locomotive restorations

[FJ and G]

There was a short but sweet article in latest CTT regarding restorations, written by a professional. It's absolutely amazing to look at the before and after shots. Man, those are complete makeovers.

Instead of epoxy or body filler, the author went through the extra trouble of attaching a piece of brass (or tin?) to the back of the model (where rust ate thru the metal body) and then filled in the front with solder.

My only question is, how did he smooth the front where the solder is? If you use a bench grinder, it will just make the solder melt. So, he must have used elbow grease and did it the hard way with a file, followed by sandpaper.

Very very impressive. And the shiny finish is absolutely incredible.

[nitroboy]

My Dad used to do it that way back in the 70's with solder when he did restoration work. I was too young to know what he was doing though. I know it was alot of sanding and filing.