AMT '89 Batmobile Chrome Removal

Jimmer

Well-Known Member
I am starting my 2nd build of this kit and tried removing the chrome plating with bleach and it would not remove it at all. I read this is common with the chrome plating that AMT applies.

Does anyone know what best method would be (oven cleaner, simple green, flamethrower)?

Thanks in advance, don't want to damage the parts.

Jim
 
easy off oven cleaner does the trick in a few minutes. careful though, it's nasty stuff. I usually put the parts into a sandwich bag and spray it... massage the parts around, etc. until they're coated and let all the chrome come off.
 
Oven cleaner leaves a nasty white residue that somehow never goes away, regardless the attempts. I remove the chrome with isopropanol. It takes a long time and a lot of work but it takes of the chrome and, more importantly, the clear adhesion coat beneath it. It's that layer that obscures or even eradicates detail completely as it clogs up cavities.
I had some Halfords antifreeze that worked much faster than Isopropanol on its own but since there is no Halfords anymore where I live, that option is no longer open to me.

RKS.
 
Well, after researching and given what products were available in my small town, I tried Purple Power concentrated industrial degreaser. Left a machine gun mount that I am not gonna use soaking in purple power for 15 min and had no noticable effect.

Cut a piece of sprue and let it soak an hour. Scrubbed hard with toothbrush after and a little chrome came off and was black underneath.

I am now a bit confused. Am I seeing black plastic? I expected to see white (the coating used before chrome is applied) from pics I have seen online. This is an old kit, is it possible this coating was not used?

If anyone has info/recommendations thanks in advance.
 
This type of "chrome" doesn't have any other coating than vacuum-applied aluminum with a clear lacquer over it. So you'll only see the bare plastic under those two layers. A lot of times they use white plastic for chrome parts because it's cheaper to not add any color and nobody will see it anyway. I just checked my kit and it does have black plastic underneath, so that's all you're seeing.

I wish I had a good suggestion for removal, but I will tell you that the sodium hydroxide-based cleaners won't harm the plastic, so you can leave it in there for awhile. That's your Drano/Purple Power/Oven cleaners.

-Rog
 
Jimmer, what's your plan for your build? I'm moving one on the bench as well.

Hey,

This was one of the first models I built when I took up the hobby, and did everything "stock" other than painting instrumentation.

This time around my plans are:

- paint body gloss black

- strip chrome parts, repaint with Testors chrome and add some black detailing to wheels

- detailed paint to instrumentation, steering wheel & shifters

- I picked up some Pledge Multi Surface Floor (1st time using this product) and plan on using it as clear coat on dash instruments & possibly as a clear coat

I've never used Pledge before, going to test it on some junkers first. Also plan on using it on Bandai R2-D2 if all goes well.

I'd like to apply a black tint to windshield, any recommendations on what to use?

I'm sure your build will be far more complex, but if you have any recommendations for anything on my list I would be grateful.

Thanks,
Jim
 
Plastic under chrome is often just whatever was still in the hopper after the previous molding job. Or what is being used for other tooling on the line being injected at the same time.
 
I've used plain old bleach to get rid of chrome plating. Works especially well on AMT car kits!
Cover the parts and leave for a few minutes to overnight. Light scrubbing with a toothbrush should help clear any reticent chrome bits.
 
I've used plain old bleach to get rid of chrome plating. Works especially well on AMT car kits!
Cover the parts and leave for a few minutes to overnight. Light scrubbing with a toothbrush should help clear any reticent chrome bits.

Still leaves the clear paint adhesion coating. Depending on the manufacturer and the period the model was released, that stuff really can remove all detail.
I have a recent reissue of the AMT C-Ford Stake bed truck and clear adhesion coat was horrendous. All bolt detail was completely clogged up leaving the bolt to look like a big rivet.
Removing the chrome coat alone is not enough.
Older kits from the 60s like the Jo-Han have very thin chrome and don't obscure detail but later 70s reissues and more current reissues (after 2000) of AMTs (produced in China) can be really bad.
 
I used Tamiya Clear Smoke on my chrome parts on my first build. I also used it to tint the window and porthole windows too.

2w2g5cp.jpg
 
I've used plain old bleach to get rid of chrome plating. Works especially well on AMT car kits!
Cover the parts and leave for a few minutes to overnight. Light scrubbing with a toothbrush should help clear any reticent chrome bits.

Still leaves the clear paint adhesion coating. Depending on the manufacturer and the period the model was released, that stuff really can remove all detail.
I have a recent reissue of the AMT C-Ford Stake bed truck and clear adhesion coat was horrendous. All bolt detail was completely clogged up leaving the bolt to look like a big rivet.
Removing the chrome coat alone is not enough.
Older kits from the 60s like the Jo-Han have very thin chrome and don't obscure detail but later 70s reissues and more current reissues (after 2000) of AMTs (produced in China) can be really bad.

This is first time I've tried removing chrome, and I'm making progress, but not easily. I soaked parts in Purple Power for 2 hours and got a little off. Scrubbed with toothbrush, soaked another hour and got a bit more removed. I guess it's because it's an old AMT model (from what I've read). Took an exacto and was able to chip a bit more chrome off, but don't want to damage parts so went very easy with the blade.

Like I said, I am getting there but it's certainly slow going.

Go to a local window tinting place and ask if they have any leftover scraps you can have. I've gotten scraps for free.

Great idea. I'm from a small town and know a guy who tints windows. :)

I'm doing my next build like this I think.


http://i67.tinypic.com/2pzxunq.jpg

That is sweet. Is it my monitor, or does it have a bit of a blue hue to the black paint?

Either way, looks really nice. Anxious to see finished kit.
 
I think the paint is just reflecting the sky, making it look bluish. Here is the same car but in a different location. These are the tour cars that were built with slightly narrower rear fenders to fit on an 8 foot wide trailer.

25ipwjl.jpg
 
I think the paint is just reflecting the sky, making it look bluish. Here is the same car but in a different location. These are the tour cars that were built with slightly narrower rear fenders to fit on an 8 foot wide trailer.

http://i65.tinypic.com/25ipwjl.jpg

That is a sweet ride. Love the dark wheels, turbine, intakes, etc. I knew they had tour cars but I never knew about the slim rear fenders.

Just out of curiosity, are you planning to do your build with all the darker parts or are you also going to replicate the narrow fenders? (Assuming I'm correct about the wheels and parts being darker).
 
Just the blacked out chrome. I'm not going to try and narrow the fenders! On the movie car, if you look at the gas caps, they are almost horizontal. On the Tour cars they are slopped as the fenders start their downward turn so soon.
 
I'm anxious to see your build. I plan on spraying Testors Chrome on my wheels, then adding black to the inside of wheels and the bat on the "center-cap".

While it's on my mind, I was going to ask you a non-chrome related question if you have time to lend your expertise. The front tires that came with my kit have a narrow "strip" of excess rubber running down the center of each front tire. The best way I can describe it is about 1 or 2 mm of rubber and resembles excess flash you'll sometimes find on model parts.

I want to remove the excess rubber from front tires, but I don't know the technical term for this issue (as in "orange peel" or "slivering").
I certainly don't expect you to write out how to correct this, was just hoping you knew the name for this issue on the tires, then I can search out a solution. I started to just trim it down with an exacto but held off in case there is a better option.

Thanks,
Jim
 
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