Restore Or Not

[Anonymous]

I recently purchased an old lionel tin plate derick crane, it is in fair condition. My question is, is it recommended that I restore the train by first stripping all the paint and repainting it with original colors. Secondly the nickle plating is either worn off or has rusted areas, my plan is to remove the nickle plating and resurfacing it with new nickle plating. Or should I leave it as is and not bother other than a good thorough cleaning, any hints or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Dave

[3railguy]

A thorough restoration involves complete dissasembly of the piece which can be tricky with tabs. Often times, the rust has only attacked the surface of the plating. people remove the trim and polish it in a rock tumbler or buffing with polishing compound. The de-trimmed shell is stripped of old paint using paint strippers. It is then massaged with auto body fillers, sanded, primed, and painted.

Vendors like Charles Wood sell origional color paint and Carl’s Toy Trains & Accessories sell assembly tools.

[Anonymous]

Is there a link to vendor charles wood, thanks for the input.

Dave

[csxt30]

Here is another one. [img]http://www.jlmtrains.com/[img] I see they do plating to in their add.