On Mon, 03 Jul 2006 07:34:53 GMT, ray lunder wrote:

It has some kind of plated gold finish on it that's streaked and faded
in kind of a tiger stripe effect. Someone said I have to sand and coat
with zinc chromate and then paint it with whatever I want. Has anyone
tried this? Thank you.

everybody who has built an aluminum airplane has coated aluminum
with zinc chromate etch undercoat. - at least until recently.
The remaining gold anodize coat ought to work well as an etch/primer
surface without sanding down.

Brian Whatcott Altus OK