I bought a set of old Lionel passenger cars from ivesboy a while ago, which I've been slowly restoring. I just finished the first truck, and I think the results speak for themselves!
The wheels and axles were cleaned of their rust, electroplated with tin, and polished. The pure copper bearing caps were polished and buffed, then given a coat of clear lacquer to protect the finish. The main truck frame was cleaned of whatever rust I could get to, and washed with soap and water. The roller inside was also cleaned up.
1 down, 5 more to go! I'll plate the other truck wheels from the first car with tin too, but I think I'll do nickel for the other two cars. The nickel plating is cleaner, easier, stronger, and looks pretty close to tin.
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Nice! Do you do the plating yourself?
Yup. I use Caswell's Plug 'N Plate system, which works extremely well if you do everything right.
(#3,000!!)
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