Well, some more progress.
I had a box waiting for me on the front porch yesterday evening containing my chrome and a few zinc plating test peices from a new plating shop that I tried out and am pretty sure will get my continued business! The name of the shop is Quality Plating and they are located in Sterling, IL. which is a couple of hours due west of Chicago and on the way to Moline and Rock Island, IL. Here's a link to their website.
http://www.qualitychromeplating.com/index.htmlHere's what I had done and the prices:
Chrome PlatingVMC Coin Entry Bezel and Bent Coin Release Handle: $58.00
Main Door Handle: $38.00
Main Door Handle Sleeve: $10.00
Coin Door Locking Bar Catches: $20.00 (for 2)
Zinc PlatingI had (2) peices done for test purposes. The owner, Gary Shultz, ended up hooking me up for free on these two parts because I didn't know that they had a zinc plating minimum order of $65.00 and I had already sent them via UPS.
(1) Bent Coin Release Actuator Bracket (Yellow Zinc)
(1) Main Door Locking Catch (Clear Zinc)
For an actual grand total of $126 but again, Gary hooked me up and only charged me $121 out the door w/ S&H included!
Everything turned out AWESOME!!! I was so happy to see that the VMC Bezel wasn't damaged and the "VMC" Logo was still intact. Take a look at the pictures below and judge for yourselves. I'm definitely going to use them again.