How were Gold phones painted?

[Kenton K]

I've seen a few golden Imperials, 500s and 302s recently and I was wondering how they got so shiny. I feel like paint would not produce that reflective shine seen on many of the real telephones western electric made. I found an ebay telephone for comparison.

I also kinda want to turn one of my parts 500 into a gaudy masterpiece. hehe 

Ken

[Matilo Telephones]

If it is made of plastic, probably like this:

http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5759421_vacuum-plastic-plating-process.html

[Kenton K]

Well a vacuum chamber is certainly too expensive for me. I saw on that page that you can also plate plastic Electroless. I may try to plate the plastic in the Electroless process, just for fun.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7270709_plastic-chrome-plated_.html

Ken

[Jim Stettler]

I like shiny phones. I keep meaning to buy some shiny spray paint and experiment on some scrap parts.
The can caps look to be the  right look, but I have never tried out the shiny spray paint.

I have 500's in  gold as well as shiny princess and Imperial princess phones. I also have a shiny silver Keyset, it has a tag commenerating the # of phones installed.

I have been told you can metal plate plastic if you spray it with metalic paint first and then plate from there.
Jim

[twocvbloke]

The word is Electrolysis, and the process is easy, just spray a conductive metal onto the plastic, then you connect it up to a DC source as the Cathode (Negative) and use I think Nickel, then Copper and then Chrome as the Anode (Positive), and then finally spray the item with a clear yellow lacquer to make it gold coloured...

Never plated any plastic in my life though, did once plate a Cupronickel 50p coin with Copper at school though...

You can also use the process in reverse to clean up metals, but that's a different topic...

[DavePEI]

The way I read it, the electroless process is only a pre-treatment for the electrolytic process, which makes the surface of the plastic conductive to accept the plating via the electrolytic process.

Dave

[twocvbloke]

Something popped into my head, I do recall seeing paint whose cap implies they can achieve a shiny finish, be it gold or chrome, it'd be interesting to try them out...

[poplar1]

The problem with a 500 is that you need a clear number plate which is then painted gold on the back; otherwise, the numbers are covered up.

[twocvbloke]

True, but the model making community has a solution, transfers that are painted in under a lacquer finish, that way you get letters, numbers and dots that are protected from use..