polish with a rub down with flour (yep...that baking stuff) on a rag. This draws out polish residue you can't get out any other way. You'll be surprised how black the flour gets after the rub, and by how much "shinier" the aluminum is.  

[Jim Dodson]

Bart, while I haven't used any of the spray products yet, I do have on my shelf a 1/72 scale F-86 Sabre that I foiled with BMF 20+ years ago and then applied the waterslide decals over the foil. It looks fine still with no lifting of decals, etc. I did not use any gloss coats on anything. I do remember the foilng process was tedious, but I love the results. Sorry no picture, my computer doesn't like downloading photos from my phone!

[peteski]

For most realistic metal finish BMF is it.  Just like their slogan states "Bare-Metal Foil looks like metal because it is metal™". It was also originally developed and sold for natural metal finish aircraft models.  Using it for automotive chrome trim came in later.

And sorry Bill to jump in here again, but the original BMF "chrome" (and now "Improved  chrome") is *NOT* just an aluminum foil.  It is some sort of soft, pliable metal alloy which is why it conforms so well to complex curves and raised surfaces.  It also has a slightly "warm" metal  look similar to how nickel looks like.  You can easily verify that it is not aluminum because it will melt at low enough temperatures needed for soldering. If you have a soldering iron, you can easily test that. You can't melt aluminum using soldering temperatures (500-800 deg. F).

Later on BMF also started manufacturing the "ultra bright chrome" foil. That is just aluminum foil, but it is nowhere as easy to work with as the original BMF stuff because aluminum is much stiffer than that special metal alloy. But it looks just like bright shiny aluminum.  All the other color foils BMF sells also are the stiffer aluminum type.

[Bugatti Fan]

IPMS is full of 'Wingy Thingy' guys with lots of aircraft finishing experience too.

[mcs1056]

No one tells him to go to other sites for airplane information?

Must just be me. 

[DJMar]

2 minutes ago, mcs1056 said:

No one tells him to go to other sites for airplane information?

Must just be me. 

He's not asking about a particular airframe or how to build it, he's asking about how to best replicate a shiny metal finish. Auto modelers often deal with shiny metal finishes - chrome, mostly - so it was certainly something that we, as a group, have plenty of experience with. BMF on a car, truck, boat, plane, etc., is still going to be BMF.

OTOH, you asked about building a particular kit of a particular aircraft. You didn't like that people pointed you in the direction of other sites that cater to that sort of thing, since center pylons on F18Es are not something we all know about.

It's not a good look to be snarky with folks who are tying to help. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

On 10/7/2025 at 10:57 AM, peteski said:

And sorry Bill to jump in here again, but the original BMF "chrome" (and now "Improved  chrome") is *NOT* just an aluminum foil...

You know Pete, the main point of my post was that shiny naked aircraft skins aren't "chrome" as stated by the OP, but rather polished aluminum.

BMF is real metal, and being so, looks more like real polished aluminum than any faux medium.

I apologize profoundly and humbly for misleading modelers by stating it's aluminum.

Naming the specific alloy seemed to be beside the point, and honestly, I don't know what it is anyway...but because of its handling characteristics I'd assume whatever it is, aluminum is in there somewhere, and maybe bismuth if it melts at a low temperature. Bismuth and aluminum have poor mutual solubility however, and don't alloy well, so I'm probably wrong again.

But since you undoubtedly know, please enlighten all of as as to the specific chemical composition of BMF, as my saying it's "aluminum" is incorrect, and your saying it's "some sort of soft, pliable metal alloy" just doesn't give exacting modelers enough detail.

EDIT: We'd all also like to know how the stuff is made. At least I sure would. So please explain that too, citing sources for those of us who'd like to research further. 

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Ace-Garageguy

[peteski]

5 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

But since you undoubtedly know, please enlighten all of as as to the specific chemical composition of BMF, as my saying it's "aluminum" is incorrect, and your saying it's "some sort of soft, pliable metal alloy" just doesn't give exacting modelers enough detail.

EDIT: We'd all also like to know how the stuff is made. At least I sure would. So please explain that too, citing sources for those of us who'd like to research further.

Here we go again Bill.  You're right, I never stated that I knew what specific alloy the original chrome BMF foil is made of.  The only test I made was that you can easily melt it (just like you would melt the ordinary tin/lead solder) with an ordinary soldering iron (mine was at 700 deg. F).  That alone proves to me that it is not just just aluminum foil. I then provided more details describing the other types of BMF foils. I do not have any sources to cite. This is all simply based on my observations. As you know, some of the older folks still have those critical thinking and keen observation skills, like looking at some foil and being able to tell that it is not just an aluminum foil. If a had an access to a gas chromatography–mass spectrometer I could tell you what is the composition of that alloy, but unfortunately I don't.  I am also curious as to what that alloy is.  But do modelers really need to understand the exact chemical composition of the BMF's original chrome foil?  I think that just knowing that it is is quite stretchy (more than just an aluminum foil) would be enough.

The goal of my post was not to contradict you, but to provide some additional info about the various BMF foil types. Even if that info is just my observations.  You can take it or leave it.