Vaccum electroplating

Thanks for the reply. You pretty much hit the nail on the head, the person who wrote the article had managed to miniturize for home use a vaccum chamber from something like a large propane bottle and used 120 or 240 volt current and covered areas not to be plated with something like vaseline. The results of his finished aircraft were spectacular, so realistic since the model was actually finished like the real thing. My interest would be to finish some small scale models with a finer surface so that paint wouldn't end up looking like coloured sand paper.

I think I have all the FSM and don't recall the article. The process involves spraying plastic parts with clear laquer and putting them in a vaccum chamber. Next thin strips of aluminum are super heated and this vaporized aluminum attaches to the parts. I have seen the equipment and it doesn't look like a home project. I hope this helps some.