Stripping Chrome from Chrome plated bodies

[TuscoTodd]

[HomeRacingWorld]

Now THERE is a tech tip!!!

WEll done!

[Jesla]

What does it to the plastic? Any affects over time?

[TuscoTodd]

[model murdering]

Cool Todd, thanx for taking the time to show how easy it is to strip chrome. "How To's" are my fav! Please allow me to add a related old school tid bit.

Early Aurora "vacu-plating" also included a base layer of lacquer; that the ammonia will not touch. You'll find it on bumpers, brick-a-brack like the Hot Rod bits, and of course whole bodies. Modern plating does not use the poopy looking lacquer undercoat.

Typically it will appear as a smooth dirty brown coating. This is where the Easy Off comes into play. You can often see the lacquer underneath the body, where the plating is thin. You can do a test scrape to see the original plastic's color lurking beneath, then you can decide to go Ammonia or Easy Off. IMHO, it's always best to use the least invasive product. Easy Off is highly ammoniated, so it blows the chrome off instantly anyway.

I let the Easy Off work on the ancient lacquer base for half a day, and rinse off what I can using a stiff toothbrush, that the bristles have been trimmed down. Then let it dry thoroughly so the lacquer gets dry and will flake off. Once the lacquer is crazed or crispy, I start poking at it with my nail, or a scraper made from PTEG blister pack. A round toothpick like they hold your sandwich together with works good for digging and picking. You can also cut the toothpick on the bias, say 45 degrees or so. It makes a good non-gouging scraper too. When it dulls or breaks.... just cut it again.

Sometimes you have to repeat the process for stubborn areas. Ideally I like to minimize the exposure, because Easy Off is highly caustic. I try not to walk away and leave the process unattended once I start. The secret for re-application is to make sure the body is dry prior to re-application. Any water will mute the effectiveness.

Bill

[FootScoot]

I have used Clorox bleach to remove chrome plating also. Castrol Super Clean works well too. As with any chemical you have to work with it safely a face shield or respirator would be great.

[vins123]

if you try with AFX body some of them you get color underneath of the chrome, with the AFX Javelin you can get blue, yellow, black, red.
Sylvain

[Ky.Slot Racer]

had to try this, just awesome thank you!

[TuscoTodd]

Nice!
Glad you were able to put the method to use Mark!
Looks like some great candidates for custom paint!
:handgestures-thumbup:

[RichD]

I bought a bunch of the chromed Bug bodies, we run VW bugs from time to time and the chromed ones were all that I could find. My experience has been that paint that has been applied over chrome chips easily, so the chrome had to go. I used the same method as the first post. The body needed some scrubbing with a toothbrush and a second dunk to get the last of the chrome. I did check the Cole-Parmer database to see if ammonia would attack the plastic but that combination was not listed. I also checked on the household bleach, that is sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide. There was no info for the hypochlorite, the sodium hydroxide was rated as Good, so you would not want to soak a body for a very long time.