Coping with the curse of kit chrome - need opinions

[sjordan2]

I have a 1/25 1935 Mercedes kit. It has clean, nicely molded and finely detailed wire wheels, but they're chrome-plated with the typical kit chrome look.

The original 1:1 car had highly polished wire wheels, but not true chrome.

I want to give them a more realistic finish, and have to rely on spray cans (so Alclad is out of the picture).

1. Would a clear reduce the "chrominess?"

2. Or should I strip the chrome and repaint with SpazStix?

Edited July 19, 2012 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

Clear won't reduce the chrominess.

Strip the chrome and spray with a metalizer paint or SpazStix, depending on how "shiny" you want the wheels. SpazStix is probably going to give the look you're after.

[Mike Kucaba]

Alclad comes in spray cans. OR Carefully remove each plastic spoke one at a time and drill out the respective hole(s) in the rim & hub.

Replace the plastic spoke with fine piece of stainless steel wire of appropriate diameter. Do this to all wheels.

[Harry P.]

Alclad comes in spray cans. OR Carefully remove each plastic spoke one at a time and drill out the respective hole(s) in the rim & hub.

Replace the plastic spoke with fine piece of stainless steel wire of appropriate diameter. Do this to all wheels.

Yeah, and don't forget the nipple on each end of every spoke.

That ought to keep you busy for a while...

[Casey]

The original 1:1 car had highly polished wire wheels, but not true chrome.

What type of metal were the 1:1 wheels made out of? Steel?

[Mike Kucaba]

Yeah, and don't forget the nipple on each end of every spoke.

That ought to keep you busy for a while...

He said nipple heh heh

[Chillyb1]

Clear will reduce the chrominess (pace Harry P.) if you use semi-gloss or flat clear. But that may reduce it too much for what you want.

Edited July 20, 2012 by Chillyb1

[Harry P.]

Clear will reduce the chrominess (pace Harry P.) if you use semi-gloss or flat clear. But that may reduce it too much for what you want.

Correct.

I was assuming he meant gloss clear.

[Art Anderson]

What type of metal were the 1:1 wheels made out of? Steel?

Steel.

[sjordan2]

The Jo-Han kit is a faithful reproduction of a car that was highly restored in the 60s with chrome wire wheels (it wasn't born with them).

However, I want to build it in its original form from 1935. Maybe I don't even need SpazStix for the wheels - just a shiny silver shade or metallizer.

Edited July 20, 2012 by sjordan2

[Modelmartin]

When new, the Mercedes K series cars had painted wheels. The hubcaps and those short little studs poking out of the rims(I believe they are wheel balancers) were chrome or polished stainless. Too many classic cars are restored with chrome wires when in reality most were built with painted wheels. Even cars with wooden wheels were painted. I see lots of restored cars with clear varnish on the wooden wheels. Wrongo.

[sjordan2]

When new, the Mercedes K series cars had painted wheels. The hubcaps and those short little studs poking out of the rims(I believe they are wheel balancers) were chrome or polished stainless. Too many classic cars are restored with chrome wires when in reality most were built with painted wheels. Even cars with wooden wheels were painted. I see lots of restored cars with clear varnish on the wooden wheels. Wrongo.

You should see the European classic experts on the Antique Automobile of America forum go off when they see a restored Mercedes or Rolls with chrome wire wheels and whitewalls. As far as I've found out, this is the only 30s Mercedes that was produced by the company with chrome wire wheels, for the 540K introduction at a European auto show. Then, it had dark green paint, a tan interior and red plaid cloth seats. Here it is today.

This car was issued by Monogram in 1:24 with a separate hardtop that fits over their existing cabriolet body, with wrong but fixable fender molding, and has the wrong hood vents, which are vertical louvers - the Testors/Italeri 540K Tourer would be a good vent donor.

Edited July 20, 2012 by sjordan2

[Art Anderson]

A few classic era cars were produced with chrome-plated wire wheels, Duesenberg Model J's and SJ's being prominent for that. Others were built with wire wheels that had the hubs and rims painted, but with chrome-plated spokes (Cadillacs, Chryslers, and Imperials were very noticeable in that regard.

All that aside, with the possible exception of Duesenberg, I believe that the vast majority of luxury car makers shipped cars with wire wheels that were simply painted, both European and domestic. It's the restorers, they going all the way back into the 1960's that seemed to feel that chroming those wire wheels was the way to go.

Art

[peekay]

I use Tamiya semi-gloss clear on chrome parts if I want a more steel/aluminium look. It makes a subtle but convincing difference. Might be just what you need here. Delicate pieces need light coats.

BTW their matt clear over chrome wires is the best and easiest way to make them look like they've been painted silver. If it's a one piece wheel that needs black detailing for depth, do that first.

[Chuck Most]

When new, the Mercedes K series cars had painted wheels. The hubcaps and those short little studs poking out of the rims(I believe they are wheel balancers) were chrome or polished stainless. Too many classic cars are restored with chrome wires when in reality most were built with painted wheels. Even cars with wooden wheels were painted. I see lots of restored cars with clear varnish on the wooden wheels. Wrongo.

Same goes for 'dipped in glass' glossy paint, perfect, consistent panel fit and panel gap tolerances, and neatly-arranged wiring harnesses. None of them came from the factory that way, but not having any of those things on your restored car will cause the judges to dock you serious points in a show.

[zenrat]

Mix Acrylic gloss clear, satin clear, smoke and thinners and wash the chrome. With the right mix (by trial and error i'm afraid) you'll get a reasonable stainless steel look. Use more satin clear & smoke for a tarnished look.

[sjordan2]

Dang, that Krylon looks good for all sorts of uses. I'll have to try it.

[Art Anderson]

I have a 1/25 1935 Mercedes kit. It has clean, nicely molded and finely detailed wire wheels, but they're chrome-plated with the typical kit chrome look.

The original 1:1 car had highly polished wire wheels, but not true chrome.

I want to give them a more realistic finish, and have to rely on spray cans (so Alclad is out of the picture).

1. Would a clear reduce the "chrominess?"

2. Or should I strip the chrome and repaint with SpazStix?

I'm not at all sure that those Mercedes-Benz wire wheels weren't bright chromium plated when new! I know I've seen newsreel/propaganda film footage of say, Adolph Hitler's entry into Vienna in 1938, his car (a Mercedes 500 or 540 Phaeton) turning a street corner in bright sun, the wheels flashing brilliantly in the sunlight. That says "chrome plated" to me). For all the quality of German camera's in the 1930's, those black & white images don't really show the brilliance and sparkle of chromed parts anywhere on the car that one would have seen outdoors, or certainly in person.

Chrome plating was all the rage by 1935, having been introduced to the auto industry in 1927 by Oldsmobile Division of General Motors that year (prior to that, automotive brightwork was polished metal (brass, nickel silver, aluminum) or nickel plated (which was never as bright as chrome, nickel having a slight "brownish" cast to it in addition to dulling very quickly in use).

I'd be very sure that Daimler Benz built their cars with steel wire wheels, aluminum alloys not having reached the point by that time of being capable of holding the stresses (particularly the rims and hubs of wire wheels) imposed by cars weighing at least 4,000lbs (and that would have been at the lighter side of the weight scale for a top-line Mercedes-Benz (380, 500 or 540 K engines) of the 30's, bearing composite (sheet metal over heavy wood framing) bodies (pretty much standard with low-volume production luxury cars of the 1930's, even beyond that in some cases). Even the straight 8 engines used by Mercedes back then surely weighed, on their own, upwards of 800--perhaps close to 900lbs, just as with their American counterparts.

All this points me to saying that those wheels were steel rims, steel hubs, and steel spokes, chromed rather than merely polished (chromium was touted for it's ability to resist rust over time, when properly applied over layers of copper and nickel--triple plating).

One of the biggest problems with plastic model kit wire wheels has always been that the spokes, in order to have wheels strong enough to withstand the less than gentle hands of younger builders back when say, Monogram and Johan were tooling up their Classic Car kits in the middle 1960's; made wire wheel spokes that are much larger than the true scale size of their full-sized counterparts. In addtion, rather than being round in section, they are "triangular" which only exacerbates their out of scale thicknesses.

All this said, it might be worth darkening in the spokes themselves with a black wash, wiped off the outer, sharper edge, to de-emphasize their excessive width, and accentuate the sharp outer edge. Worthy of thought I think.

Art

[Harry P.]

According to Conceptcarz.com, chrome wire wheels were factory options on these cars.

[Art Anderson]

According to Conceptcarz.com, chrome wire wheels were factory options on these cars.

Thanks, Harry! I felt sure that chrome wheels were available on Mercedes-Benz cars such as the 500/540.

Art

[sjordan2]

True. You could get almost anything you wanted as a special option. They weren't shipped from the factory as normal equipment, though.

[High octane]

You can always use Testors Dull-Cote to reduce the shininess, but it would give it more of an aluminum look.

[Harry P.]

True. You could get almost anything you wanted as a special option. They weren't shipped from the factory as normal equipment, though.

You can't really consider these cars as "factory stock," though. How many of them were actually delivered "as is," with no options? Probably none. Were they ever built in quantity and shipped to dealers like "regular" cars are? Weren't they, in fact, only built to order?

[sjordan2]

You can't really consider these cars as "factory stock," though. How many of them were actually delivered "as is," with no options? Probably none. Were they ever built in quantity and shipped to dealers like "regular" cars are? Weren't they, in fact, only built to order?

The 500K and 540K were available as catalog production cars with a variety of options, but as Road & Track noted (Nov. 1969), "these were limited edition cars, often built to special order, and variations abound." Which, I guess, means they weren't only built to order. There's no telling how many of today's survivors and restored vehicles bear much relationship to their original state as delivered (and Mercedes won't give you the records and build sheets unless you can prove you own the car in question. This is a security measure, and is intended to protect privacy and avoid theft and counterfeiting).

Edited August 1, 2012 by sjordan2

[Harry P.]

So then you really can't be sure whether the wheels of your model should be painted or chromed?

I say take the easy way out and leave them chrome. Nobody can prove it's wrong.