Hello! New member.

Hi all, my name's Simon, I'm 35 years old and live in Leighton Buzzard.

I have had lots of boats and cars in the past. Notable boats have been an I.C. Precedent Perkasa and a Graupner Azimuthe Atlantic Challenger.

My current project is a Robbe Najade brushless motor yacht. Any advice on getting a good paint finish on ABS plastic would be gratefully received! I'll also need advice on how to get a chome like finish on the railings and stanchions - they're currently brass. As soon as she's finished I'll bring her down to the lake.

Hi Simon

I am not sure what colours you are looking for but I find Halford car spray as good as any (they are all acrylic formula now so will not affect the plastic) there is also a chrome finish available from Halford which you could work on the brass as long as its clean, I would suggest testing on a spare bit first.

Hello Simon and to the forum.

If you have an airbrush, the best chrome finish you'll get is with Alcad II paint.

Alan..............

Thanks guys. I have halfords white enamel primer and enamel gloss along with some selected wet and dry papers. Hopefully with a bit of time and patience I'll be able to get a good finish.

I don't have an airbrush, but I have been trying to find a local electroplater with little luck. I'm going to try some hycote chrome spray and see how I get on. I'll post some pictures as I progress. Here's the first:

Hi simon, nice looking boat! If you are definetly using enamel paint then I suggest testing it on a piece of scrap material from the boat. The plastic the boat is made of can sometimes react to the thinners in the paint!

Thanks to all for the welcomes, by the way.

It says in the destructions that enamel is OK, but a test run will be done!

please do come down the lake any sunday an introduce yourself, if you have not already, we pride ourselves on being a club of absolute micky takers. We are never serious about anything, it's a hobby and fun. The club as a whole are more interested in drinking tea and coffee on a Sunday than sailing boats sometimes!!!

On more than one occassion there have been 20 plus members with 25-40 boats and not one on the lake as we are all gassing and drinking!!!!

The main reason so many boats are out of the water is that you are getting one of your boats ready to launch, and everybody’s searching for a camera.