Touch up chrome paint passenger cars

The cars a plated, not painted.  Nobody to my knowledge makes a chrome paint that would match or even be a close match.  You best bet would likely be a chrome foil product like this: Bare Metal Foil.

Rusty

Years ago there was a person at the DuPage show that offered rechroming services. He had a rechromed 356 Silver Bullet as a display piece. I think he was actually having vacuum metalizing done rather than rechroming on the plastic shell. The engine looked far better than anything that ever came out of the Gilbert factory. The cost was a major barrier.

There are firms that will do rechroming of plastic toys but from the costs I have seen it would be cheaper to buy like new originals of these cars.

Whit,

Don't give up too soon.

Check out this thread for hints on Molotow and using it to mimic chrome:

https://ogrforum.com/...7#152477234787504447

It may not be perfect, but you might like the results.

Mike

Motolow chrome is indeed a very close match. I suspect like matching paint it won't be exact though. Worth a try as its inexpensive and can be removed with alcohol if you are not satisfied with the results. This is Molotow on the railings.

Pete

It isn't perfect, but easy and cheap.  There is chrome spray paint I have used for small chips.  I spray it in the lid and then apply it to the scrape with a very thin brush. I have seen the chrome pain in many places.

Another vote on the Molotow chrome paint.  I purchased pens from Amazon which I used on the stools for a Frosty Bar.

Don

Yuck.  I think I'd strip them and repaint silver.

I'd strip and paint silver too   Not only what Gilbert did, but Doug Peck has an exact match silver and appropriate lettering.  

Then, there's another route:  I found a bunch of cars that were in MUCH worse shape and beyond salvaging.  So I completely stripped them and painted them to match the Lionel Flyer EP-5 in MR colors.  Blasphemy?  You didn't see these cars "before!":

And for variety, two of the more recently released cars, again repainted to match.:

For me the bottom line is if the item is in great shape, I clean and conserve.  It it's too far gone, it's fair game for repaint (new releases are fair game).  That makes all the difference.  Would I repaint a well preserved Gilbert item?  No.  Would I repaint or bash a common, scraped, dented, worn or basically junk item?  Most certainly.

Beautiful work! It's no sacrilege to allow the once discarded to live on in new splendor.

Thanks!  The train has also been run on my club's display layout at train shows and received good comments.   Besides, my 7 years old grandson likes it...

To the original poster of this thread, please let us all know what you decide.