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Hi

I'm looking to have a chassis stripped and replated with a really tough finish.

Do any metal specialists know what the best would be for a runner? Basically want this thing to be wear proof.

I am hoping I can get a flat, non-shiny finish the same color as a abrams tank (sand like seen here http://www.testors.com/product/0/1706/_/Sand_FS33531_(F)_-_12_oz._Bottle ).

Also if anyone knows the rough cost of a service like this for a chassis and 5-8 smaller aluminum bits (a-arms etc) please let me know

Last, if anyone happens to know a good finisher in the Minneapolis/St Paul MN area, please let me know

That might be a long shot to find a finish that will with stand being a runner.

flipwils11 on here might be able to point you in the right direction here local. Send him a pm...

The toughest finish would be a hard anodized surface. If you can find the right place to anodize they could do something like the associated shock and they would end up greenish black or brown.

What about a thin spray of bedliner?

So the process of hard anodizing is what results in the greenish color not a Dye?

It depends on the material and the anodizer but here is the sample my anodizer showed me.

First is non anodized
Second is standard anno with no color
Third is hard anno with no color

Usually color is added as well but as you can see it changes it a bit, that's why you don't see hard anno in red, gold, etc



If your looking for scratch resistant I would go powder coat. It's thick so it will be a right fit on arms and such but chassis and nose would be fine

The green in associated shocks came from the Teflon PTFE coating- that's why it doesn't get replicated. Hard anno also requires a higher voltage, and can destroy the metal pretty quickly if not done 100% right (burn through) Harris melted a Worlds chassis right through the milling-

I was also told many years ago that hard anodizing color is dependent on the aluminum that is is being applied over.

I took a batch of parts from an OFNA 1/8th scale car - chassis, towers, radio tray along with some exhaust parts - header, pipe to a local anodizing company many years ago.

When I got it back there was quite a variation among the parts - including differences in the shock towers from the other chassis parts. AFTER they had been used for a while the nitro fuel (presumably oil in the fuel) seemed to coat the anodizing and and the colors evened out a bit....

It was an interesting buggy and brought many 'what is it' questions.

The bottom line is that the chassis stayed anodized and sold me on the concept of hard anodizing a chassis as a way to slow down wear.

yep, the reason hard anodizing can't be dyed is that the layer that gets produced is much thicker, so it assumes it's own shading, dependent on the alloy. Some could be brown, black, dark green, etc. As Reg said, the teflon coating that gets applied to the shocks adds to the greenish tint. Hard anodized is more or less an extended process of standard anodizing, (it's defined as the thickness of the layer) so you could have a 'light' hard coating that lends itself to having a teflon like coating applied. to get a thicker coating, the process does need to change, the current is much higher, and because of the extra energy, you need to cool the tanks, in some cases chilled very much.

Why not cover the underside with helicopter tape/auto 3M clear paint film - won't give 100% protection, but at least you can remove the film and reapply, or add several layers and peel off as it wears with use.

Percymon wrote:Why not cover the underside with helicopter tape/auto 3M clear paint film - won't give 100% protection, but at least you can remove the film and reapply, or add several layers and peel off as it wears with use.

I think this is the way to go - just ordered up a few sheets of chassis protector (this stuff http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_info.php/cPath/1_25_1450_42/products_id/20871/n/JConcepts-14x55-Chassis-Protective-Film-Sheet )

Might not be as great as the 3M stuff but should do the trick for now.