Refurbrishing brass trains

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Could anyone advise me on the best way to refurbri***arnished brass trains? So far the ones that are within my budget are not in prinstine condition and I wonder if there is a good way to restore them?

Regards,
MH

[JerryZeman]

What exactly are you looking to do? Paint them, or restore just the brass finish?

Tarnish in of itself doesn't mean a darn thing. If tarnish is all you are dealing with, disassemble the model, and stick it in laquer thinner (I do this in an ultrasonic cleaner), and get the original lacquer coat off.

At this point, after you have the surface clean, you can paint the model, or, if you choose (I do), give it a grit blasting. I use a Badger fine grit blaster, in a small blast booth that I purchased from Harbor Freight. This will help the paint adhere better.

If you want to leave the loco natural brass, stray lacquer over the finish after this point. The grit blasting will leave the model with a nice clean fini***o lacquer over.

regards,
Jerry

[ndbprr]

Tranish is just an oxide on the surface and some models didn't have the lacquer to protect them. If you don't want to disassemble them (highly recommended) a little vinegar or brass polish will achieve the same result. The one exception is if someone left a sweaty finger print as it may have etched the surface a little deeper. I woudln't worry about the tarnish if you are a collector. The one rule in antiques is never remove the original finish. Coins are worth far less without the patina and in that world I would say the same for trains

[twhite]

Hope this doesn't sound too radical, but paint them, decal them and RUN them! I've bought a lot of second-hand brass in my life, since the railroad I model isn't represented at all in plastic RTR locos, and one thing I've found, is that buying pristine brass from a collector means that I have to spend a lot of time getting the loco ready to use on my layout, simply because it's either been in a case or the original box for so long. It's sort of like a musician buying a used Steinway grand piano from the proverbial little old lady who only used it an hour on Sundays to play hymns. Doesn't matter how good it looks, it's still going to have to be broken in all over again.

[orsonroy]

Almost every brass engine I've ever seen was either painted a brass color, or had a protective clear coat applied over the bare brass. Exposed brass will corrode; it's a fact of life. I'd suggest either adding a prototypically accurate, PROFESSIONAL paint job, or sandblasting and clearcoating the model, if you're interested in retaining or enhancing their collector's value.

Personally, I agree with Twhite: paint 'em and run 'em. Little toy trains are meant to be played with!

[AntonioFP45]

MH, please tell us some details about your models (scale? brand? type? age? loco? car?, you get the picture)

BTW: Yes, absolutely paint them!

OrsonRoy is on the mark.
Just one exception. If a body must be "sandblasted" don't use sand but instead "glass bead" blast them as glass beads will not leave tiny microscopic sized "pok marks" on the surface. Whenever possible chemical stripping would be preferable over "blasting'.

Once stripped and cleaned, follow up with a coating of a "Zinc type" etch primer. This will effectively halt the corrossion. Use good ventilation and a mask. Be aware that most Zinc Primers contain phosphoric acid (the same stuff in Coca Cola!). The vapors can be quite nauseating!

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys,

Many thanks for all the advice. I don't have much at the moment, only got "serious" with this hobby about 4 months back and I'm sticking to HO. Have a couple of Trix elloks at the moment but would like to evetually do a small layout with a couple of Shay's running around. :-) In my opinion, the brass Shay's still outshine their plastic cousins, but the affordable ones I see on sale are kinda tarnished and would like buy them and do some restoration work. Painting would be done later down the road....In the mean time a little shine would be nice.

Are there any websites where I can buy the stuff for "sand/glass bead blasting"? Would acryllic paint like the Tamiya paint be any good on the locos? As I have quite a lot of these paint in my inventory from my AFV modelling.

Thanks,
MH

[AntonioFP45]

MH,

Since you're located in the huge metropolis of Hong Kong, there are probably Bead Blasting businesses in your area. Check in your Phone book. Some sandblasting businesses also provide bead blasting service. Ask them if they do small items and what the charge would be.

Cheers!

[tatans]

The best advice I got was from this forum @ brass was: if you can see solder it is not painted. I have 3 different patinas on my steamer and it runs just fine, from the above replies I have to agree, paint them properly and let them roar ! !

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Many thanks for the advice! Another silly question: Is it alright to use Brasso or Autosol to polish/clean the locos??

Best regards,
Mun Hon