RE-CHROMING   A. F.  SHELLS

AN AMERICAN FLYER® REPAIR CLINIC

From Port Lines Hobbies

    It is now possible to strip and re-chrome those worn American Flyer plastic and metal shells ! You can even chrome-plate an item that was not previously plated, such as a mail car, baggage car, caboose, etc. We are not talking about painting them...... there is no such thing as "chrome paint", no matter what the cap on the top of those spray cans looks like!  A spray-can is going to give you silver paint......not a chrome finish. Chroming  is a vacuum-plating process.

   Before we address the preparation requirements, we will make you aware of the cost involved. The fee is $55 per shell for the first two shells, and $50 per shell for any additional shells submitted at the same time.. This includes stripping your original shell, mounting it for the plating procedure, vacuum-plating it, and return-shipping to you. 

   Turn-around time varies, but expect six weeks.

******WE WILL BE POSTING A PHOTOGRAPH OF A COMPLETED SHELL VERY SOON.******

   What you need to do to prepare your shell for plating----

• Remove ALL parts from the shell which are not to be plated. This would include diesel ladders, headlight lenses and portholes, cab horn and air vent, steam boiler linkage, etc. Nothing should be left on the shell that is not intended to be chrome-plated.
• You do not need to strip the shell of decals, paint, or old chrome. Some of the "household" methods of doing this can interfere with the plating procedure and create unsatisfactory results. That's why the stripping process is included in the cost of plating. In no case should you bead-blast the shell! This will create a poor surface for plating !
• If there are any nicks or scratches that you want removed first, you must do that; we plate what we receive.  Usually, very fine steel wool will do so very easily. Don't ignore these. If you can see them now, they're going to be 10 times more noticeable after plating!
• Wrap your shells, cushion them well, and send them along!
• Include either a check/MO for the total cost, or supply credit-card information (number, expiration date, and CVV security number).

   Please note that we do not guarantee perfect results. However, we have had very, very few shells completed that were less than perfect, and we have had many customers send us repeat shipments of shells to plate because they were so pleased with the results!   The most common problems occur with the white/cream plastic shells of about 1950. For some reason, those can produce some imperfections, visible close-up, but not from a distance. We use an alternative procedure with these white shells which seems to solve the problem, but if it recurs, we may cease accepting white shells. No other shells have caused any problems at all.

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