Gilding work on the Sovereign Of the Seas as we all known is extensive and my first impulse was to Gold Leaf throughout but on refection this maybe making a rod for my own back.
Having done leaf work in the past I found that it is not the easiest thing to do on small intricate parts even if a minutely thin leaf is used. The thinner the gold the easier it is to push through when tapping down and you tend to end up with a patchwork of leaf which then has to be burnished with an agate burnisher to mell the leaf seamlessly together and to polish. The amount of gold wastage is also going to be great so if anyone contemplating leaf work remember and save the waste as a few grams of 24ct gold = a few pints.

I am sorry but the thought of all that gold paint did not appeal to me.
True, paint is easy to apply but even if I used the 24ct paint as used by picture framers it would still look like gold paint.

I thought that was between a rock and a hard place until I saw a colleague at work with a gold plated plastic cover of her phone, which made me wonder if that was the way to get the look that I desired.
I was under the false impression that can only electroplate metal bits and had not considered this as an alterative.
As we don’t yet know if the gingerbread is going to be our own carvings, supplied castings or a mixture of the two I went in search of knowledge to see if this method was possible, how easy it was and lastly how much it would cost.
I found this site www.goldn.co.uk where you can download a free manual on how to brush electroplate anything. Again back to my ignorance I thought an item to be electroplated was submersed in a vat. Not so this system uses small pads, rather like small paint pads, on electrodes which are rubbed over the item.
Depending on what material/process you are plating the current is between 4 and 8 volts
As you would expect this company gives you the free “how to” manual in the hope that you buy there rather expensive plating equipment which for most modelers would not be viable.

I may be braking mad but I wondered if I can utilize a transformer from an old train set, properly checked and marked in increments with a volt meter, a couple of probes from a well known electronics outlet and the brush parts of modelers paint brushes would do the same job and only cost a few bob.
If it comes to it I may have to buy the nibs when I buy the chemicals from the above company. The cost of the chemicals is comparable if not cheaper overall than the Gold leaf with the same overall visual effect.
I think I will give a go and if it works great if not then it will be leafing for me.

Plus 1 on that, the plating looks really interesting but Alclad has got to be the best (easiest!) way....here's their website www.alclad2.com

Hi..

I wonder if a method I use on my McLaren Build might be of interest?

The small parts can be primmed and then black gloss coated using an air brush or canned from Halfords.. then a coat of clear lacquer. Once this has been done use Alclad2 Gold..

I have no wooden ship parts to show this but i will try it on some wood to see the finished effect and post some pictures later

Spence

Warthog I gonna try your method on some spare cannons(metal)I have ordered the alclad and will also put up some pics when I've tried it.I bought the high gloss black and the gold,also the airbrush cleaner as I've not used cellulose paint in my airbrush.

I can imagine it should turn out pretty well Karl.. I was also thinking that once the gloss black and lacquer has been applied then it can be left like that and once the parts need a coat of gold then the areas could be masked off with a template of sorts.. I am still refuring to the Surprise and all the gold around the ship btw

As for the guns, there are so many different types of finishes from Alclad that even the Cannons would benefit from it..

Be nice to see some results soon

Spence

Hi Karl... looks good but a question... What setting to you have on your airbrush compressor? I have mine set to 20 psi and I have only used 1 and a half pots of Chrome on my McLaren... I do very light coats and build it up rather than one heavy coat which will drain the stuff like a emptying bath!!! lol It's all in the fingers as they say!!

Spence

Hi guys,does anyone have pics of gold leaf used on models?