I'm always baffled when manufacturers use clashing underlying colours like this. Far easier to have the underlying plastic for a silver panel in grey, or black even. Why orange for heavens sake ?
This is just a guess on my part - perhaps a wildly different colour is used so that it is easy to tell if the parts are fully chromed, or if the covering is incomplete ? If the colours match, it would be much harder to spot at the factory, where parts are being produced in large numbers, and need to be checked for quality very quickly. It certainly seems this is normal with toys and kits, so there must be a reason.
That sounds like a good theory. However, i saw an MPC hot rod kit with chromed deep dish mag wheels and the yellow plastic was clearly visible as the vacuum metallizing hadn't reached the depths. So the quality check there was a big FAIL... I was thinking about different colour pellets in plastic mouldings and how you sometimes got multicoloured swirls on your finished mouldings. I remember my AMT Star Trek Enterprise had just such an effect on it's Starfleet logo shaped base!
I think its purely reasons of economy. Alot of Spacex were molded in orange, so they probably re-used some excess plastic, innthe knowledge that it would be chromed later Bill
What's that red orange 'stain' on the detached solar panel ? Rust from the silver paint, or is it the colour of the plastic underneath ?
ReplyDeleteIt's the plastic underneath. I 'rechromed' it with a chrome pen, which I didn't expect to be any good when I first got it, but it's great.
ReplyDeleteI'm always baffled when manufacturers use clashing underlying colours like this.
ReplyDeleteFar easier to have the underlying plastic for a silver panel in grey, or black even.
Why orange for heavens sake ?
Yes, curious isn't it, the Dinky UFO interceptor did the same thing.
ReplyDeleteSome colors pop side by side…maybe that effect was what they were looking for
ReplyDeleteThis is just a guess on my part - perhaps a wildly different colour is used so that it is easy to tell if the parts are fully chromed, or if the covering is incomplete ? If the colours match, it would be much harder to spot at the factory, where parts are being produced in large numbers, and need to be checked for quality very quickly. It certainly seems this is normal with toys and kits, so there must be a reason.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a good theory. However, i saw an MPC hot rod kit with chromed deep dish mag wheels and the yellow plastic was clearly visible as the vacuum metallizing hadn't reached the depths. So the quality check there was a big FAIL...
DeleteI was thinking about different colour pellets in plastic mouldings and how you sometimes got multicoloured swirls on your finished mouldings. I remember my AMT Star Trek Enterprise had just such an effect on it's Starfleet logo shaped base!
That makes sense unless there is some chemical reason that none of us are aware of.
ReplyDeleteA lovely little toy Kevin and well-spotted! Your restoration is brilliant as always.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much.
ReplyDeleteI think its purely reasons of economy. Alot of Spacex were molded in orange, so they probably re-used some excess plastic, innthe knowledge that it would be chromed later Bill
ReplyDelete