I wanted to try doing something to make the interior of this heap less sterile. So I took some Dupli-color Metalcast red and painted over the fake aluminum on the dash and console. Considering the complete lack of proper surface prep it turned out pretty impressive. That's just three coats of color and three coats of gloss clear. I may strip it back down to do it again the right way. If I do, I'll do the same to the other fake aluminum panels.

I'm also considering using the chrome-in-a-can to see if I can't get a bit more of a mirror effect. But I don't know if that stuff works as advertised.

Your Image Link is no good. Tried to fix it for you but it produces an Error Page that says you don't have permission to access.

'68 Coronet R/T wrote:Your Image Link is no good. Tried to fix it for you but it produces an Error Page that says you don't have permission to access.

Thanks. I redid the post with the pic as an attachment. Not sure why the link didn't work. I've used that gallery on other forums.

Alright, I could use some advice.

I did zero prep work on the panels in this experiment. I cleaned them with ordinary dish detergent and then painted them. So they are far from right. Because the paint is translucent you can see scratches and scuff marks in the panels. And adhesion is poor enough that I got "stone chips" while reinstalling the panels. I accepted this because this was just an experiment.

But now I think I want to do it right. I can strip the paint back down, hit the panels with 600 grit to prep them, then do the paint. This time, though, I'm going to do the paint with even more layers. I've seen the videos on the chrome-in-a-can. It comes up far short of looking like real chrome. But it does have more of a sheen than the fake "brushed aluminum" that I painted over in the first place. So it should give a more mirror-like finished product.

My question is whether I should sand between layers. I've seen that you never sand a base coat before applying clear. But does that apply to the different layers of a special effect paint? The chrome paint requires a gloss black base for best results. So would I be better off sanding the black, then sanding the chrome before applying the red "candy" coat? Doesn't each layer have to be super-smooth for the final product to be super-smooth? Or do you really only have to sand the clear to get a mirror finish?

I want to get as close as I realistically can to the look of a Christmas tree ornament. I know I won't get all the way there without painting over actual chrome or silvering. This just seems like a good way to learn some things pretty quickly on a small job.

I assume these are plastic panels?
If so you will need to strip the paint and use an adhesion promoter (like Bulldog) on the plastic prior to your primer. For pieces like this I use epoxy primer (********** black) and put a couple of coats on. Let it set for at least 24 hours and then wet sand with 600 and apply my top coats.

Artificial chrome plating is tough to make look right. I believe Alsa Chrome has some products that come close and some wraps that look good.

Interesting. I thought adhesion promoter was primer. What's the purpose of the primer if I have an adhesion promoter? And then I only sand the primer, not the base color? Do I have to wait 24 hours between each layer? Or just between the primer and the color coats? In other words, is it primer-wait-base-wait-candy-wait-clear? Then don't I have to wait a couple days before sanding and buffing the clear?

Timing could be tricky. I can't park the car for a few days. So I'll have to see if I can drive it without the dash panel in place. I may wait until I figure out how to get all the other panels out so I can do it all at once.

There is a forum section for Fiberglass and Plastics for more in depth information.
Basically, adhesion promoter is just what it says, a product that promotes adhesion to plastic.
Epoxy primer works well on plastic parts because it remains somewhat flexible and resistant to chipping.
You would only need to wait 24 hours on the final coat of epoxy so it will be cured enough to sand without any issues.
Normally you would NOT sand color coats. The only time is if there is dirt or something that must be removed and then you respray it.