Don't you all go getting to excited about the title of this post yet.
For years now I have been trying to find a way of restoring the old silver playmobil weapons and accessories from the knights theme. I have tried several paints in the past and none of them have really given the shine that I want, although there has to be a paint out there somewhere that will do the job because that's all it is a painted finish, isn't it?
My latest attempt to restore these items took me down a different path something that I have never done before. After getting the 30 year anniversary 4430 golden knight with his real gold finish it made me think about gold plating or gilding. So I looked up this method on the net and decided that maybe it was possible to Gold/silver plate Playmo. Now that sounds expensive doesn't it but there are gold and silver looking metal leaf products out there so I have used one of them called easy metal. The sheets are 14 x 14 cm each and the pack I bought contained 10 sheets + 4 free for £6.99 so about 64p a sheet and you can get at least 10 - 12 breast plates out of 1 sheet.
The process is fairly simple.
1) clean the item you want to cover making sure it's free of grease and dust, I polished the old silver off with metal polish and then removed the polish with Methylated spirits.
2) Apply a thin coat of size ( adhesive ) to the area to be covered. This has so far been my biggest problem, I can't find the stuff anywhere near me so I tried a substitute watered down copydex. The problem was I couldn't get it thin enough and as it dried it left ridges from the brush strokes so I didn't get an even surface and these showed through.
3) After about 15 minutes apply the easy metal and tamp down with a soft cloth or brush and leave to dry for 2 -3 hours.
4) after the drying time go over the area with a soft brush with circular movements to remove any loose metal to leave a smooth finish.
5) Then coat the area with a suitable varnish or shellac to protect the surface and to stop it oxidizing.
Sounds simple enough doesn't it, but like I mentioned above in stage 2 I couldn't find the right adhesive so I was left with ridges in my finished surface. also being a bit impatient I didn't give it enough time to dry and some small pieces came off when I brushed it. Also my brush wasn't soft enough and actually scratched the whole surface leaving it duller, the correct brush is made from real squirrel hair and expensive( how they get the squirrel hair is also of great concern to me).
However despite these problems I have had the best finish yet and will continue to look for the right adhesive and a softer man made brush and every now and then I will have a go at it. If I manage to get a good finish with the cheap stuff which isn't as shiny as the real silver leaf, I will then look at using the proper stuff. Who knows oneday I might be able to make a 24 carat gold plated klicky Oscar.
The pictures below are.
1) my pile of silver stuff you can see 2 old untouched breast plates and 2 painted ones that I did with plasticote chrome spray paint. The Crown shows how shiny the silver should look.
2) is of a cleaned breast plate.
3) is of the finished piece showing the glue marks underneath.
4) showing the colour comparison, on the left an untouched piece, the centre is the covered piece and at the end an old painted piece.
If anybody else out there has already found a way or a good paint to restore these please let us know.
