I'd like to chromium plate a large main battle tank, like a Challenger or an Abrams. I mean right down to the last nut and bolt. Even the inside surface of the gun barrels would be chromed.

It would of course have to be controlled by someone wearing a chromium plated helmet, their face sprayed silver with a uniform to match. Now if only my name was Jeff Koons....
-- xenzag, Jun 14 2010

Chrome Panzer, for a visual. http://picasaweb.go...gga0v04cEwXal4jKo8A
[2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 15 2010]

The M1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_motorway
"The M1 is a major north–south motorway in England primarily connecting London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford. While the M1 is considered to be the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the United Kingdom, the first road to be built to motorway standard in the country was the Preston Bypass, which later became part of the M6." [hippo, Jun 15 2010]

What came to my mind when i saw he title http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M1_carbine
Isn't perspective a bitch? [senatorjam, Jun 16 2010]

This just reminds me of when I drove up the Alcan and stopped at a museum. In there was a beautifully restored old bulldozer. This thing was PERFECT and I knew that this whole thing had to have been gone over mm by mm by a very exacting person and I knew that man was single.

Also chrome weakens metal, so this is a little counter productive, but cool anyway (+).
-- MisterQED, Jun 15 2010


What [hippo] thought - married with Hawkwind's "Chronoglide Skyway" and Wells' "The Shape of Things to Come".
-- zen_tom, Jun 15 2010


Chomium plate the M1, then all the roadworks could be replaced by polishing crews.

The Chromium plating process, like any electroplating process, only 'weakens' very high strength steels (such as 12.9 grade bolts). If fact, it doesn't reduce the material strength much but causes hydrogen embrittlement and the structure of the chromium surface tends to initiate cracks.

Tank armour is required to be highly ductile, so is unlikely to be very high strength steel. Plating probably wouldn't weaken it, but wouldn't do much for it's camouflage.
-- Twizz, Jun 15 2010


Weakening due to chrome: point taken.

//but wouldn't do much for it's camouflage// Well doesn't that depend where you are hiding? This might blend better in Vegas or might just look like reflective water when viewed from overhead.
-- MisterQED, Jun 15 2010


It doesn't need to hide.... it's a flipping tank! It's you who needs to hide from it.
-- xenzag, Jun 15 2010


Actually, it might provide particularly good camoflage since all the shiny surfaces will reflect what is around it - drive it into the woods, and it will reflect the woods - drive it into the desert and it will reflect the desert - plus, it might make it invulnerable to being painted by laser-targeting systems, making it impossible to aim smart-bombs at it - not bad going!
-- zen_tom, Jun 15 2010


Hydrogen embrittlement is a problem which is not really a problem. By baking in an oven the excess hydrogen is driven off and normal steel strength is retained. This is a well known phenomonon.
-- darkspeed, Jun 15 2010


Good strategy; blind them all first.
-- RayfordSteele, Jun 15 2010


I like the tank in glass: multiple colors, and actually able to roll. It would be driven by nude models, but as the glass would not be perfectly translucent it would still be suitable for family-friendly parades.
-- bungston, Jun 16 2010


The best urban camoflague in the West is probably McDonalds wrappers ...
-- Aristotle, Jun 16 2010


I already have one. (A chromium plated M1, not a McDonald's wrapper.)

Chicks dig it.

Girls are generally more impressed with chromium plated M1s than McDonald's wrappers.
-- doctorremulac3, Jun 16 2010



random, halfbakery