Before I could restore the gold chrome parts, I had to first figure out how Yamaha did it. Once that was done, it was just a matter of experimenting with different types of translucent (candy) yellow in order to get the original look back.
The gold chrome parts (metal parts anyway), are actually brass plated or solid brass. Yamaha then added a tinted clear over that in order to get it to look like gold plating. Over time, this clear broke down from UV, stone chips and just normal wear & tear.
For my parts, they were stripped of all painted coatings, then polished on my buffing wheel. I was left with a clean, bright brass which has just a bit more colour than chrome.
The paint that worked best for me was Createx Candy2.0 acrylic urethane paint. This stuff is completely translucent, extremely durable, is UV stable and affordable. A lot of the plastic RC race car bodies are painted with this product so I was confident that it was going to stick. Once the proper colour was applied, the parts were coated in a 2K clear.
My formula and set up for restoring the gold chrome:
Createx Candy 2.0 UVLS Clear Gloss: 10ml
Createx 4011 Reducer: 2 to 3ml (based on airbrush needle size & pressure)
Createx Candy 2.0 4652 Tequila Yellow: 4 - 5 drops (could add a drop of candy red)
Airbrush Retarder (slows the drying time): 1 - 2 drops
2K Clear after Candy Yellow is dry (for durability & more UV protection)
Iwata Neo Airbrush @ 25 psi.
The mixture was along the consistency of milk when it was all put together. You can use different ratios and amounts depending on what you're painting. If you're going over straight chrome, you'll probably want to add a bit of candy red to bring the tint away from the green spectrum.
One more part of the restoration complete.
0:00 Intro
0:33 How Yamaha created the gold plating look
3:10 How I recreated the gold plating look
4:50 My compressor setup for painting
6:23 Applying the candy yellow to the brass parts
8:32 Createx Candy 2.0 mixture
13:00 The results
16:35 Outro
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