painting my Cylon?

[nashslash]

can anyone recommend a good quality airbrush chrome paint for painting my cylon. my cylon has trooped for over 1 year now and after battling many colonials has a few battle scars. I have looked into getting him vacuum metalized but here in the UK there are only a few companies that do it and its very expensive. so as an alternative I'm currently looking into the paint option?
any ideas or suggestions..?

[GoldCylon]

There are a few chrome like paints that are cheap in compared to the price of having a suit vac metalized. This is a do it your self paint, and at best has a med low luster rate compared to a chromed piece, but is about 20% of the cost. Alclad II or Alsa Killer Chrome or Mirror Chrome are a good place to start. The Alsa chrome kits come with everything need, but Alclad II you need to supply a base coat. The base coat needs to be a HIGH GLOSS to help the chrome paint thrive in the luster rating (aka reflection) There is a extreme high gloss automotive grade quality on the market, but it runs very hot, so hot that it can melt the plastic Cylon parts. I would avoid this unless your desiring that battle damaged Cylon look. I would try a automotive professional paint center and talk with that about what they have for plastic that is safe. In most cases a 24-48 dry time is needed also. Try not to touch the surface of the paint with your bare skin once ready for the chrome paint. If a real good chrome paint is used your finger print mark will show up on the finished chrome. Using gloves is a must, and trying as much as possible to touch only the back side is the best method. You will also need NEW micro fiber towels to polish the chrome once applied. Most chrome paints dry extremely fast and need to be polished just moments after applied. This polishing of the finish helps out about 20-40% more in the luster rating in the over all finish. Also in most cases the chromed pieces finish can be rubbed off very easy, so a clear coat finish is needed also. I would use a good quality clear coat, and if you not a painter I would find help with this. A chromed piece not clear coated correctly will be very cloudy if not done correctly. If you don't have any extra tile pieces around the house go buy a few squares you can practice clear coating on. Most title has a great reflection to see what your doing with results, and is cheaper to toss a tile piece of stripping down your chromed piece and doing it over. Also playing around with that to chrome also is easier that your Cylon pieces, because if you goof it up you have to strip the Cylon piece, and start over. Again the tile you just toss it. Be sure to take a few photos and post your results for the others to see.

[nashslash]

cheers for the intel Dale, yea I was looking at Alclad II. I've just ordered an air brush and will certainly be doing a few practice runs on some old styrene first. I will definitely take some pictures and work in progress once I begin.

[GoldCylon]

I really recommend trying on tile also.