Metallic finish on plastic parts

[luisito 12]

I have seen some plastics painted on a metallic finish that looks like real metal unless you look it behind the part and discover it is plain plastic.

Attached is a picture of an ABS plastic painted with this finish. Note that the plastic part shown is not printed.

Does anyone have an idea of what kind of process achieves such amazing finish ?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x9x6ihy60il6cg1/met_finish.jpg

[Labern 774]

You can buy different spray cans to get this finish.

Search:

Hammertone Paint

Aged Iron Spray Paint

Stone Spray Paint

Or you could do what cloakfiend does and metal plate the plastic

[geert_2 558]

You could also have a look at shops for custom car parts, spoilers, wheels, accessories,... They usually have a lot of special metalic paints for plastics, and they should know how to get it to stick to plastic (how to grind, how to chemically activate the surface, apply primer, and so on).

[Ronan 58]

http://www.skypirate.net/rocketry/con_paint_03.htm