Re: John's 1953 Patrician

Posted by johntrhodes81 On 2021/3/4 12:10:50

The pic in the next to last post showing the medium gray stuff is diy zinc plating. Here are my thoughts.
Metal prep is huge perfectly clean and no rust is needed.
Polishing is needed to get a shine.
Unpolished is a perfect base to paint over.
A commercial home kit will likely give better results if shininess is your goal.
Ther are plating forums that could help you get it perfected.
Zinc plating acts as a sacrificial material keeping the other metal from rusting even after parts of the plating wear away. Nickel only protects as long as the plating completely covers the item. Once it wears the metal item is sacrificial to the nickel.
John