41 replies to this topic

[Mad Mark]

At home nickel plating is pretty easy and should provide a high shine prep.   It would benefit the chassis too in future builds.

Yes or zinc plating seems pretty easy perhaps I’ll try it in the future

[Mad Mark]

[Dave Crevie]

A light dusting of silver or gold will even out the translucent red and get rid of the blotchiness. One thing I would definitely do is to spend a little time with a jewelers file and smooth out the witness lines from the die casting mold. 

 

Home plating is pretty easy. A bit dangerous because of the chemicals involved. Here's a fun video on how to do it;

 

https://youtu.be/G-P...ySbNviit02pvt9Z

 

 

If you are not quite that adventurous, Caswell sells plating kits that are very easy to use. At All Star we used them to plate pre-production samples of metal parts the customer wanted plated, as they would be when finished and ready for use.

 

 

These kits will do a lot of Hot Wheels bodies. Think about 75 cents to a buck per piece. The gold and silver kits are naturally more expensive. And if you want the paint job to last for ever, they have black anodizing kits as well. Black anodizing is far better than any primer on the market. Neither zinc nor nickel plating will improve surface adhesion of the paint. But there are model railroad paints that you bake in the oven at 125⁰ for a couple hours, that will adhere to the zinc bodies very well. Paint doesn't stick to brass very well either, so I have been using Scalecoat paint for going on to 60 years on my model locomotives.  

[Mad Mark]

A light dusting of silver or gold will even out the translucent red and get rid of the blotchiness. One thing I would definitely do is to spend a little time with a jewelers file and smooth out the witness lines from the die casting mold. 
 
Home plating is pretty easy. A bit dangerous because of the chemicals involved. Here's a fun video on how to do it;
 
https://youtu.be/G-P...ySbNviit02pvt9Z
 
 
If you are not quite that adventurous, Caswell sells plating kits that are very easy to use. At All Star we used them to plate pre-production samples of metal parts the customer wanted plated, as they would be when finished and ready for use.
 
Screenshot 2025-03-21 141502.png
 
These kits will do a lot of Hot Wheels bodies. Think about 75 cents to a buck per piece. The gold and silver kits are naturally more expensive. And if you want the paint job to last for ever, they have black anodizing kits as well. Black anodizing is far better than any primer on the market. Neither zinc nor nickel plating will improve surface adhesion of the paint. But there are model railroad paints that you bake in the oven at 125⁰ for a couple hours, that will adhere to the zinc bodies very well. Paint doesn't stick to brass very well either, so I have been using Scalecoat paint for going on to 60 years on my model locomotives.

Interesting thanks. I’ll have to get some stuff for zinc plating. seems easy enough almost have everything already.

[Dave Crevie]

Incidentally, I didn't think to say this earlier. But you can get silver Sharpies that you can use to restore the silver on those wheels.

[Mad Mark]

Incidentally, I didn't think to say this earlier. But you can get silver Sharpies that you can use to restore the silver on those wheels.

Yeah if you look at the can am car the whole base the plastic chrome was gone. took a molotow to it and touched up the wheels.

[NSwanberg]

About the best insult I ever herd at a slot car race. "Tony?? Tony build a slot car? Tony couldn't build a Hot Wheel."

[Brian Czeiner]

Interesting thanks. I’ll have to get some stuff for zinc plating. seems easy enough almost have everything already.

 

You may want to make your own nickel solution. It isn't very hard. I did a gallon a few years back just to try it myself. Here is a short video how. But there are several out there. The metal pieces can be purchased from Amazon.

 

https://www.youtube....h?v=sd2xgr5oF1s

[Mad Mark]

Ok tried on a redline. Only polished casting no replating or sanding. I only cleaned up the leading edge of the hood.

Before:


After:



doesnt look brand new like some people make them with the toning. but it sorta looks like an actual original car which is kinda cool. I polished the windows also.

[Dave Crevie]

The blotchiness was caused by surface contamination. Before you plate anything, the surface has to be polished to a mirror quality. The easiest way is to use electrolysis.

 

 

https://youtu.be/MG3...AA24mA5z1FzEtyF

 

 

The downside is that this method uncovers the pits in the zinc that developed from oxidation over time. The only way to get rid of those is to mechanically polish them out. It's at this point you have to decide if you really want that plated finish, of if painting will suffice. The pits can be easily filled with a good primer. Here's a video on prepping the zinc die casting for plating;

 

https://youtu.be/EQF...q-GoCvD_5XEGhJH

 

Some of the pits can be polished out with a rotary tool like a Dremel or a Fordom flex shaft. A soft pad sanding disc arbor works good with a fine (320 grit) disc to start, then a very fine (400 grit) disc to finish up. Practice makes perfect if you haven't done this before. I also like to use the Diprofil with the sanding pad attachment for doing flat areas that are near a raised edge. I like this sanding disc set from Amazon. Since I ended up with extra mandrels, I trimmed the velcro area off by spinning it in a Dremel and carefully trimming it with a #11 X-acto. This left a flat contact face I could use the self-stick Artco discs with.

 

 

Once you are done with all the polishing, a good cleaning like in the video, and washing in water with a small amount of dish soap added. At this point you don't want to touch the part with your bare hands. Use a pair of white cotton gloves to handle the part after washing because the plating won't take to any fingerprints.

[Mad Mark]

The blotchiness was caused by surface contamination. Before you plate anything, the surface has to be polished to a mirror quality. The easiest way is to use electrolysis.
 
 
https://youtu.be/MG3...AA24mA5z1FzEtyF
 
 
The downside is that this method uncovers the pits in the zinc that developed from oxidation over time. The only way to get rid of those is to mechanically polish them out. It's at this point you have to decide if you really want that plated finish, of if painting will suffice. The pits can be easily filled with a good primer. Here's a video on prepping the zinc die casting for plating;
 
https://youtu.be/EQF...q-GoCvD_5XEGhJH
 
Some of the pits can be polished out with a rotary tool like a Dremel or a Fordom flex shaft. A soft pad sanding disc arbor works good with a fine (320 grit) disc to start, then a very fine (400 grit) disc to finish up. Practice makes perfect if you haven't done this before. I also like to use the Diprofil with the sanding pad attachment for doing flat areas that are near a raised edge. I like this sanding disc set from Amazon. Since I ended up with extra mandrels, I trimmed the velcro area off by spinning it in a Dremel and carefully trimming it with a #11 X-acto. This left a flat contact face I could use the self-stick Artco discs with.
 
Screenshot 2025-04-17 091430.png
 
Once you are done with all the polishing, a good cleaning like in the video, and washing in water with a small amount of dish soap added. At this point you don't want to touch the part with your bare hands. Use a pair of white cotton gloves to handle the part after washing because the plating won't take to any fingerprints.

thanks for all the info. The roof and hood was surprisingly shiny and polished. apparently still not enough to get a good finish. transparent yellow is also a bad color to try and hide imperfections I’d imagine. I’ll do a bit more on the next one to get it shiny.

[Dave Crevie]

Bright plating is not so easy as some people think. It magnifies every imperfection. To re-chrome a bumper, it has to be highly polished first. Then copper plated, because chrome won't stick to steel. Then nickel plated because chrome takes to nickel better than copper. Then finally chrome plated.

[Brian Czeiner]

I wonder if filling the pits and then using Spaztix chrome paint as the base would achieve the desired spectra flame finish?

[Mad Mark]

I wonder if filling the pits and then using Spaztix chrome paint as the base would achieve the desired spectra flame finish?

I was wondering about using alclad to get a uniform semi shiny finish then paint over it but I don’t think chrome paint react good to anything going over them.

[Dave Crevie]

I think what Mark is trying to achieve is a super shiny base for candy colors. This is something I never considered trying. Alclad is not cheap, mostly because it is an industrial coating used in the aerospace industry. It was used on fighter plane skins starting in the second world war and is for aluminum, not zinc. What it does is add a corrosion resistant layer to the aluminum. Don't confuse Alclad with Alclad II, which is clear lacquer with aluminum dust as pigment. 

 

https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/what-is-the-difference-between-alclad-and-bare-aluminum/ 

 

 

Here is a video on using Alclad II. 

 

https://youtu.be/Gpt...OzsVEsbjeC8QScL

 

 

But keep in mind that it is a paint, not a plating process. I suspect you can fill any pits with a good epoxy filler. I've never tried it.

[Mad Mark]

I think what Mark is trying to achieve is a super shiny base for candy colors. This is something I never considered trying. Alclad is not cheap, mostly because it is an industrial coating used in the aerospace industry. It was used on fighter plane skins starting in the second world war and is for aluminum, not zinc. What it does is add a corrosion resistant layer to the aluminum. Don't confuse Alclad with Alclad II, which is clear lacquer with aluminum dust as pigment. 
 
https://www.metalsupermarkets.com/what-is-the-difference-between-alclad-and-bare-aluminum/ 
 
 
Here is a video on using Alclad II. 
 
https://youtu.be/Gpt...OzsVEsbjeC8QScL
 
 
But keep in mind that it is a paint, not a plating process. I suspect you can fill any pits with a good epoxy filler. I've never tried it.

Guess I meant alclad II never knew of that other one. interesting.

[Brian Czeiner]

I was wondering about using alclad to get a uniform semi shiny finish then paint over it but I don’t think chrome paint react good to anything going over them.

 

This is why I suggested the Spaztix version. It is compatible with other paints. In fact it requires a shiny deep black base for the full chrome effect. When used on lexan, it means the black would be sprayed over the chrome. You may want to deepen the door lines a bit to compensate for the additional layers of paint.