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.