Chrome Comparison

Wow , it's been a minute since i updated the site. While the world is going mad this is as good of a time as any.


In this article i will compare 10 different "chrome" paints. I know there are more out there, and yes everyone has a favorite. These are the ones i currently have in my inventory. I am not planning to run out and purchase more as i feel the 10 i have chosen cover a vast majority of what people can get their hands on easily.


Now for the lineup....



from left to right:

1. Vallejo Model Air Chrome

2. Molitow Chrome ( was in a pen that i opened and drained the contents into a dropper bottle for easier use )

3. Model Master Chrome Silver Enamel

4. Chrome Nail Polish ( saw an add on the net and had to get some to try )

5. Alclad 2 Chrome

6. Culture Hustle Mirror Chrome

7. AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Chrome

8. MrHobby Super Metallic Chrome Silver

9. MrHobby Mr Metal Color Chrome Silver

10. Tamiya x11 Chrome Silver


I am going to try to be as unbiased as i can with this comparison, some of the products i do have some experience with, while others, this is my first time using them.


I will apply them to the best of my ability ( for better or worse lol )


For the first test i am looking for simply the brightest, most reflective chrome coating.


I am using good ole plastic spoons to test on. cheap and cheerful and easy to keep things uniform with.


on the first test i will be applying the chrome over 2 different spoons, one plain bare plastic, and one that has been treated with a base coat of Model Master Gloss Black Enamel




I shot the set with 2 coats of enamel, thinned 30% with cheap lacquer thinner, then set in my dehydrator over night just to make sure they were fully cured.


Next i loaded up my Sparmax Max 4 ( my airbrush of choice for metallic paints ) and dialed it in at 18psi. All the chrome paints are shot at this same pressure throughout the tests.




First up was the Vallejo Model Air Chrome...( unthinned ) i did not expect much out of this paint, i have yet to find an actual acrylic that can give a decent mirror shine. both the plain spoon and the black based one turned out identical. the paint is very pigment dense and opaque. comes out more as an aluminum than it does a chrome.



Next was the MrHobby Mr Metal Color Chrome Silver ( thinned 20% with cheap lacquer thinner ) You can see a difference in the tone between the plain plastic and the black based spoon, but overall it was very close. Keep in mind that with the Mr Metal line i had to spray the color, wait an hour or so and then buff the surface with a soft cloth to bring out the shine. Still not what i would call a chrome finish by any stretch.



MrHobby Super Metallic ( i am gonna say it now ) is basically the same as the mr metal color. performed almost identically.



Next i moved to Tamiya X11 Chrome Silver (thinned 30% with x20a thinner). They could have just called this silver to begin with. nothing about it says "chrome" to me




Now i get to one that surprised me a little bit, Chrome Nail Polish ( thinned 30% with cheap lacquer thinner) i was not expecting much out of a nail polish that looks like liquid metal in the infomercials for it. but overall it wasn't as bad as i thought it would be. Went down smooth enough and has a decent shine. not exactly "chrome" but more of a polished aluminum look to it.



Another surprise to me was the Model Master Chrome Silver ( thinned 20% with cheap lacquer thinner) for something that is not from one of the specialist companies, this did pretty well. good level of shine to it and a fair reflection. i would give it a B+



i next moved over to the AK Interactive Xtreme Metal Chrome ( unthinned ) the remaining paints are what i would consider as "specialist paints" i know i did not do this one justice and will have to go back and do another spoon to give it a fair shake in this test. I probably could have built up one or 2 more mist layers and gotten it brighter. ( my fault entirely )



now we are atleast in the zip code of chrome, Alclad 2 Chrome (unthinned) definitely better over the black base. applied in fine mist coats building up pigment until you get the level of shine you want. the downfall to paints like Alclad and the previous AK Interactive is figuring out where to draw that line.. a bit too much and all the sudden you have bright silver instead of chrome.




Molitow Chrome...unlike the alclad and ak, you lay this stuff on in wet coats. this allows the reflective particles to "float" on the surface as it dries creating a very reflective surface. ifnore the speckles on the spoon, that was my own doing as i was messing with something else in the spray booth at the same time as i was testing here.



I have a new favorite chrome....Culture Hustles Mirror Chrome. applied straight out of the bottle, 2 wet coats ( the same as the molitow ) that shine is hard to beat.





Since in every one of the previous tests the black based spoons performed better than the bare plastic ones, the bare ones went into the trash and we move forward with the black based ones.




i am going to tape things off and use 2 different clears on them. Tamiyas X22 clear ( thinned 30% with X20A and Pledge/Future/Klear)







Realistically i should have waited at least over night to mask these off and left them in the dehydrator. but the wife has other ideas and i have a large build i have to get started on the 1st so i am going to push through and see how fragile some of these coatings are.


keep in mind, these have only had an hours drying time in the dehydrator before i am throwing masking tape over them and hitting them with clear coats. how bad can it be? lol




bottom half of the spoons will get the Tamiya X22 with the X20a thinner, the top portions of the spoons will get dipped into a shot glass with some of the floor shine in it only because i am currently too lazy to spray it heh.


i shot the bottoms and peeled the blue masking tape, there were a few small casualties, but not as bad as i thought there would be.

i then dipped the tips of each spoon in the floor shine and wicked off on a paper towel so there were no runs.


once they was done, i pulled the remaining piece of masking tape off the spoons. lets see how much damage i did......



Vallejo, took both clears with no difference at all to the shine, tape did start to pull a bit of the color up along the center of the spoon




mr metal color, took both clears, both effected the finish somewhat and darkened them. much more lifting visible from the tape line.




funny enough, after just proclaiming that this was the same as the other mr hobby chrome silver...it proves me wrong. the clear had no effect on the finish and the tape did significantly less damage to this one compared to the last.



on the nail polish spoon, the tamiya clear dulled the finish down a bit, the floor shine did not. the tape damage at the top of this spoon was from the larger blue painters tape i used previously to mask the top.




tamiya took both clears like a trooper and the tape did 0 damage.. thats a fair result




AK Tamiya dulled the finish slightly, heavy lifting when tape was removed




The Molitow was not happy with me in this test. it is still reflective, but it darkened slightly. also the tape had a field day on the finish....



Alclad, Tamiya darkened the finish a bit, the floor shine did not. significant lifting when i pulled the tape.




Culture Hustle Mirror Chrome, the clears did nothing to effect the finish but there was some heavy lifting when the tape was removed




the model master fared about as well as the rest. slight darkening of the finish accompanied by heavy lifting when the mask was removed.



Synopsis:

Chrome finishes are definitely possible in the hobby, i just don't see a time and place in the future where i would have to worry about masking something that was chrome. Overall some of the results here surprised me...if i had to list a top 3 for my own use i would have to go with 1. Culture Hustle Mirror Chrome, 2. Molitow and 3. Alclad 2



your mileage may vary, and as always, this site is filled with my personal opinions.. you don't have to agree. Happy Building!!! cya soon