Chrome look ? Alclad or something else

[Bowtienutz]

I need to chrome some resin bumpers for a project. I heard alclad is the most realistic. How do you use it? I heard it was not very durable. can you clear coat it? Any other alternatives ? 'd hate to send the bumpers off to get chromed only to have them get lost or it taking forever.

[MrObsessive]

If this is for a contest or show.......I strongly recommend you send them out to be plated. Alclad is good stuff............but nothing replaces actual chrome.

You first need to spray a few coats of enamel black on the part, let it dry thoroughly (a dehydrator helps!) and then airbrush very light coats of Alclad Chrome on the part.

I would airbrush light mist coats.......because if you put it on too heavy, it will look like dull aluminum and not chrome. I wouldn't recommend clearcoating as this can dull the chrome to a degree. As with anything.......if you handle Aclad too much.......it can rub off eventually as has been my experience.

Actually, the end result is not like plated chrome.............but like highly polished aluminum. It's fine for shelf models.....but as I mentioned above, if your building for a contest, having them chromed is the way to go.

Hope this helps!

[Bowtienutz]

Maybe I'll try little motor car company they are local for plating. Something I didn't think of on my original post is that I need to detail the grille. A black wash maybe. can you do that over alclad ?

Thanks for your help guys

[MrObsessive]

Maybe I'll try little motor car company they are local for plating. Something I didn't think of on my original post is that I need to detail the grille. A black wash maybe. can you do that over alclad ?

Thanks for your help guys

I'm about to send some parts to Little Motor Car Company sometime this week as they're somewhat local to me here in PA. They're very good and the price is reasonable.

I would use a water based acrylic for a black wash as

you can use ammonia (or alcohol) to wipe away any excess and it won't hurt the Aclad.

To add further, Alclad also sells a gloss black to use under their chrome.........but it's not available everywhere. As Steve mentioned, yes......you have to polish the black to get the best effect...............just as if you were going to apply BMF over the paint.

Steve, those headers look excellent!! :mrgreen:

[MrObsessive]

thanks Bill,,,But are you shure about alcohol not effecting Alclad ? I use rubbing alcohol to clean my airbrish after spraying the stuff and it works perfectly. It says on the bottle that it's laquer but I'm pretty shure it's an alcohol based laquer.[there are at least 3 different types of laquer]

Hmmm.........you may be right as I usually use acetone to clear out Aclad from the airbrush.

Well that goes to what was said before.............it would be better to have the grille chromed and then do a black wash. You can't go wrong there. Or if you use the Alclad use ammonia to clear any excess.

In any event, before you do anything, the rule of thumb is.........always TEST, TEST, TEST!!

[Zoom Zoom]

Alclad has never worked well for me; even over gloss black enamel it just doesn't have any durability. Maybe I do need Humbrol and not Testors. I've gotten a wonderful look to it but can't touch it! And contrary to what some have said, mild clears like Future do affect the reflectivity. I've tried it. Actually I like a similar chrome by Spaz Stix even better than Alclad II chrome, but still haven't really put it to the test. It seems to be able to take Future w/o affecting the shine, but I don't use chrome that often and haven't had time to mess with it more. Spaz Stix is in the R/C section of Hobbytown.

Alsacorp's Mirrachrome looks very promising, because it's also highly reflective, perhaps better than Alclad, and it is meant to be clearcoated with "a clear with few solvents" as they said on the phone. They recommend 2-component urethane. I'm hoping not to have to use that, my lungs are already compromised and I don't feel like using a space suit to paint

There's a $60 hobby kit that gives you 2 oz. of it, enough to do 1 square foot. Also included is gloss black base and 2-component urethane clear.

But there is a new line of spray cans coming from them in early August called Killer Chrome; and the Killer Chrome is Mirrachrome in a spray can, and it's enough to coat 25 square feet, and the can is $30. They said that you don't have to use any special gloss black, but did say that the clear needs to be as solvent-free as possible.

I'm going in w/3 others to test it when it comes out. We'll try Future, clear Acryl, and maybe 2-component urethane clear. But we want to see if any of the acrylic hobby clears will mess w/the reflectivity.

There's hope...I find replated chrome to look a bit too bright; and I admire Steve Boutte's Alclad work as it looks very nice and in scale. I simply have not been able to get it to work for me.

More on this in August...

[MonoPed]

I've been "hit or miss" with Alclad II... I did the wheels and a couple other parts on this '32 Coupe, and they came out pretty nice.....and the look as good as they did when I built it 5-6 years ago. I've done other parts that looked like ######, guess I just need to play with the stuff a bit more. At any rate, it has it's uses, and it does open up some possibilities. Grab a bottle and experiment with it...

Brian

[Zoom Zoom]

I'm far from being an Alclad expert, I haven't used it enough to get good at it. You all know what I build most often, so you will realize that I'm not in need of fresh chrome with any regularity :wink:

I have an unfinished resin '70 AMX that I "Alcladded" the bumpers as prescribed, and they aren't to my satisfaction yet. They look okay, but I may need to actually go over them w/a polishing cloth and just barely mist another coat on; in the right light there's still a bit of black "speckling" noticeable. So close, but so far..and on another car I restored the Alclad didn't hold up to my handling as I built it, it rubbed off like bad '70's AMT chrome but careful work w/BMF worked very well in conjunction w/the Alclad.

How wet do you guys spray Alclad? I mist it on delicately, almost like I'm sneaking up on it, I'm afraid to spray it wet as it seems to lose that killer reflectivity in a nanosecond when you spray it too long. Maybe I'm spraying it too carefully?? Guess I need to heed my own advice...practice, practice, and then more practice. And then clean the airbrush :wink:

[Len Woodruff]

I sprayed the headers on the Mustang Gasser below by using a medium tip on my Badger Crescendo 175 using a brush stroke. What happens is that the chemical reaction goes from dull aluminum to true chrome in 30 -45 seconds.

[Len Woodruff]

Alclad has never worked well for me; even over gloss black enamel it just doesn't have any durability. Maybe I do need Humbrol and not Testors. I've gotten a wonderful look to it but can't touch it! And contrary to what some have said, mild clears like Future do affect the reflectivity. I've tried it. Actually I like a similar chrome by Spaz Stix even better than Alclad II chrome, but still haven't really put it to the test. It seems to be able to take Future w/o affecting the shine, but I don't use chrome that often and haven't had time to mess with it more. Spaz Stix is in the R/C section of Hobbytown.

Alsacorp's Mirrachrome looks very promising, because it's also highly reflective, perhaps better than Alclad, and it is meant to be clearcoated with "a clear with few solvents" as they said on the phone. They recommend 2-component urethane. I'm hoping not to have to use that, my lungs are already compromised and I don't feel like using a space suit to paint

There's a $60 hobby kit that gives you 2 oz. of it, enough to do 1 square foot. Also included is gloss black base and 2-component urethane clear.

But there is a new line of spray cans coming from them in early August called Killer Chrome; and the Killer Chrome is Mirrachrome in a spray can, and it's enough to coat 25 square feet, and the can is $30. They said that you don't have to use any special gloss black, but did say that the clear needs to be as solvent-free as possible.

I'm going in w/3 others to test it when it comes out. We'll try Future, clear Acryl, and maybe 2-component urethane clear. But we want to see if any of the acrylic hobby clears will mess w/the reflectivity.

There's hope...I find replated chrome to look a bit too bright; and I admire Steve Boutte's Alclad work as it looks very nice and in scale. I simply have not been able to get it to work for me.

More on this in August...

Bob Have you been able to test this yet?

[Zoom Zoom]

Actually I have, and was quite disappointed w/the Killer Chrome; it sprayed poorly from the can, and airbrushed okay, but didn't have as good reflectivity as either Alclad II or Spazstix chrome which are very similar products, Spazstix actually was sligthly more reflective and unlike Alclad seemed to stick just fine to black lacquer (Tamiya TS spray).

The MOST important thing for these "spray chromes" is having the shiniest base coat possible. Color is less important; I've tried white, gray, dark blue, and black and they all end up decent if the undercoat is smooth as glass. If not, it's much, much less reflective.

When I have my wits back (I'm currently dealing w/a very sick Mom) I'll post my spoon test photos. Or shuffle through my Fotki album and you'll find them.

[Len Woodruff]

Actually I have, and was quite disappointed w/the Killer Chrome; it sprayed poorly from the can, and airbrushed okay, but didn't have as good reflectivity as either Alclad II or Spazstix chrome which are very similar products, Spazstix actually was sligthly more reflective and unlike Alclad seemed to stick just fine to black lacquer (Tamiya TS spray).

The MOST important thing for these "spray chromes" is having the shiniest base coat possible. Color is less important; I've tried white, gray, dark blue, and black and they all end up decent if the undercoat is smooth as glass. If not, it's much, much less reflective.

When I have my wits back (I'm currently dealing w/a very sick Mom) I'll post my spoon test photos. Or shuffle through my Fotki album and you'll find them.

Thanks Bob. Take care of your mom. I saw your posts on the Scale Auto forums after I posted this and saw the spoon test. I have the Spaz Stix and will start working with it.

[cruz]

http://public.fotki.com/mamaprez/model_clu...6/dscn0006.html I have never had any problems using alclad but my take on it is that I mostly use it on small parts and on rims that don't have that chromy look but instead like a highly polished aluminum. To tell you the truth, I have alcladed parts for a lot of people and it seems to me that those parts always come out better than my own :shock: At least my secret is making sure to heat up my black enamel paint pretty good, put at least four coats of it on the part and make sure to really wet coat that last coat. I like using 10 PSI out of my airbrush when shooting the alclad and like you guys know, 2 light coats tops.......