I got some prewar Lionel passenger cars from ivesboy earlier this year, and the coaches were a mess of rust. I did very little work on them because I didn't have a good or cheap way to get rid of the rust. And then I ran across this: http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp
Rust can be removed electrically! So, I went out shopping and bought the needed supplies, set it all up, and it works! I just leave the part in there for 40 minutes to an hour, clean it up with Dawn in the sink, and take off the leftovers with a steel wire wheel in the bench press! In one day, I've finished de-rusting an entire passenger car, and even put the primer coat on the window inserts and the roof! And the best part is, I spent a grand total of $11 for everything (already had the needed battery charger)!!
Here's how it all pretty much looked as I got it. I don't have any new photos, but it now looks almost as if there wasn't any rust at all. It should look practically new once painted.
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Darth,
Does this process get all the rust off? Before I got my Dremel, I relied on sanding by hand, which didn't always get it all. Then, that would come back through the paint on a finished project.
It does eventually get it all off. An hour a piece seems to do well. There are leftover black deposits left where the rust was, and these clean off easily with a wire wheel, revealing bare steel. The parts do have to be cleaned and dried immediately, or the rust can return rather quickly. The rust was very bad in some areas of the passenger car pictured, and it's as good as gone now.
I also relied on sanding and wire wheels alone, but it just couldn't reach every area that well. The electrolysis really helped a lot.
Photos of the after would have been nice to evaluate the results, not to mention higher resolution ones to see detail...
I still have two more passenger cars to strip and de-rust. I'll be sure to take good photos of the before and after.
Great, I'm pretty curious as to exactly what you start with and then end up with.
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