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Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Chrome plating of tin/lead model boat fittings

I am a hobbyist and would like to know how to plate lead/tin metal boat fittings for scale model boats nickel or chrome.

Don K [last name deleted for privacy by Editor]
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The best thing might be to take them to a plating shop, Don, or to paint them with a "chrome-look paint".

You probably don't want to chrome plate them because chromic acid is a regulated, toxic, carcinogenic, substance. It is highly concentrated hexavalent chrome (the stuff Erin Brockovich was about).

You could perhaps get a plating kit for nickel plating from a hobby plating vendor, but if the items are really tin-lead, you would need hydrofluoric acid to prep them properly for plating. You may remember a few years ago when a NYC sanitation worker was killed spilling some waste hydrofluoric acid on himself that someone left on the curb; this is a frightening material that has no place in a residential environment. Good luck.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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