Here is how the MiG-17 looks at the moment.

I sprayed the entire airframe using Model Master "Metallizer" buffing aluminum plate from a rattle can. It dries with a lusterless flat finish.

After just a few minutes with a polishing cloth, it looks better...

So I spent some more time with a soft cotton cloth and this really brought out the shine. There are a few small areas that look bad in the place where the upper wing joins the fuselage. If you look real close you can see it.

At this time I decided to install the one piece canopy. So far, so good. It too will receive some camouflage paint.

But that's OK as this will get covered in a camouflage paint scheme anyhow. You might be wondering why is he going to paint it silver, get it shiny and then hide it with camouflage ?

The reason is simple. I'm going to use this shiny metal finish as a base for chipping and peeling the paint. I did this one time before with a WW2 Japanese Ki-84 "Frank". It turned out fantastic... and I wanted to replicate the worn paint look on this MiG-17.

I had a similar problem with the underside... This was caused when I placed the plane on a stand when the paint was still wet. There was also a very small place where the paint didn't get an even coverage, and it didn't buff out as nice. Hopefully this will not be a problem... More on that next.

In this photo I found online, the leading edge of "3020" looks as it could be bare metal. This area is shiny, and could be something as simple as sunlight reflecting off the surface... You can see a similar effect on the nose of the plane next to the number 3020.

The main landing gear door also appears to be a single lighter color. You can see one of the main gear doors hanging down near the nearest drop tank. The drop tank very well could also be oxidized bare metal...

If this is actually bare metal, then it could possibly be the entire leading edge and under surface of the wing was left unpainted...

as usual,
comments are encouraged.

Thanks !

Thanks Erik ! @airbum

You are correct, they do seem to dull a little, if you leave them un sealed. However, I have found that if you seal the Metallizer brand of paint, this keeps the shine as it was the day you sealed it and keeps it from deteriorating. The only downside to this is that when you seal it, it reduces the shine somewhat. I have found that if you use an acrylic clear, such as "Future" it isn't quite as bad as far as reducing the reflectivity. I also found out if you use a "Dull Coat" type clear to seal it, that will knock down the shine considerably. This can be used to your advantage if you are trying to replicate a well oxidized surface.

Please stay tuned for the next update... It's coming right up !

I simply followed my gut instincts and rolled with it

well rolled indeed! - and thanks for the words on the metalizer - I will give the ones I have a try one day, but will keep your preferred brand in mind!

Can't wait to see the chips flying off the kite. . . .

Louis @lgardiner, those decals look great! looks like you are at the 90% finished, 90% to go till finished mark? (Famed place to be for homebuilders that build their own airplanes)

I have been watching a certain Tamiya "Chrome Plated" MiG-15 on EBay. I figured why not, and managed to score it at a very respectable price... It was delivered to my door within two days of purchase, and at considerably less than the original sale price these kits were fetching when new. This one still has the original hobby store price sticker on it of $33.00

To my surprise when it arrived it was still sealed in the original shrink wrap.

Tamiya has it shown as "Silver Color Plated" on the box top.

I have always wanted one of these. It reminds me of the old school chrome plated planes that Testor's did back in the late 1970's with their P-47 and F8F Bearcat planes that were re boxes of the old Hawk kits. They came right out of the box being chrome plated too way back then. But the quality wasn't the same as what Tamiya brings to the table...

Naturally I had to open it up ! I am very impressed with the plating. It looks fantastic.

Not all of the parts are chromed. The engine parts tree is left alone in typical gray plastic.

But these wings will look wonderful !

There's a little bit of dust on these parts if you look close. It will wipe away.

Now I will carefully build this one and bring it up to the same location as the other Tamiya MiG-15's are. This one will probably be used for the Captain's plane.

I'll be very careful in scraping away the chrome plating at the glue joints. I'll probably have to use some Bare Metal Foil in various locations such as the fuselage and wing leading edge seams. Time will tell...

So please stay tuned for an update on this one very soon.

As always,
Comments are encouraged.

Louis @lgardner congrats on this fine kit! I bought a skyray some time ago with the same plating, but still haven't found any decals for a natural/polished version - the decals in the box are all for grey/white ones! I'm tuned for this one - looking forward to see the result! As far as I recall, Revell have a glue for their automotive chromed kits - perhaps that may be of use?

Last night I assembled the tail section on the chrome plated MiG-15.

The seam along the fuselage joint was very close to being spot on, and only needed a few light scrapes to get perfect. Unfortunately this damaged the plating in this location. It will be covered over with Bare Metal Foil and will be virtually undetectable once it's done.

This "scraping" at the seam was done in a few locations. Thankfully it is a very good fitting kit, and so far no filler work has been needed.

Here you can see the darker colored plastic that is beneath the chrome plate. It is a very dark gray, almost a black color.

I scraped away the chrome in areas that would be glued. The chrome plate is extremely thin. It comes off in a few light swipes of a razor blade. In some spots I used a very fine sandpaper.

This has been working out good so far. But care must be taken as the outer surface can be very easily damaged accidentally.

Here is a close up of one of the sets of drop tanks that are provided.

I have an idea about spraying some of these panels using Tamiya Smoke in a few light coats to give them a different appearance. I'll test it on a drop tank before I commit to it though. I'm also going to be using a few shades of Bare Metal Foil to help break up the monotone look of the chrome plating.

Overall I am quite pleased with how this kit looks and has been assembling so far. It's not any different than another Tamiya MiG, other than the joint preparation with removing the chrome at glue locations.

Care must be taken with the outer chrome finish to prevent scratching. It is extremely thin. To me it looks fantastic and is exactly what I was hoping for.

As always,
Comments are encouraged.

Thanks for looking...

I got some more work done on the Tamiya chrome plated MiG-15. I assembled and painted the cockpit.

For some reason all of the pictures will not upload... Here's what will.

This is a side view of the seat and the cockpit tub.

Since these parts are chrome pated, I was concerned that masking tape just might lift the paint. For this reason I chose not to mask off the small white line that goes down through the center of the IP. Instead of painting the instruments, I chose to simply pick away the Flat Black paint on the raised portion to reveal the gauges. It will look decent enough once installed.

Once everything was dry I scraped away the chrome plate to allow for a stronger glue joint. Otherwise from previous experience with building model cars, chrome parts don't glue together well at all...
This is the cockpit after final assembly and detail painting.

I brushed on some gloss Clear to give the leather seat parts some shine, since originally they were also painted Flat Black. Here in these photos the clear has not had sufficient time to dry. The seat will not look this shiny once it does.

Possibly later tonight I will get the rest of the fuselage nose assembly done... The deadline is coming up quickly...

Thanks for stopping by and as always,
Comments are encouraged.