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Attn Car Modelers - Help with Seams with Large Chrome Pieces  !!       Monogram Big T

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crw59@earthlink.net - 16 Jul 2008 02:17 GMT
Am poking around the bags of parts in the 2005 repop of the Monogram
"Big T".  Lots and lots of chrome pieces. Curious as to how to make
the seam for the large chrome tank a little less noticeable,  There
are at least 5 bags of chrome with this 17" monster.

Silver paint has no gloss to it and will stand out like a grey line
along the chrome.  have never used foil.  Will that stuff really work
on thin seams?  Is foil removable if your attempts at application
suck?

How do you car builders deal with chrome ?  I am an old plane and
target builder where battle damage and mud could hide any error.
Won't work in this case.

Thx all - Craig
Mike G. - 16 Jul 2008 07:02 GMT
Well Craig, my way is kinda expensive but I'd strip the chrome, glue the parts together, file/sand/ what ever it took to make the
seam disappear, then send the part to Chrometech for rechroming.
Anyhow, that's how I did it, especially if I was putting the car in a contest of if building for another individual.

Mike

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> Am poking around the bags of parts in the 2005 repop of the Monogram
> "Big T".  Lots and lots of chrome pieces. Curious as to how to make
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
>
> Thx all - Craig
Viperdoc - 16 Jul 2008 11:24 GMT
The other way to deal with the seam would be to strip the chrome, fill,
prime, and use Alclad Chrome over a black gloss acrylic base. The stuff is
amazing.
Don Stauffer in Minnesota - 16 Jul 2008 14:27 GMT
> The other way to deal with the seam would be to strip the chrome, fill,
> prime, and use Alclad Chrome over a black gloss acrylic base. The stuff is
> amazing.

True.  This is how most folks I know in local clubs handle the
problem. If you do not like acrylic, you can use Alclad Chrome over
black enamel also.

One thing to watch with Alclad- do not get CA kicker anywhere near
it.  That stuff to accelerate CA setting ruins Alclad.
OldSchool - 16 Jul 2008 20:46 GMT
I agree with all of the above, i.e. for show, chrometech, for your own
enjoyment, Alclad.

If you're dead set on foiling, I'd fix the seam then foil the whole
thing as, at least in my experience, foil doesn't match the plated
surface well enough to fool the eye when they're side-by-side
willshak - 16 Jul 2008 22:09 GMT
on 7/16/2008 3:46 PM OldSchool said the following:
> I agree with all of the above, i.e. for show, chrometech, for your own
> enjoyment, Alclad.
[quoted text clipped - 3 lines]
> surface well enough to fool the eye when they're side-by-side
>  

The chrome plating on model car models is too shiny for scale anyway.

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Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Don Stauffer in Minnesota - 17 Jul 2008 14:54 GMT
> on 7/16/2008 3:46 PM OldSchool said the following:
>
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
> In Hamptonburgh, NY
> To email, remove the double zeroes after @

I'd say it is okay for a show car- a rod or custom. A good aftermarket
chrome plating job can be VERY shiny.  Not many shops do it these
days, but those who do can really put a shine on it- depends on
surface prep, of course.  Not much chrome plated steel on NEW cars
these days, though.
willshak - 17 Jul 2008 18:47 GMT
on 7/17/2008 9:54 AM Don Stauffer in Minnesota said the following:
>  
>> on 7/16/2008 3:46 PM OldSchool said the following:
[quoted text clipped - 23 lines]
>
>  
I was talking about chrome plating on model car trim. 1/25 scale etc.
I miss the chrome on real cars. My 97 Nissan PU has chrome bumpers and
grill.

Signature

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
To email, remove the double zeroes after @

Mad Modeller - 18 Jul 2008 06:57 GMT
> on 7/17/2008 9:54 AM Don Stauffer in Minnesota said the following:
> >
[quoted text clipped - 30 lines]
> In Hamptonburgh, NY
> To email, remove the double zeroes after @

I think the only chrome on my '87 Mustang other than the plating inside
the light buckets is around the blue oval in the slot on the front.  I
can't call it a grille.  Geez, I didn't even get a horsey up front.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
Peter W. - 17 Jul 2008 18:40 GMT
> The chrome plating on model car models is too shiny for scale anyway.
>
> --
>
> Bill

While I can see the arguments behind "scale colors" I don't think that
shininess (reflectivity) has a scale.  Think of car's chrome as a
distorted mirror. If you tried to model a plain flat mirror in scale
you wouldn't want to make it dull just because it's scaled down. If
you did that it would no longer properly reflect light and it would
not appear like a mirror. Same scenario applies to a chromed car
part.  If you build a model of a 50's car and dull all of its chrome
parts, the model will look like a toy, not like a miniature replica of
the real car.

Peteski
Mad Modeller - 18 Jul 2008 06:57 GMT
> > The chrome plating on model car models is too shiny for scale anyway.
> >
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
>
> Peteski

I got one of those die-cast '79 LeBaron wagons recently and the chrome
on that model definitely does make it look toylike.  I have no idea how
to tone it down to look 'real'.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.
crw59@earthlink.net - 18 Jul 2008 19:33 GMT
> > > The chrome plating on model car models is too shiny for scale anyway.
>
[quoted text clipped - 21 lines]
>
> - Show quoted text -

I posted this query to Fine Scale Modeler a few years back as I agreed
that chrome on plastic toys/models is "out of scale" to the subject.
I believe one of their suggestions was to try a wash of smoke or some
kind of bluing to soften the edge of the finish.  Never tried it
though..

Craig
Alan Dicey - 19 Jul 2008 01:21 GMT
> While I can see the arguments behind "scale colors" I don't think that
> shininess (reflectivity) has a scale.  Think of car's chrome as a
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> parts, the model will look like a toy, not like a miniature replica of
> the real car.

Scale lustre (as good a name as I can come up with) is more-or-less a
subset of scale colour.  Think about the basis of the scale colour
argument - how colours appear to tend towards grey with distance.  By
the same argument, lustres tend towards satin, you lose the highlights
of close-up mirrors and the flatness of true matts.  Certainly I would
never use full matt or full gloss at 1/72nd - just satin blends, tending
towards either extreme.
Peter W. - 20 Jul 2008 16:08 GMT
On Jul 18, 8:21 pm, Alan Dicey <a...@diceyhome.free-online.co.uk>
wrote:
> > While I can see the arguments behind "scale colors" I don't think that
> > shininess (reflectivity) has a scale.  Think of car's chrome as a
[quoted text clipped - 13 lines]
> never use full matt or full gloss at 1/72nd - just satin blends, tending
> towards either extreme.

I'm taking about scale model cars rather than things like netural
metal airplanes for example.  If you were to build two of the the same
very well detailed 1:25 scale model cars, one with full luster
"chrome" plating and another with scaled "luster" then took photos of
them in a realistic setting,  the one with full luster "chrome" would
look more like a 1:1 car than the one with scale luster. At least that
is how I see this (from my own experience).

It is all about the reflections you see in the chrome (or in the
reflectance of the paint finish).  If the reflections are clear  then
the model looks realistic.  If the reflections are soft or fuzzy (when
the "chrome" is not  fully reflective) then the model looks like
model, not the scale representation of the rel subject).

Peteski
Alan Dicey - 20 Jul 2008 23:28 GMT
> I'm taking about scale model cars rather than things like netural
> metal airplanes for example.  If you were to build two of the the same
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> the "chrome" is not  fully reflective) then the model looks like
> model, not the scale representation of the rel subject).

At 1/25th, scale effects on colour and lustre are small in any case, so
I wouldn't expect anything more than a subtle dimming of very smooth
chrome to be called for.  Showroom finish means that extreme brightness
is to be expected as well.
Bruce Burden - 17 Jul 2008 03:23 GMT
: The other way to deal with the seam would be to strip the chrome, fill,
: prime, and use Alclad Chrome over a black gloss acrylic base. The stuff is
: amazing.

    And the Alclad sealer adds to the shiny factor. Pretty
   impressive.

                            Bruce
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