help with mirror chrome finish

Alaclad has never lifted on me when removing masking tape so I don't know how it lifted on yours. I have sprayed Alaclad and taped over it as soon as one hour after application and no problems at all. I also do not seal Alclad paints and have used Solvaset on it with fantastic results.

I just tried AK polished aluminum and found it to be not as tough as Alclad. I have handled Alclad within the hour after spraying yet the AK product got blemished on a spot where I touched it a couple of hours later. My hands were clean and proerly washed prior to handlind the part.

I did find AK a bit easier to apply and had a very good metallic shine after application.

AK interactive's chrome also looks amazing. I will give that a try. What kind of paint is it? Laquar? And you use it the same way? Black gloss enamel then metal layers?

Dont get me wrong, I love the look of a well done Alclad application; however, as you mentioned it is extremely fragile and any clear coat over the top is going to change the look. I have found, that AK Interactive Xtreme Metal is better at accepting a top coat, without changing the original look. I cant specifically comment on "high shine, mirror finishes" but with what I have experienced using polished aluminum and a couple of others, after decaling and coating with Alclad Aqua Gloss, it looks the same as when I applied it.

Also, I have noticed that I can mask over Xtreme Metal relatively quickly and not end up with lifting paint or dulling of the surface. I've shot Alclad, waited 2 full days and applied Tamiya tape and it still lifted the Alclad off the surface.

Experiment on a "test mule" any before applying to any final application is the best method to see what does and doesnt work.

Bare Metal Foil.... it depends on what part you're trying to achieve it on.

Thanks for the reply.

I wonder how some people can do colored clear coat. Look at this:

http://gundamfamily.blogspot.com/2015/07/pg-160-ms-06s-zaku-ii-chromever-painted.html

If that was electroplated, sure. But I wonder if airbrush paint can achieve this.

Good point with the decal coverage. I think the problem is that all these clear coats react with the chrome layer. I was thinking cover with water decals then color clear coat it but it reacts with water. Maybe I will try using clear dry transfer decal?

From my experience, the glossiness of the undercoat affects the reflectiveness tremendously. Black pops up the silver much more because of the contrast of colors but the problem is with color coating, it darkens the effect and can mess up the finish especially if there are reactions with the thin chrome layers. 

I do not use clear coats over alclad.  I find decals go down very well over alclad, and the alclad finish is very stable.  My alclad finishs from several years ago still look fine.  I try to avoid masking over alclad.  I do all the other colors first, then mask them so I don't need to put put masking over the alclad.

Note that both Chrome and Polished Aluminum Alclads require a flawless gloss black undercoat to give a real mirror or highly polished appearance.