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There must be a way...

There must be a way to cover fiberglass parts with other materials to be able to eventually accept a metal finish (steel, chrome, aluminum, ?) that could be polished...right?

Make a negative mold (or 3D printed) out of a material that could be polished?
Sprayed with a material that could be polished?

Any thoughts or has anyone heard of a process?
 
There is a chrome "wrap" that some guys use on Corvettes.
I don't know anything about it but if it works on Corvettes, it should work on you fiberglass parts. I have no idea how much it weighs. Seems like that might be the only disqualifying factor.
 
There was a company that offered chroming services for fiberglass and plastic parts here on VAF - I don't know what happened to them. Chroming fiberglass has come a long way since the semi-decent stuff in model kits when I was a kid. I've seen chromed plastic bumpers on production cars, but some look awful so it still seems to be hit or miss. When I did R/C scale airplanes, bare metal could be done with heat-shrink covering but it was awful on inside curves. Instead, for detail, many people went with aluminum foil and spray adhesive, painstakingly burnishing the foil to the part. However, surface preparation was critical because any blemishes show right through. And on large parts like we're talking about, you wouldn't get pieces large enough. But if your paint/polish scheme didn't involve the whole cowl being polished, this might work for you.

By the way, last weekend someone pointed at my unpainted RV-6A with the gray primer patches here and there and said, "I really love the polished aluminum airplanes." :eek: So I'm thinking more and more that if I ever do go with a paint/polish scheme, aluminum-colored paint on the fiberglass will probably be just fine.
 
Vacuum Plating and other processes

There is a process called Vacuum Plating that is used to cover all kinds of material and although somewhat cost effective, it doesn't hold up when left outside.

My local plastic retailer (Tap Plastics) says that you can add metal powders to the epoxy and they will buff out to a shine. They didn't carry the products or tried it with anything shiny but they thought it would work.

If they can cover the plastic on car parts, it should work for our fiberglass pieces????

Isn't there someone how has been down this path?
 
Plastic can be chrome plated. I have had this done for one of the companies I worked for. First step is to make the plastic surface electrically conductive, and in my case the plater used an "electroless nickle" which I am not sure how that is applied. After that it is business as usual....copper plate, then chrome plate. Once chromed this made for a very stiff and heavy part (as chrome can be put on pretty thick).

There are aluminum vapor desposition methods that can handle small parts, typically done for headlight reflectors. Actually the size of the part is determined by the size of the vacuum chamber the coating company has. Probably not a cost effective method on a low volume basis (unless they work you a deal).

Maybe you could try like the motorcycle guys do on their gas tanks, silver leaf (or gold leaf or copper leaf) and then I think they clear coat it.
 
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The short answer: there is not a method out there that I would use on an airplane or car that would hold up for long. Right now the best bet is the chrome wrap and expect it to be replaced every once in a while.

The long answer:
PVD or other vapor depositions will be thin and wear. They won't stand up to the environment. It is very expensive to do large parts and the reject rate is high for large parts.

Metal filler in epoxy. This is like metal dust that can be mixed with small amounts of epoxy to make a somewhat metal part. It can be polished but won't hold a shine like real metal. It is heavy.

Chrome plating of plastic. This can be done. It generally looks good but will ware in the environment. We sometimes use this on the inside of plastic parts to control EFI and to stiffen the part. Toxic. Cracks. And not good for our use.

Chrome paint. This looks okay. It is expensive and not a great match when placed against real metal. It is hard to apply and can't be buffed. This is probably the second best alternative to real metal.

The best alternative so far is chrome film. This is used on large simi truck bumpers. When they apply this it is heated and vacuumed formed to an ABS bumper. You can simulate this process with the roll film, a squeegee and some time.

It is possible to vacuum form a thin sheet of aluminum and bond it to the substrate. But not really practical for us. They heat the metal to around 600-deg and suck it down to a material covered in thermal adhesive.

For me, it comes down to what will last. We have tried all these methods and subjected them to our environmental chamber as well as real world tests.

The chrome film would be the best for our use because it can take a few rock hits, and can be removed cleanly when the need to replace comes up.

But, there is no reason that a aluminum sheet could not be stamped into a part. Not that expensive anymore and the stamping methods have greatly improved in the last 5 years. We are stamping parts now that you would swear are CNC'ed parts.

Now, if I could have a polished RV-4 with a stamped metal instead of fiberglass and with the canopy with a 25-35-percent chrome PVD on the inside, that would look awesome and help keep me cool. :)
 
There must be an easier way...

Why not just make metal replacements on an English wheel. As hard as it appears to put a coating on fiberglass, it might be easier to just make the parts from aluminum. It would definitely be lighter than fiberglass...

Not my cup of tea, but just sayin':eek:
Don
 
Nick are you asking "in general" or is there a specific part you want to metalize, like the wingtips or cowl? Just curious what you are plotting! There was thread somewhere showing an rv8 where the guy used that metallic vinyl wrap stuff on his canopy skirt, it actually looked really good in the photos.
 
Vinyl Wrap

This is what Mel is talking about.

51URs8HZq7L._SY300_.jpg


http://www.amazon.com/Chrome-Mirror-Vinyl-Film-Sheet/dp/B00FBMX6L2/ref=pd_sbs_misc_6

It would take some practice to install, but is cheap enough to afford the learning curve. The stuff is pretty resiliant too, good luck with a lot of curves though, a heat gun is your friend.
 
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