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"Chroming" Plastic Miniature Figures

I recently got into hobby painting of miniature figures and while digging through an old pile of toys, I uncovered an old Cylon Raider action figure (Battlestar Galactica). The action figure had a silver reflective paint job and I became intrigued and wanted to do something similar with a large number of miniatures (basically I want to assemble and paint an army of about 200 Cylon look-alikes in 1/25 scale). A similar paint job can be seen on old Kenner Star Wars action figures such as C-3P0 and R2-D2's head.

Anyways, I was wondering if there was a durable, efficient and economical way for me to realize my army.

Jason Cordes
- Houston, Texas USA
2001

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I'm not a collector, and unfamiliar with these items. But the usual technology for shiny but inexpensive items is vacuum metallizing. A thin film of aluminum is vacuum deposited, then coated with a transparent lacquer.

The reason such things look kind of "special" compared to ordinary paints is that they are. You're not going to be able to do this without investing in a vacuum metallization unit (which is not cheap) or finding a vacuum metallizing shop who is interested in doing small quantities. Please see our jobshop directory below.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2001

Jason, we would like to see if we can help you. Give us a call.

Mandar Sunthankar
- Fort Collins, Colorado
2001

Some shops will do gold and silver chrome...even just 1 piece...also at least one shop will also do color chroming and they will also do 1 off runs...I am an action figure collector/customizer who has had some of my work featured on websites...I also belong to a collectors group that was consulted by Palisades toys for new designs for specific figures. I am currently working on the largest chromed action figure collection in the world. I myself deal with these shops and know quite a few individuals that do. ATR

Austin Richards
- Edm. AB. Canada
2003