Technical Can you paint of nickel plate?

The chrome shop in my area doesn’t have chemicals (gave me places to try though) to strip chrome to bare metal. The guy said it will look like chrome, but won’t last like chrome.
The shell I have is over 90 years old, plan was to have it stripped and then I’d paint it.

 

If you want to paint over nickel plating , it should be the same as chrome. In my misspent youth, I painted a chrome bumper first with etch primer, then normal acrylic paint. It hung on for many years.

 

There is a product called XIM primer which is available in clear & white, the primer works on ferrous & non-ferrous metals, once coated and painted it holds up as well as powder coating. HRP

 

Nickel is not as hard as chrome. The chrome is clear and protects the nickel. You can media blast nickel. We did that with the dash of my 41 Plymouth and painted it.

 

Electroless nickel is a good under-plate for painted surfaces. This is for mil-spec applications and it may be a certain nickel plating.