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How to do nickel-chrome plating of pewter toys

Q. I am restoring Dinky and Corgi Toys and would like to replate (electroless plate?) some parts, e.g., bumpers and grills. Could anybody provide me with info on how to chrome or nickel plate pewter, which these items are apparently made of? Any info on the method, materials to be used and how to remove existing plating will be appreciated.

Thank you,

Johannes Potgieter
- Pretoria, South Africa

A. Dear sir,

Your substrate is mainly silica, so removing of old plating is with HCl to remove chrome then with HNO3 acid to remove nickel (and copper and electroless plating).

Plating of new chrome:

1-etching [with HF and HNO3]
2-activation with [Pd or Ag]
3-electroless plating [Ni or Cu]
4-electroplating [acid copper-nickel-chrome]

Best regards,

RAAFAT ALBENDARY
- CAIRO, EGYPT

adv.
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A. Hi Johannes.

Raafat has offered the general steps, and you can see our FAQ, "Introduction to Chrome Plating" to understand additional details about nickel-chrome plating. But my question would be whether you actually want/need real nickel-chrome plating (which as you can see is a pretty intense industrial activity), or whether a nice quality "chrome look paint" would meet you needs? Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
December 20, 2012

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