Folks,
I am new to refinishing old radios. I have a question maybe someone can answer. The chassis on the radio that I have, has some rust which I can clean off, but what do I protect this chassis with since the plating is now gone? Do I use paint or something else?
Looking for some guidance!!

Thanks,
Tony

Hi,
You did not stae which metal was the plating.

If it was copper, AES sells a plating kit, but for best results with a number of plating metals, it is best to strip the old metal down to the base metal.

If it was chrome- Not too much you can do except strip the chassis and have plating company replate it.

If it was cold zinc- Bright, Rustoleum silver paint is fairly close, but you could get exact color matches if you knew someone who mixed atomotive paint.

If it was cold zinc- Dark, like on 1934 and older Philco's, you could paint it with a color matched paint, but it would still be noticed. You could try a product called "Rust Mort", which leaves a dark zinc coating, but it is usually darker than the regular cold zinc plate dark.

If it was cadmium- There is a three part paint system that mimics the cad plating very well. Sears was selling some specialty automotive products mail order, it may have been "Eastwood" that provided their product lines to Sears, but they get advertised in most street rodding magazines.

:Folks,
:I am new to refinishing old radios. I have a question maybe someone can answer. The chassis on the radio that I have, has some rust which I can clean off, but what do I protect this chassis with since the plating is now gone? Do I use paint or something else?
:Looking for some guidance!!
:
:Thanks,
:Tony