I'm building a car since a loooooong time (normally into military green stuff)
I don't like the chromed parts. I've read that this chrome can be removed using "something", but I don't remember how. Can somebody help me ? Which products to use to remove the chrome finish of the plastic ?

Easy Off oven cleaner will do it. just soak it for a few hours. Might have to scrub with a toothbrush Just use gloves. Simple Green is supposed to work also.

Johan,

Like Andy, I've used Easy-Off oven cleaner. Give it a healthy soaking, let it sit for an hour or so, then check it. IIRC, my parts took about two hours or so. I had no luck with Simple Green though.

Mike

I go with bleach. I fill an appropriate plastic container with enough liquid bleach to cover the parts and leave it alone for a couple hours. Takes the chrome off, but, leaves the clearcoat under the plating.

Just another technique.
Cuhail

I place the parts in a quart sized ziplock freezer bag and then spray them liberally with fume free Easy Off. I usually let them soak over night or spray them before I leave for work and let them sit during the day. Then I scrub them clean with an old toothbrush and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Sometimes you need to use a toothpick to get some of the spots in the cracks and crevices.

It takes off both the chrome and the clearcoat laquer underneath leaving just the bare plastic.

If you are not in and want something non toxic I have used simple white table vinegar, it took a couple of days to strip the crome from Monogram monkee's mobil

Good old oven clear works the best . You can even use brake fuild ( dot 3 ) for removing the chrome from parts . Place the parts in a pan and pour the fuild oven them , let set over night .

That is my problem right now I'm suffering from CRS because not to long ago I just soaked a bunch of chrome parts in some kind of liquid that wasn't to harsh and it took the chrome off in a few minutes.

I remember after I soaked so many I had to throw away the old liquid and put in fresh liquid if I wanted it to work fast but like I said when it was fresh you could watch the chrome come off but it never hurt the plastic, I know I got it wrote down somewhere but finding where I got it wrote down at.

Here I was hoping that somebody else would remember so I wouldn't need to keep looking myself, for I been looking for my recipe all morning and I know it is a common house hold item I used to get the chrome off these parts.
I Thank You a Head of Time for the person or person's who remember what the right product is. I remember I only used it at room temperature, I just pour some in a cup then put my chrome pieces in then less then 5 minutes they are ready to rinse off with no chrome on them what so ever and no harm to them.

Household bleach will remove chrome without attacking the clear coat (as someone already pointed out). Or you can try ammonia. Just DO NOT MIX the solutions or you generate a poisonous gas. Both are quick and easy. One time I even bought a few kits that had been in a basement when it flooded. The flood waters must have contained some of these household chemicals because the chrome was shot. I got them really cheap because no box, no decals and no chrome (one was the Revell Peterbilt wrecker!)

Acetone (finger nail polish remover) will work but it varies how well and fast.

Easy off works as will any lye formula, but it will lift the clearcoat off. Castrol Purple cleaner (can't recall the exact name) will do the same thing. Brake fluid will strip the clear coat as well, but I find it can leave some plastics a bit soft or soak into them making painting unpredictable.

Is the clear coat you guys are talking about important to the plastic? Does it make it harder to paing it later on?

Hisham

The clear coat is what the manufacturer applies to the sprues as a first step in the chroming process. It leaves a shiny, uniform basecoat for the plating.

In addition to removing the chrome, I've found that oven cleaner and brake fluid can remove the clear coat from parts as well, especially if left to soak for a while. The parts are now bare plastic, just like the plain sprues in the kit.

I haven't had any problems painting enamels or lacquers over stripped parts, with or without the clearcoat. I would imagine that acrylics might have a harder time sticking to the clear coat, but since I don't paint with them very much, I really can't say for sure.

Anybody else have experience with acrylics painted over the clear coat on stripped chrome parts?

-YL

Yup. The clear coat doesn't give acrylic paints anything to "bite" into. It'll stay on fine with a top coat of Future, but without any kind of topcoat (either flat or gloss) it will eventually start to wear off with normal handleing, just like if you had painted over chrome. Also, without the addition of said top coat, you can forget about masking over the painted area. The tape will generally lift the paint right off when it's removed.

Hermon