[Casey Lipe]

I am restoring the dash on a 70 GTO. The Dist. Main Duct, part #478518, is faded and needs to be painted. Which is closer to the original, gloss or flat black. Also, is there anything better than Testors Silver model paint to repair the fine chrome lines around instrument clusters, a/c, radio, etc.?

[Casey Lipe]

I am restoring the dash on a 70 GTO. The Dist. Main Duct, part #478518, is faded and needs to be painted. Which is closer to the original, gloss or flat black. Also, is there anything better than Testors Silver model paint to repair the fine chrome lines around instrument clusters, a/c, radio, etc.?

[Ccass]

If you really want to do the dash plastic chrome right, you need to send it out to get vacuum metalized. Then repaint it. If you don't want to go thru that process, there are several brands including Testors that give a nice "silver" finish. Non are going to look like chrome.

[Todd]

After you have the dash bezel re-chromed, the trick to repainting it is to use model car paints (there are now a multitude of paint shades/colors available for model cars). Simply paint the entire bezel with the model car paints and then use a rag with either model paint thinner (or water if using water based paint) to wipe the paint off the chrome areas. Sure beats trying to mask off the chrome and use "real" paint. (Note: "real" paint thinner such as laquer thinner will wipe the new chrome right off the plastic!)