Rustoleum Bright Coat Chrome

[Plasticated Guy]

Has anyone else used this stuff? I've heard all of the praises about the Alclad paints but I've tested the Rustoleum and I couldn't see any difference between it and a chrome plated part. What are your thoughts on this?

[64SS350]

Well, like all Rust-Oleum products, it comes out like you are using a garden hose. I found it to have a decent finish, and if I remember correctly it wasn't very durable. IMO...

[Ace-Garageguy]

PAINT STARTS AT ABOUT 5 MINUTES IN

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by Ace-Garageguy

[ctruss53]

The Rust Oleum Chrome paint actually works pretty good.

I just tried a bunch of different chromes to find what worked best for me. I tried Alclad, Spaz Stix, and Rust Oleum.

I got the best results, the brightest chrome, consistently, from Rustoleum. HOWEVER, it is not very durable and some of it flaked off.

Another great chrome product is from Green Stuff World. They claim you can airbrush it. I have not tried that. But I brush it on small parts. You have to load up your brush and apply it thick, but it works very well. It totally absorbs fingerprints though, so wait to paint it until you don't have to touch the part anymore.

I am currently trying some other chrome processes. I applied some Splash 2k Black to some spoons and tonight I am going to attempt to try Alclad again, but I am also going to try SMS Hyperchrome and Splash Hyperchrome as well to see what I come up with.

I am still looking for a chrome finish I am happy with.

[TransAmMike]

Looks good for a poloshed alumunum look. 

GSW chrome was mentioned. I got the airbrush version. Jury still out on it. I sprayed one cover coat and wow, it looked great. So as usual for me, I go overboard and sprayed another coat. All that did was dull it. So it's WIP.

Still can't beat Molotow....at least as far as I'm concerned.

[Classicgas]

Looks like very shiny silver to me.

[1972coronet]

I've recognised great results from it and from the Krylon version. 

It's quite durable, in my experiences -- it's not as fragile as Alclad (though in all honestly, I cannot attest to personal experience with Alclad, as I've never tried it. Too much labour-to-benefit IMO).

The "trick" is to spray one 'tack' coat, followed within 5 minutes by a wet coat. That's all. Apply too much, and it'll take on that silvery finish. It's self-levelling, given a solid - smooth- base (regardless of base colour, at that).

[StevenGuthmiller]

10 minutes ago, 1972coronet said:

it's not as fragile as Alclad (though in all honestly, I cannot attest to personal experience with Alclad, as I've never tried it. Too much labour-to-benefit IMO).

Alclad is somewhat fragile, although nowhere near as bad as Molotow.

You can work with parts sprayed with Alclad after giving it some time to cure without too much worry about damaging the finish.

All that said, I still only use it on small parts when necessary, and so far, I've been pretty pleased with it's performance.

Molotow on the other hand.........

 

 

just as a little exercise, see if you can tell which parts of this dashboard have been sprayed with Alclad, and which ones covered with foil.

 

 

 

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

?? Ha Steve, is this a test??

[StevenGuthmiller]

55 minutes ago, TransAmMike said:

?? Ha Steve, is this a test??

Not really.

Just an illustration of how close Alclad, BMF and kit chrome can look. ?

 

 

Steve

[TransAmMike]

1 hour ago, StevenGuthmiller said:

Not really.

Just an illustration of how close Alclad, BMF and kit chrome can look. ?

 

 

Steve

Just kidding with ya?

[bluestringer]

I use it and like it, no problems with it rubbing off or flaking. But to me it looks more like bright aluminum than chrome.

[Mark]

I have learned not to trust any "chrome" spray paint.  If the stuff looks like chrome, why don't they paint the lid of the can instead of plating it?

[ctruss53]

My struggle to find a good chrome paint continues.

Last night I took a dozen plastic spoons that were primered with Mr Hobby black 1500 surfacer (the best primer in my opinion). I took these spoons and coated half of them with Alclad Gloss Black Base, and the other half I coated with Splash 2k Gloss Black Base.

All 12 spoons had a super smooth, high gloss, black finish. And I let them cure 48 hours just to make sure.

Then I got out my chromes.  I used Rust Oleum Chrome Spray paint, Alclad Chrome with an airbrush, SMS Hyperchrome with an airbrush, and Splash Hyper Silver with an airbrush.

The Alclad and SMS Hyperchrome both came out almost identical. Super bright silver finish, but not mirror chrome. Or at least not mirror-y enough for me anyways. The Splash Hyper Silver didn't come out like chrome at all, but I wasn't expecting it too. It doesn't say chrome on it anywhere. I only chose it to caompare it to the others. However the Splash Hyper Silver was nearly as "chrome" as the Alclad and SMS "chrome" paints.

The "winner" I say with quotes because I really dislike how easily the finish is damaged, was the Rust Oleum.  The Rust Oleum came out the brightest, that shinyest, and the closest to real chrome. But there are major issues with it.  If you touch the finish, it is ruined and dulled instantly. And it can flake off.  BUT it came the closest to looking like chrome.

Part 2 of my experiment was clear coats for protection.

My conclusion is NOPE. DON'T CLEAR COAT CHROME.

I took 1 spoon from each "chrome" and clear coated them with 3 different types of clear and none of them worked. They all dulled or ate the "chrome" paint.

Mr Hobby lacquer clear ate all the chromes. Even with light coats.

Createx water based gloss clear claims to be able to go over chrome paints. But all it did was make the chromes look foggy. Again, I applied light coats and even after the first dusting the fog happened.

And I tried Splash 2K clear. This is a two part epoxy clear. It doesn't usually react with anything, so I thought it might work. NOPE. It fogged up the chromes as well. Even the Splash Hyper Silver from the same company.  I don't get it.

So I am still searching for a chrome paint that actually works. Can actually be touched. Or can accept a clear coat so it can be protected from being touched. I have found nothing I am pleased with yet.

HOWEVER

I use Green Stuff World on very small parts. I can brush it on heavily and it lays down smooth and is actually like chrome. But again, you can't touch it at all or it dulls. So I only use it on very small parts and I only use it after the parts are glued in place and I don't have to touch them. So at least the small parts can be chrome.

[TransAmMike]

2 hours ago, ctruss53 said:

My struggle to find a good chrome paint continues.

Last night I took a dozen plastic spoons that were primered with Mr Hobby black 1500 surfacer (the best primer in my opinion). I took these spoons and coated half of them with Alclad Gloss Black Base, and the other half I coated with Splash 2k Gloss Black Base.

All 12 spoons had a super smooth, high gloss, black finish. And I let them cure 48 hours just to make sure.

Then I got out my chromes.  I used Rust Oleum Chrome Spray paint, Alclad Chrome with an airbrush, SMS Hyperchrome with an airbrush, and Splash Hyper Silver with an airbrush.

The Alclad and SMS Hyperchrome both came out almost identical. Super bright silver finish, but not mirror chrome. Or at least not mirror-y enough for me anyways. The Splash Hyper Silver didn't come out like chrome at all, but I wasn't expecting it too. It doesn't say chrome on it anywhere. I only chose it to caompare it to the others. However the Splash Hyper Silver was nearly as "chrome" as the Alclad and SMS "chrome" paints.

The "winner" I say with quotes because I really dislike how easily the finish is damaged, was the Rust Oleum.  The Rust Oleum came out the brightest, that shinyest, and the closest to real chrome. But there are major issues with it.  If you touch the finish, it is ruined and dulled instantly. And it can flake off.  BUT it came the closest to looking like chrome.

Part 2 of my experiment was clear coats for protection.

My conclusion is NOPE. DON'T CLEAR COAT CHROME.

I took 1 spoon from each "chrome" and clear coated them with 3 different types of clear and none of them worked. They all dulled or ate the "chrome" paint.

Mr Hobby lacquer clear ate all the chromes. Even with light coats.

Createx water based gloss clear claims to be able to go over chrome paints. But all it did was make the chromes look foggy. Again, I applied light coats and even after the first dusting the fog happened.

And I tried Splash 2K clear. This is a two part epoxy clear. It doesn't usually react with anything, so I thought it might work. NOPE. It fogged up the chromes as well. Even the Splash Hyper Silver from the same company.  I don't get it.

So I am still searching for a chrome paint that actually works. Can actually be touched. Or can accept a clear coat so it can be protected from being touched. I have found nothing I am pleased with yet.

HOWEVER

I use Green Stuff World on very small parts. I can brush it on heavily and it lays down smooth and is actually like chrome. But again, you can't touch it at all or it dulls. So I only use it on very small parts and I only use it after the parts are glued in place and I don't have to touch them. So at least the small parts can be chrome.

So you haven't used Molotow? 

 

[Oldriginal86]

1 hour ago, TransAmMike said:

So you haven't used Molotow? 

 

My experience with this is you get just as good of result as using Testors silver paint in the small jars. I do use it for touch up of the kit chrome where it came off the tree.

[StevenGuthmiller]

59 minutes ago, Oldriginal86 said:

My experience with this is you get just as good of result as using Testors silver paint in the small jars. I do use it for touch up of the kit chrome where it came off the tree.

Molotow will give you a very reflective chrome like finish if applied properly.

Unfortunately, it's probably the most fragile of all of the chrome substitutes, and it apparently has a less than desirable shelf life.

My 2 pens turned to silver paint in less than a year.

For these reasons, I stopped using it some time ago.

 

 

 

Steve

[Oldriginal86]

Steve can you explain “they turned to silver paint in less then a year”. My pen is 5 years old, maybe that explains why it looks just like silver paint. 

[Fat Brian]

52 minutes ago, Oldriginal86 said:

Steve can you explain “they turned to silver paint in less then a year”. My pen is 5 years old, maybe that explains why it looks just like silver paint. 

I'm not Steve but the working theory is that the mirrory finish from molotow looks like a reaction between two chemicals that repel each other. It's like the shiny floats to the surface after it comes off the tip of the pen. We believe that one of those chemicals evaporates out of the pen after a while leaving the ink a dull silver color. This doesn't happen to the refill bottles, I've had mine for three or four years and it looks as good as the first time I used it. The stacks, valve cover, and header on this were all brush painted from that refill bottle recently. 

[Oldriginal86]

Thanks, looks like I’ll toss the pen and buy a refill kit.

[Bills72sj]

11 hours ago, ctruss53 said:

My struggle to find a good chrome paint continues.

 

HOWEVER

I use Green Stuff World on very small parts. I can brush it on heavily and it lays down smooth and is actually like chrome. But again, you can't touch it at all or it dulls. So I only use it on very small parts and I only use it after the parts are glued in place and I don't have to touch them. So at least the small parts can be chrome.

I have both of the Green Stuff World "Chromes" the brushable and the airbrushable. I am pretty happy with both. Note: I build so distractedly that my painted parts usually get 2 weeks of cure time before they are handled. Airbrush version looks pretty nice but the black base makes it kind of a black chrome. I used it recently on a couple of bumpers that were stripped and painted with rattle can Rustoleum Gloss Black. The corresponding bumper mates were still kit chrome and very looked different. I sprayed them with Tamiya "Smoke" and they match much better. The GSW brushable chrome needs to be applied a bit heavy and only used on small parts ot touch ups. 

[Bugatti Fan]

I have been using C1 Polishing Powder. Spray a gloss black in the usual way as the underpinning colour. Does not matter if Acrylic, Lacquer or Enamel. It is simply buffed onto the black with a cotton wool swab like a Q Tip or very small make-up applicator. Just buff it until the desired polished up effect is required. The good thing is that it is quite durable and resistant to handling too. You get quite a good sized tub of it that will last for ages.

If you want to see how it looks, go onto the thread 'Let's see some scratch built thing's where you will find a picture of my Napier Railton where I used it on the body.

C1 is a UK based company and besides the polishing powder they make a very nice range of  resin trans kits.

 

Edited March 3, 2023 by Bugatti Fan

[roadhawg]

Has anyone tried that stuff made for fingernails? Apparently you apply a black gel coat, dry that under a UV light, rub on some chrome powder, buff it to a shine, then apply a clear gel coat and dry that under a UV light. I have no idea if it would work on model parts, but it looks just like chrome on women's fingernails. 

[ctruss53]

19 hours ago, TransAmMike said:

So you haven't used Molotow? 

 

Molotow sucks.

Sure, it is chrome like, but you touch it, it fades. You look at it funny, it fades. You breathe on it, it fades.  It is so fragile.

[ctruss53]

6 hours ago, Bugatti Fan said:

I have been using C1 Polishing Powder. Spray a gloss black in the usual way as the underpinning colour. Does not matter if Acrylic, Lacquer or Enamel. It is simply buffed onto the black with a cotton wool swab like a Q Tip or very small make-up applicator. Just buff it until the desired polished up effect is required. The good thing is that it is quite durable and resistant to handling too. You get quite a good sized tub of it that will last for ages.

If you want to see how it looks, go onto the thread 'Let's see some scratch built thing's where you will find a picture of my Napier Railton where I used it on the body.

C1 is a UK based company and besides the polishing powder they make a very nice range of  resin trans kits.

 

Uschi van der Rosten makes a powder you can buff in to a black base coat. I have tried that as well. It is a very durable finish, but I could never get it bright enough. The black always showed through too much, no matter how much powder I buffed in.

It was a very realistic look though. So I do still use it when I need a darker shine.