Cutting Chrome Parts of Sprue

I was wondering if anyone has advice on how to best cut chrome parts off the sprue. When I cut it off with clippers or the hobby knife I’m usually left with a white area where the part was attached to the sprue. Thanks.

No real way to avoid that that I know of. Probably good to invest in a couple of chrome touch-up pens available from hobby shops and craft stores.

I find most chrome plating on models to be too thick, look too ‘shiny’ and have soft features, so I strip it, clean the part of flash and sprue tree remnants and paint them with Alclad or similar chrome-like paint. Sure, it adds to the work, but the finished product is usually worth the effort.

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It never fails that the injector marks are on the top and the seam lines on chrome parts are always the worst in the kit. chrome is definitely a challenge. I have airbrushed smoke over chrome parts successfully to dull it down a bit.

There is no way to avoid those blemishes in the chrome because the parts are nearly always attached to the sprue in a highly visible spot because kit manufacturers only think about the best way to make the parts. They don’t consider the builders needs.

Having said that there are some options.

For the longest time I removed the part as delicately as possible. Doing as little damage as I could. And then touched the part up with a Molitov chrome paint pen.

Now I snap chrome parts off with nippers. Then I strip the chrome off. And after that I sand and finish the part off exactly how I want it. And then completely rechrome the part with chrome paint.

Not to toot my own horn, But I wrote a “How Too” on chroming parts with SMS Hyperchrome. It should be on the Finescale homepage somewhere. Let me see if I can grab a link.

I also have some friends that have beed getting very good results with that new Revell chrome paint in spray cans. That stuff is pretty damn expensive, but if it works…

Long story short. Because of these advancements in chrome paint, I don’t even worry about chrome parts. I finish them just like any other part on the kit.

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That was a good read, thanks for posting that.

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You’re welcome.

I read through these forums and learn a lot, so I like to contribute whan I know something.

It’s been a while, but I seem to remember using Revell’s chrome paint, and yes, it yielded good results, but IIRC, it seemed a bit fragile. Handling the part too roughly, or even touching it with bare fingers would result in dark smudges.

Alclad seems a bit more robust, and there are Alclad-copies that seem okay. too, but seem to be kind of fidgety with respect to mixing and thinning techniques.

ALL chrome paints are “fragile.”

Molotov chrome paint pens are probably the most delicate. They take forever to cure, and you touch the chrome once and the finish is toast.

I tried Rustoleum chrome paint and Spaz Stix, and neither of those even bonded to the plastic. They literally flaked off. HAHA

Then I tried Aclad and Green Stuff World seemed to be durable, but I could not get either of them to be as bright as I wanted them.

Next I tried airbrushing Molotov chrome that I got out of one of my pens. It was nice and bright, but it absorbed fingerprints so easily. Honestly, I really like the reults of this one, but I just couldn’t get the paint to last.

In the end I got the best results from SMS Hyperchrome. Get the parts finished up with a nice glossy black finish, spray a few super light coats until you get the results you are looking for. And very lightly buff off the dust the next day. The results are amazing.

And then clearcoats.

It doesn’t matter which chrome you use, or which clear you use. It will dull the chrome.

I have experimented with a ton of different clears as well. Alclad Aquagloss seems to dull the chrome the least. It still dulls it, but very little. Vallejo clear gloss varnish works well too, but not as good as Alclad Aquagloss.

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Revell has released a new chrome paint, and it is different, and is both more realistic and more durable.

^^ This stuff? I didn’t know about that. Just saw a side-to-side test of ‘chrome’ paints, and the Revell won out. “hands down best” the reviewer said. He was only testing spray-on paints, though.

Thanks for sharing!!

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As good as that Revell chrome paint might be, if you clearcoat it the finish will dull a bit. You simply cannot avoid that.

And touching that Revell chrome paint too much will also dull it eventually.

If you use that paint, handle it with those white cotton gloves you can buy.

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I’d go a step further than just repainting, and strip the chrome off altogether.

I use SuperClean for stripping chrome, since seeing a post years ago to demonstrate using that de-greaser to strip the chrome from Tamiya’s chromed P-51D kit. I used it to remove the chrome from the chromed sprue in the Monogram Red Baron hot rod. I knew that I would want to clean up the sprue gates, and the seams, so the chrome had to come off.
I watched the chrome dissolve into the liquid in under 2 minutes, and then the styrene was literally squeaky-clean.
I proceeded with assembly the usually way, cleaning up seams as usual. For painting, I primed with Tamiya Fine Surface Primer, then I used Rustoleum’s 7718 Chrome to “re-chrome” those parts. It was more than I did when I was a kid, but as an adult, I couldn’t let things like seams go unaddressed.

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I haven’t used a lot of chrome pieces, but I do know I do not like the look of the factory model chrome. It just looks fake. I have a couple of models that have chrome parts and as you said, I plan on stripping the chrome. Cleaning up the part and them spraying chrome back on. Just looking for a good chrome paint. There are many out there. I just feel this will give me the look I’m wanting.

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