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Adding the chrome back to plastic models

2003

Hello everyone,

I had a question about electroplating plastics, such as the type you'd see on hobby models, toys, vintages, etc. Is there a way to repair, or should I say, re-electroplate such plastics at home? Is there even a place where I can take my items to get them replated professionally? I've been looking around the internet for hours and found a few spots around my area, but most seem to only service real metal parts rather than treat plastics of the such I described above. I really wish to add chrome to some of my vintage toys which lost their coating through time, and make them look brand new again.

Thanks in advance for any help! :]

Julio C. Naranjo
hobbyist - Los Angeles, California, United States of America

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It is certainly possible to chrome electroplate plastic--the chrome plated grills of virtually every car in the world are plastic. But I think the great majority of model cars use vacuum metallizing rather than chrome plating. However, in either case these are labor intensive and large scale industrial processes and I doubt that you would be willing to pay the several hundred dollar minimums if you found a shop that can do them. This sounds like a good application for the new generation of chrome-look paints.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2003

I have a book on home electroplating copyrighted 1973 ["A Textbook of Electroplating" by R.S. Ingwersen & D.F. Davis] that describes plating plastics at home. The process they describe takes just over a page in the book. This is in addition to the home chrome plating plant they discuss in other parts of the book. This is a bench top process using pyrex cooking ware for tanks, and dry cell batteries. It is from Tropic House, Palm Bay, Florida.

There are a lot of sites that discuss home plating systems on the web.

You will probably want to experiment with parts you don't care about before you try anything for real.

John Harvey
- Oakley, Illinois, USA
2004