Vacuum metallizing

That shiny "chrome" plating on some Transformers toys is not applied by traditional electrical or dip plating, but by vacuum metalizing.

In this process, the part is placed in a chamber with most of the air pumped out. Metal vapor enters the chamber and condenses on the part to form a very thin and shiny metallic coating.

The most common metal used for this process is nearly-pure aluminum, which gives a "silvery" finish. To change its color to gold, red, or whatever is desired, a transparent, colored paint may be applied over the metalizing. A clear coat may be applied even if the metal's natural color is suitable, to protect the finish.

This metal coating, if made of a corrosion-prone metal like aluminum, may easily tarnish and grow dull if its protection wears off. Furthermore, it is very thin, and may flake, peel, or be worn away with prolonged play. When new, though, it looks totally rockin' cool awesome and rad.

Vacuum metalizing was especially common during the Beast era, where it was a defining characteristic of the Transmetal sublines. The chrome on toys from this era will sometimes show an excessive amount of spiderwebbed cracking and flaking, far beyond that expected from normal wear. The problem was sporadic and unpredictable, not confined to any particular toy. Sometimes the cracking would show up almost as soon as the toy was opened; other times it did not appear until months or years later. Though the problem was fairly common, the majority of toys were not affected.

Toys produced and sold in recent years have used few or no plated parts, and the metalizing was omitted from toys in the Universe line which had originally featured it, such as the Transmetals.

External links

• Vacuum Metalizing Plastic Parts - Paper on vacuum metalizing.
  
  
  From Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki, a Wikia wiki.