You crack me up fella!!
Pretty sure everything shown on the table was under $50. I'm still a greenhorn at electroplating but it's fun to dink around with. Just like these cars, mastering this kit is a fine art. Several conditions affect the results, if the electrode wrapped in the cotton bandage doesn't have the correct number of wraps or is too tight/loose then the escaping voltage will differ. If it's too "hot" you can "burn" the axle a blackish color when using nickel. A bunsen burner is almost a must to control the temp. Directions say to heat in microwave but it cools off too quick. Another thing is say for a zinc plated axle, nickel will not adhere but if the zinc azle is first copper coated then the nickel solution will bond. I put it back on the shelf when I realized that alignment, tuning and prep would bring on faster results. Also, this was back in 2008 and graphite was the big dog- or at least in my little world it was, I was concerned that the molybdenum would scratch the softer zinc and learned that nickel would hold up better. Also, I was in the dark about the Pledge trick so I was essentially running graphite on unprotected metal. My gut says it doesn't really matter as much with the current preps being used.
They sell several plating solutions, chrome or black chrome would be cool. I was intending to nickel plate your reverse axle car but it just didn't happen.
