David: I think you have your colors reversed. Nickel has a yellow tint and chrome has a blue as far as I have seen. Also I don't think "dipping" has any thing to do with the thickness of plating. The plating is done by immersing the object to be plated in a bath containing an anode of the material to be plated, and passing DC electric current through the object to be plated, and the donor anode. Removing the plating only requires the reversal of the current. Thickness of the plate depends on the time left in the bath. Good nickel plating is quite durable as demonstrated by the radiator shells of 1928 and 1929 Model A Fords. The 1930 and 1931 Model A's had stainless steel radiator shells which has also stood up well.