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[red181]

I last ran my favourite boat, the Veron Huntsman 28 at Christmas time, and I realised its been neglected for some time, so decided to give it a make over. The real boat is full of chrome, but its impossible to find chrome parts for a model boat, the nearest is nickel plated, and even those are becoming hard to find.
I have tried a load of chrome paints, but they never look like real chrome, but just bright silver,  with the exception of Alclad, which is very expensive.

I stumbled upon a company in Rainford, Near St Helens  called chrome illusion ( http://www.chromeillusion.com/) I took a ride up there and met with the Director, Anthony. The samples and jobs he has in the workshop where such a variety, from large plastic animals, car parts, racing car bits, film trivia, allsorts! He took some persuading to take on my handful of small model boat bits, the deal was that I did the prep and mounting, as this was the time consuming part, and the paint would be as good as my prep! I had to wait until a big job was in the paint booth, as I could not have it exclusively to myself as my job was way too small. After a month or so I got the call and went back.

Anthony has developed his paint process with a team of Chemists, it's American, his company is franchised all over the world, so I was lucky to find him quite close to my home.

My parts looked fantastic, just like chrome, the only problem was my prep on some parts, particularly the plastic bits let things dew, but that's being critical its only when you get close you see any imperfections. I should have primer painted the parts first, then  I would have noticed any prep faults. The metal parts are by far the best, the plastic window frames are the worst, probably because they where the hardest to make. Anthony has said if I do another set he will do them again, this time I will make then from Aluminium, and prepare them better!

I finished the refit yesterday, gave the boat a rare run out, which was great in the sunshine, now its dried out, polished, and back in its box, maybe I wont wait another 6 months to run it again!

[inertia]

Now that is taking things too far, Red!
I shall now retire into the man cave, drag out my two H31's and two Huntresses and scowl at them.......
Beautiful - but you knew that already!
Dare I ask how much you paid for the job? PM me if necessary.
Dave M

[red181]

'Ill pm as well Dave, to save others from the boring details!

It was an embarrassing amount of money, We had a deal though as I sort of sold Anthony on the idea that nobody else was doing this in the model car/boat etc world. He was interested in testing the idea, but after a lengthy conversation, we agreed that it was unlikely to become a significant profit opportunity for him, more a hobby sort of thing. He is regularly abroad, so actually catching him is difficult enough. In the workshop he had a dashboard from an American muscle car, Terminators metal arm, two huge lambanana things (to be totally chromed) an old BSA fuel tank, and fairings for an F1 racing kart.

I recently sold my PCF Swift boat so had funds available, and lately my interest has waned for boats, I've got into flying planes, so I am sort of putting things right with my boats, to be sold or cherished, no more just sitting there unfinished, if you know what I mean! .

I agreed to cover costs, plus some labour, the paint retails to the trade at £75 a tin, small tin! hence I had to wait for paint in the gun on other jobs! Look how much waste there was, and, due to having to be sealed, all edges had to be painted, not just the visible fronts.   

[nivapilot]

Regardless of the cost......the effect is nothing short of stunning.