Creations n Chrome or M&M Metalizing?

[Rusty85]

I've never actually used either of them before but both were recommended. Has anyone on here had any experiences with either of these companies? Both say that they're able to do chrome finishes on resin or any other type of surface.

 

[FuseNova]

I'm not sure of the process he uses but check out Don at "Coat of Chrome" in PA. He just finished coating the resin Cylon helmet below. Regardless of what you end up using, make sure the item is baby smooth. Every little imperfection will be highligted when chromed.

 

[Rusty85]

When you prep the item before its chromed does it matter if it has primer or bondo on it? Obviously smoothed out though.

 

[CessnaDriver]

Creations n Chrome did a Silver Surfer statue for me some years ago.
Holding up very well but of course it is not something that is handled.

 

[Rusty85]

It is an actual chrome coating right? I talked to them and they said it was a spray chrome and I always thought that was different than regular chroming.

 

[CessnaDriver]

It is an actual chrome coating right? I talked to them and they said it was a spray chrome and I always thought that was different than regular chroming.

It is chrome appearing, but not actual chrome plating.
It's some kind of paint process but specialized such that you really
couldn't do it at home without proper equipment.

 

[DarkJedi1500]

We had some major issues with Creations N' Chrome. This is Dave's summary from our blogpost about our Daft Punk Helmets:

"After both of the helmet castings and all of the hand pieces were cleaned up and prepared for chroming, they were shipped off to Creations N Chrome in California. Right off the bat, the Thomas helmet was damaged during shipping. Something had either fallen on the box, or the box fell, but either way, the helmet was not in any condition to be chromed. A spare casting was rushed out to replace it soon after and they were able to maintain my requested due date, despite the new helmet being shipped a week after the original requested arrival date. While my overall experience with CnC was pretty good, the quality of work they returned to me did not match the quality of work I've seen on their other projects. The main problem that occurred on both helmets was pitting in the chrome finish. Guy's helmet was also damaged in-house. While they did repair it, the results were less than desirable. I've done enough ranting about it on Facebook, so I won't do it here, but I will say that I am not convinced in the least that the pitting problem was a result of anything I did on my end. Despite their defects, I am happy with the finished helmets overall. However, I cannot endorse CnC right now. If you choose to use them for your own project, it should not be done so at my recommendation. Results may vary. "

When we got the helmets in, Thomas was full of scratches and the ears were full of bubbles. We were also informed that they dropped the guy helmet, and they had to refinish the back plate (where the wires go on the non-Tron versions). When we got that helmet back the gold from the repair did not match the gold on the rest of the helmet. They worked for D*Con but were a "C" job at best.

What really annoyed us was about 3 months later, we discovered the chrome on Thomas had started to bubble off! The chrome job looks so bad now we can't even use it.

We've contacted "Coat of Chrome" and they seem alot more promising and significatly cheeper. I've seen Creations do go work, but for us they were a nightmare.

 

[Rusty85]

Thanks for the information! Do any of these places do actual chrome plating, or are they all the paint type spray on chrome?

 

[FuseNova]

For Coat of Chrome, the cylon helmet was primed many times to get a nice smooth finish. Don said he does additional prep work but not sure what this entails. As stated below, this is not actual chrome but a multi layered paint/coat system which approximates the chrome look.

BTW: my helmet was wrapped up very well to protect the finish and shipped back to me using the same sturdy box I shipped it out in.

When you prep the item before its chromed does it matter if it has primer or bondo on it? Obviously smoothed out though.

 

[Rusty85]

The whole paint aspect of this is troubling as the whole point of chroming something aside from being cosmetic was because of how durable it makes the piece that you're chroming. If it really is some type of paint process then I would think it makes the finish far more prone to handling issues.

 

[DarkJedi1500]

The whole paint aspect of this is troubling as the whole point of chroming something aside from being cosmetic was because of how durable it makes the piece that you're chroming. If it really is some type of paint process then I would think it makes the finish far more prone to handling issues.

I'm not an expert on chroming, but the way you get the chrome finish is really dependant on the material.

The primmer is mainly to hide imperfections. To get a glass surface involves alot of prime, sand, repeat. We weven went up to 2000 grit sandpaper.

 

[Rusty85]

Do the items you guys got chromed feel just like the real thing? Any differences?

 

[FuseNova]

It feels like shiny plastic. If you're getting something chromed to protect it, this is not the way to do it. I imagine true chrome will be very expensive if its even possible.

 

[Rusty85]

Do you think its the same type of process that they use on parts for replicas? I know a lot of lightsaber parts were done in resin but had a chrome finish.

 

[FuseNova]

The few sabers I have with chrome are real metal.

 

[Rusty85]

Well, thanks for the advice either way, I'm hoping that it looks great whenever I do my first attempt.

 

[Kevin Gossett]

Think of a plastic model car kit, and the chromed pieces that come with it. That's the type of finish you'll end up with

 

[Rusty85]

Sounds pretty much identical to vac-metalizing. I've got a pistol that's chromed and it isn't done by this process. It's actual metal over a resin kit, that's the type of finish that I was trying to find. I'll have to try and call a few places to get more specific details or which ones offer true chrome/metal plating.

 

[AMP]

This might be an option for you. Alsa Corp | Killer Cans Killer Chrome

 

[Rusty85]

Although I've only heard good things from them I'd really like to go with real plating, and if that's not possible then the spray chrome is gonna be my second choice. Thanks all the same for the link though.