I have recently been plating my zincated aluminum with Copy Chrome with success. I am using 3 anodes spaced around a 4gal. porcellan tank. My biggest problem was the CC not covering all of my pieces crevices and indentions, there would be a dark patch where the CC did not throw well. We first thought the problem was that the pieces were pot metal and tried the flash copper. The problem with the flash copper I beleive is that the solution does not have the chemicals added to make a bright finish. I did very carefully buff a part that had been flashed to a shiny finish, but it still did not have a clear bright finish like you would get buffing a piece of solid copper. I would probably guess that the bright acid copper is more for building up a thick layer of bright copper that could then be buffed to a brilliant shine. The Flash Copper is for getting bondage over material that you cannot plate. I do think that it is not ideal for buffing to a bright shiny finish. That is my opinion from my experience so far. Hope this helps some.