Making brass parts chrome

[John Ruy]

I am looking for the best way to turn brass parts into chrome. 
 

I have just painted a brass propeller chrome with Model Master Custom Enamel System. Are there other products or methods out there?

This looks good but will it work well for all of the small fittings in my Corel kit. 
 

Corel has supplied all brass fittings for the Corsaro. The photo above shows chrome for most of the hardware. 
 

Your  collective knowledge will be appreciated. 
 

John

[Joseph Schmidt]

I've been using MOLOTOW brand liquid paint markers with a 2mm tip. #703.102 is the liquid chrome.

Edited January 19, 2023 by Joseph Schmidt

[allanyed]

If you want chrome rather than paint you can chrome plate parts yourself.  Might not be worth the effort compared to painting but it is an alternative.

https://caswellplating.com/electroplating-anodizing/chrome-plating-kits.html

Allan

[gjdale]

I’ve used both the plating method using the Calwell system mentioned above, and the Molotow liquid chrome. Both work but the Molotow would  be less expensive.

 

If using the Molotow, I would recommend buying a “refill” and then spraying the contents through an airbrush - it sprays beautifully with no thinning required. Be aware though, that the Molotow will not stand up to handling - it needs to be left alone for several days to a week, and then handled the minimum amount possible. I do not know of any top coat that can be used without dulling the shine.

 

I used the Molotow on plastic parts of my Pocher car model. I used the Calwell plating system on the scratch built brass parts of my Dumas Chris Craft model. Being RC, this model gets handled a lot more. I was happy with both results.

[Jaager]

Would something like this do what you wish and be economical?

 

http://www.hobbylinc.com/innovative-ez-chrome-finishing-adhesive-backed-foil-6x10-slot-car-part-1:32-scale-1900?source=froogle&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIsN7Wo77U_AIVg9zICh3UOQYXEAQYBSABEgIvzvD_BwE

[gsdpic]

The alclad line of paints also have chrome, though not sure if how well they work on brass.  I've used their chrome just a couple times on plastic parts.  They are also applied by air brush.  For chrome you first apply a gloss black base layer, then apply the chrome, then apply a clear top coat, so it is not a quick and easy process.   I think, but am not certain, this might be a little more durable than the molotow chrome markers.  I've used that once or twice as well, using the marker instead of the refill/airbrush suggested above.

[John Fox III]

Greetings John,

Depending on how much work you might want to do, I've used aluminum rod and tube to make railings, stanchions, cleats, ladders, masts and booms. One can find very small diameter tubing, and I also used both the aluminum wire and pour spouts from salt containers. The two images attached show my results using these materials. I used CA to glue the parts together. For the mast and boom I squeezed the tubing carefully, with another smaller brass tube inside it, to obtain the oval shape.

Hope that helps!

Anchor's A Weigh!

John Fox III

[Bob Cleek]

It depends upon the level of quality you want to attain in the model you're doing. There are many faux metal paints to chose from, but they all look like faux metal and not the real thing. If you find them satisfactory for your purposes, then by all means use them. That said, achieving a realistic impression of a bare metal in a scale piece with paint is a difficult thing to do. Nothing looks as realistically metallic on a model as real metal itself. For this, you will have to fabricate the pieces from metal, or paint them with a conductive paint made for the purpose, and electroplate them. Electroplating can be accomplished with simple household chemicals and an automotive battery charger or even a 12 VDC "wall wort." You don't have to buy any expensive equipment or materials. If you want chrome, you can simply electroplate with nickel. (Real chrome can be electroplated, but it's a more involved process.)  If you wish a slightly more subdued shine, you can experiment with zinc or aluminum plating or even silver plating. The mechanics are all the same.

 

There are tons of DIY electroplating and electroforming videos on YouTube.

 

 

 

Edited January 20, 2023 by Bob Cleek

[DocRob]

Chroming, it's very difficult to achieve great results. I tried different products and type of application for years now and I found no solution covering all sorts of parts.
Molotow pens had been great, when I painted car and motorcycle headlights with them, but looked horrible on protruding parts. They seem to settle with a nice and shiny chrome finish in crevices.

There are tapes and foils, like Bare Metal Foil or AK adhesive chrome tape, but they work only under certain conditions, but do look good, when applied correctly.
 

There are Alclad and AK Extreme Metal colors, which look good, when applied correctly. Don't use the AK black primer, specified for their Extreme Metal colors as a base, it never dries thoroughly. Tamiya gloss black, acrylic or even better lacquer are much better suited.
You have to try onto dummies first, because you have to figure out, which results look best, layered efforts or flooding the part in one go.

A solution, I very often come back to are Uschi van der Rosten's chrome pigments. They shine a little less, when applied, but do look right very often scale wise, because too much shine can look toyish on scale models. The extra benefit on pigments is, there is nearly no coat thickness and therefore no loss of detail, the downside is, you have to reach all nooks and crannies to polish out the effect. To me these pigments are among the best, because they are extremely fine grained and cover well, if the underlying surface is properly primed.

 

Cheers Rob

[John Ruy]

Thanks for all these great suggestions. I can always depend on this forum to come up with great solutions.  I will probably go with a combination of chrome/clear coat paint and aluminum parts. I will definitely share my results here on this thread. Meanwhile, keep the suggestions coming if there are any other solutions out there. 
 

Cheers 🍻 

[John Ruy]

I decided to stick with the Model Master Custom Enamel. It seems to have good adhesion properties and shines when dry. 
 

Thanks again… 🍻