# How to Remove Corrosion From Aluminum Cars



## Reckers

I recently acquired 4 aluminum car shells, all badly corroded with deep pitting and coats of paint that had been applied at some point---the corrosion had eaten under the paint, as well. It would be fair to describe these, when I received them, as oyster beds. The metal surface was rough and gray in the best places, and heavily encrusted with white, granular powder. The powder will brush off, but the lime-like encrustation would not. I'm going to post a series of pictures showing my progress in cleaning one of them, and describe the steps I'm taking. 

I'd also like to credit T-Man, TKruger, Stationmaster, BCRail, and Big Ed for suggestions and advice---the best part of this site is that every difficult project becomes a group project.:thumbsup:


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## Reckers

Part 1: the arrival. 4 shells that are probably 50 years old arrive, covered in white corrosion.


























Sorry about the poor quality---I'm not that great a photographer. However, any place on the car that is not actually shiny, in the pic, is covered with corrosion. What appears to be gray metal is the lime-scale-like substance covering the metal.


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## Reckers

Next...washing with water and scrubbing with a soft, plastic-mesh scrubber. No good.

Then, soaking the shells in vinegar, a mild acid. This was very helpful---it removed the powdery outer corrosion, leaving the heavy scale still attached and, of course, the paint.
























Next step: it's Dremel-tool time. I started gently, using a felt buffing pad and jeweler's rouge. Rouge is a red buffing compound; it's not very abrasive and is a good polishing substance. No good----it doesn't faze the corrosion. I try a different buffing wheel made of sheets of cloth sewn together to make a wheel, but still no progress. I ended up having to go to a fine wire wheel to make any headway. The corrosion begins to crumble away, but the texture of the exposed metal is now like a lumpy, gray mass. At this point, I decide to use some very heavy paint remover to clear the paint off so I can work on just the metal.


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## Reckers

As you can see in the pic below, I now have the paint removed from the roof. The photo reflects three stages of work.









On the left, the majority of the roof has had the paint removed (after the vinegar bath), but that's it. You can see it looks sort of like an oyster shell's exterior. 
Moving to the right, you see that I've hit it hard with the wire wheel on the Dremel. The scaling is mostly gone, as is the majority of the uneven surface of the aluminum. Deep pitting remains, and the wheel has textured the roof to a matte finish.
At the far right is the finished product. From the wire wheel, I went to a hard rubber cylinder impregnated with a coarse abrasive, then a rubber cylinder with a fine abrasive. From there, back to the Dremel felt pad. This time, I use tripoli, a rubbing compound coarser than rouge to take out most of the scratches from the wire wheel. This is followed by the felt pad with rouge, and then the wheel made from cloth sheets, which is finer and reaches deeper than the felt pad. Again, rouge is used and the end is a black, grimy surface. Wiped away with a paper towel, it exposes shiny aluminum with some nominal pitting. I decide to leave it like this: the pitting makes the metal look like that on a car with a few years of road-battering. Final treatment is with a jewelry-polishing cream called Maas, which leaves it with a beautiful, hammered-silver appearance. In the picture, you can see the reflection of the green latch on my toolbox in this area. Not bad, for a 50-year-old.


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## shaygetz

DUDE!!! Where'd you find those...diving for abalone on a coral reef? 

They'll be great pieces, even if you don't get all the pits out, it'll give them that much more character.:thumbsup:


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## Reckers

shaygetz said:


> DUDE!!! Where'd you find those...diving for abalone on a coral reef?
> 
> They'll be great pieces, even if you don't get all the pits out, it'll give them that much more character.:thumbsup:


They were an ebay acquisition---seller said he was going to auction them as is, and sell them as scrap aluminum if there were no takers. It's going to take a while, but the part I've completed really looks like burnished silver. The remaining pitting simply makes them look like the railroad has used them extensively, so that part's pretty cool. I already have powered-car frames and trucks to go under them. When I'm closer to completion, I'll go to Radio Shack and look for some LED's to mount in the car's ceiling and put some silhouettes in the windows. The original project was to build a passenger train for my girlfreind to sort of bring her into the hobby, so the final decor decisions are hers. She likes both the totally-silver idea and what she can see of the original paint (sort of tuscan red or a gray-green, depending on which car), so there's no telling how they'll end up.


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## ALCOS4EVER

Those look like "OK Streamliner" cars. They were made in Herkimer, NY. They are now made in Mohawk, NY. They could be as old as sixty years or they could much newer. They are still made and parts are available for them. Go to okengines.com for more information. I have a group of them I've had for years, I like them even though newer cars are more "advanced".


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## tankist

don't by leds from radioshack. you will pay crazy money for 3 leds. 

http://cgi.ebay.com/100-x-3mm-Round...emQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item19b8083e91
lifetime supply of LEDs for you right there (not sure if its the color that you want though) i think the 50pc packages are around 5$. 

or you can do what tman does - buy cheep toys to cannibalize leds and flashing circuits from. still better then radioshack


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## Reckers

great suggestions---thanks! I've never worked with led's before---if you don't mind, when I get to that point I'll email you for advice.


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## Reckers

ALCOS4EVER said:


> Those look like "OK Streamliner" cars. They were made in Herkimer, NY. They are now made in Mohawk, NY. They could be as old as sixty years or they could much newer. They are still made and parts are available for them. Go to okengines.com for more information. I have a group of them I've had for years, I like them even though newer cars are more "advanced".


Alcos4ever,

I just now found your post---I managed to miss it, somehow, and I apologize for not responding sooner. Thanks for the information and the lead on the replacement parts! I was just posting on another site that I was looking for exactly that. According to the information sources I have, the extruded-aluminum version of the AF 660-series cars were only made in 1950-1951. Of course, lists are only as accurate as the person who creates them, so I'll definitely follow up on your parts source. If I'm super-lucky, I'll find the back 1/4 of the observation car; it's a separate piece. Thanks for all your help!


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## Reckers

Alcos4ever,

I checked their website and you're right, the cars are similar if not identical. However, the only products their 2-page catalog offers are HO scale, while my stuff is all S scale. On the chance they did make the cars and have parts around but don't catalog them, I sent an email asking if they can help. Thanks, again, on giving me a line on them.


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## Reckers

A progress update: I'll try to post another pic or two this weekend. Let me start with something I left out because I wear specs: IF YOU TRY DOING THIS, YOU NEED SAFETY GLASSES!!! Using the Dremel wire wheel has two drawbacks. The first is the lime comes apart as you work. The part clinging to the aluminum of the car is stubborn, but the additional coral-like growth on top of it comes off in tiny chunks that zoom across the room, spin up into your face, and so on. This is accompanied by a cloud of gray-white dust. On top of that, I've eaten up 4 wire wheels, so far, and I'm still on the first car. As the wire wheels come apart, the individual wires also take flight and my T-shirt looked like a pin cushion after each session. I won't tell you what my girlfriend had to say after crossing the kitchen barefoot and finding several wire fragments in her feet. To quote Steve Irwin, "Danger, danger, danger!!!"
Tomorrow, a long drive to retrieve my buffing/polishing wheel from storage. I'll work the current car over with it and then take and post pics.


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## ALCOS4EVER

Reckers - 

Glad I could help. I know they produced these cars in HO scale and a few in O scale but I didn't know they did any in S scale. Mine are HO scale made in the sixties and seventies. I am going to have to do a little research and find out about the S scale versions.

ALCOS4EVER


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## Reckers

Thanks, I appreciate your help! I emailed them, but they never responded.

Since I've been getting some coaching from my friends here at MTF to improve my photography, I'm going to post a few more pics. The cars in the pics, at this stage, have been soaked briefly in vinegar, then rinsed in water and scrubbed with a plastic scouring pad. Incidentally, I took them all to my LHS to show them to their AF guy (he's retired and does the LHS one day a week for fun). He said he'd been doing AF for a long, long time, and had never seen cars in that bad a shape. *L* "Len, I'll be honest with you. I keep old parts in my junkyard for occasional repairs. My junk is in better shape than what you're trying to restore. " He thinks he might have the tail end of the observation car, though, and that's a real blessing.


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## Big Ed

Now that's what I call a real weathered look!


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## T-Man

Reckers said:


> A progress update: On top of that, I've eaten up 4 wire wheels, so far, and I'm still on the first car. As the wire wheels come apart, the individual wires also take flight and my T-shirt looked like a pin cushion after each session.


I found one of those wires bound up in my key ring. I wondered what was after my leg! You should make a little cardboard booth to control the flying.


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## Reckers

big ed said:


> Now that's what I call a real weathered look!


Agreed. They look like they were running on Mars.


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## Reckers

T-Man said:


> I found one of those wires bound up in my key ring. I wondered what was after my leg! You should make a little cardboard booth to control the flying.


I'm hoping that I can successfully switch to the larger buffer and retire the Dremel wire wheels, but you're right about the wires. I found one in my foot at Target, Friday. It had gotten into my sock and slowly worked it's way in to stab me!


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## Big Ed

Reckers said:


> Agreed. They look like they were running on Mars.


Just put EAST COAST LINES on it and you don't even have to paint.

Then when you make your layout you could add a bit of track running along the coast over the ocean. (with background panels to match the sea scape. W/t seagulls too.




Add a little bird droppings to the cars?:laugh:


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## Reckers

*LOL*....do seagulls poop acid?


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## T-Man

A line of seagulls siting on the car would be funneeeeeee! :laugh:


Seagulls are extremely corrosive.


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## Big Ed

Reckers said:


> *LOL*....do seagulls poop acid?



A lot of salt water passes through their system.
Salt is corrosive to a certain extent.

I know the blackbirds used to eat from a black cherry tree and if you don't get it off fairly quick the paint starts corroding.:laugh:

Ate through my boat canvass fairly quick too.



I fixed the problem 

I cut the tree down.

Great firewood.:laugh:


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## Reckers

End of the day update....a slight improvement in the Observation car. There are two holes in the car side to hold an identification plate; holes on top are to secure car ends with screws and to mount an antenna wire that runs most of the car's length, on top.


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## T-Man

Wow I never modeled a hail storm.!

It does look great! 

Lionel has some counterparts, maybe someday.


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## Reckers

Thank you, T-Man. Coming from the King of Rebuilding, that's quite a compliment!


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## Reckers

A Painted Lady returns...

2nd car of 4 aluminum cars to restore. Previously, I worked on the observation car. Now, I have 2 passenger cars to restore. Same issues---badly battered, heavily corroded and encrusted with lime. This one had been painted with a black roof by a previous owner; a later decision was apparently to add a layer of brown to the roof and sides. They did a great job of getting a thick layer of paint down into all the grooves. I'm moving faster, now: I previously soaked the shell in a very harsh paint stripper. What was left was immune to cutting compound on the polishing wheel, so I went to the bronze wire brush on my electric drill. This eventually took off the paint and scoured out the worst of the pitting, as well as slowly chipping away the lime. After that, extensive time on the wheel with cutting compound. Dental pics used to scrape the remaining lime from the grooves, then another wash with the paint remover. From there, Comet, a scouring pad and a toothbrush to remove the waxy base to the compound that remained in the grooves. More dental pic work for the same. Finally, a clean wheel on the buffer and something called Zam, a precious-metal buffing compound. Another wipe-down and then closing it out with Maas metal polish with clean, cotton rags.



















She still has a few dings and scars, but she came by them honorably. At 50+, she's a fine-looking lady.


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## shaygetz

Sweet...it looks much like a 60 year old streamliner would look like running on an excursion today.


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## Reckers

Thank you, Shay. It made me think of falling rocks in mountain passes. As you said, after 60 years, they'd have some dings in them. I found a LHS guy who says he's probably got the car ends, doors, and the tail for the observation car, so they should be done by mid-spring at the latest.


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## stationmaster

I must have a dozen of those cars in one of my project boxes. I'll get around to working on them some day................mebbe. Mine aren't in that bad of shape though. The paint is still on them. The guy I bought them from said that his dad bought them for him in 1940 for Christmas. 

Mine are HO and I've purchased new brass running gear and detail parts, just haven't pulled them out to work on them.

Bob


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## Reckers

Bob,

It's time-consuming, but rewarding. You'll be proud of them when you're finished.


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## stationmaster

Finished? Finished? I gotta start on 'em first!!!

They've been in a box for 12-15 years!!!

One of these days................

Bob


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## Reckers

*LOL* The spirit is willing, but the elbow is weak!


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## stationmaster

You forgot the part about the butt being heavy...............

Bob


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## Reckers

*LOL* I'll trust your judgement on that one. No need to post a pic for evaluation.


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## Reckers

Arrival of third sister...

Today's lesson is "Kerosene Is Our Friend". This was the worst car, so far---very deep pitting and a lot of physical abuse resulting in deep dings and scars. It's possible someone's family dog had this one for a playtoy, it was so scarred. Anyway, this is the first time I resorted to a sanding block---the corrosion and dents were so deep, it made it worthwhile. Still a lot of scars, but she's healing. One of the problems with using the buffing wheel and the polishing compounds is removal of the compounds. They're apparently abrasives suspended in a synthetic wax base. It hardens where the wheel spits it out, affixing itself to the work. This is particularly difficult to remove from the grooves---dental pics will cut through it, but it doesn't chip out. In pondering what I'd have in the apartment for a solvent, "petroleum distilate" interesected "city living" at Lamp Oil, i.e, kerosene. Used with a toothbrush, it's a decent solvent. Follow with soap and water. Now, let me introduce sister #3:


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## Reckers

Moving along on my battered ladies...it's been too cold to polish them till now, so they've been sitting on the shelf. However, I have acquired the rounded tail end to the observation car. It's a dull-gray metal casting that makes up about the last 3 linear inches of the car. Has the windows and so on. It was once plated with something silvery to make it sorta look aluminum. Any suggestions on how and with what to paint this thing to bring it back to life? Also, any suggestions for stripping would be welcome. It's complicated by two plastic pieces that are permanently attached. One is referred to as a drum-head, sort of a tail-end, plastic logo glued into a recess at the end. at the top is a clear rod similar to the one on a steam engine to create the headlamp, so baking and oven cleaner may not be good choices. What do you guys think?


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## Reckers

Okay, that was sort of anti-climactic. I managed to rap'n tap both plastic pieces free. So, I'm down to some sorta pot-metal casting. I'll bathe it in 409 and see what advice tomorrow brings. I thought about the oven-cleaner technique, but theres no goop to burn off. It's in good shape and relatively clean: just lost it's plating.


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## stationmaster

I'd wash them down in rubbing alcohol, Reck. 70% would seem to be fine, but mo' powerful 91% might work better. You need to remove all residual contaminants before painting. Then a bit of soap and water.

Bob


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## Reckers

Good suggestion, Bob. I'll do that. Thanks!


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## tjcruiser

Hey Reck,

I'm just seeing this thread for the first time. That's quite the transformation, oh masochistic one! Tedious but beatiful work!

Maybe I missed it somewhere in the thread, but do you have the chassis, trucks, etc.? And where did you "acquire the round tail end of the observation car" ? No easy find, there, I'll bet.

Go, dude, go ... looks great!

TJ


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## stationmaster

Now ya dunnit, TJ. Reckers is gonna get the big head and be unbearable for the next month!!!!

Bob


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## Reckers

tjcruiser said:


> Hey Reck,
> 
> I'm just seeing this thread for the first time. That's quite the transformation, oh masochistic one! Tedious but beatiful work!
> 
> Maybe I missed it somewhere in the thread, but do you have the chassis, trucks, etc.? And where did you "acquire the round tail end of the observation car" ? No easy find, there, I'll bet.
> 
> Go, dude, go ... looks great!
> 
> TJ


Thank you, TJ---I appreciate the kind words. And pay no atttention to Bob; he's jealous and worships from afar.

That said, this project has been both a pleasure and a money-pit. *L* I've since won bids to acquire the chassis for 3 cars of the 4. I still need trucks and light sockets, plus the plastic inserts that have silhouttes for the people inside. This latter requirement is to please my girlfriend---it's intended to be her train, once completed. 

I'm also missing car-ends for three of the cars, plus doors (combine car has 2) and the id plates for all but the observation car. Those are all available thru Portline, as are the trucks and silhouettes.

Now...the debacle. The original Observation car was missing the end piece, a very marketable item that's no longer made. I've ended up with the original, restored shell; I've since acquired an entire car less the end piece. That gave me car ends, chassis, trucks, light socket, and the wire-and-cotter-pin arrangement that makes a car-length antenna on the roof. I acquired that quite cheaply on ebay---something like $11, shipping included, because the end piece was missing. The seller was offering it separately. At the last 20 seconds, I opted to let the other bidder win---it was going to cost over $40, with shipping. I did this because my LHS guy was already willing to sell me the entire car for that price. So, today I paint the end-piece from Observation Car #4, have 3 shells to choose from, 2 chassis with wheels and one set of antenna acoutrements. Not exactly a bargain, but it's been fun trying to find all the parts and resurrect the set. I'll post some pics of the end-piece later today to sort of bring it up to date.


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## Reckers

Ok, time to wrap it up. I've got parts of 3 cars to work with, each having significant damage or parts missing. I have the essential end-piece, which has seen better days. It's down to pot-metal with some scarred paint---looks like the underside of a 4-year-old's Tootsie-Toy car:









So does the opposite end of the car:









A bath with 409, followed by Bob's alcohol wash....white Krylon primer and Krylon silver paint put that piece right. However, I had two problems left: the antenna wire and choosing/installing the best shell. In the end, the LHS shell beatr out my polishing job, mostly because the id plates on that one were intact as were the loops on top for the antenna. The original objective was to build her a passenger train, so the refurbished shell will be stored against finding another end-piece.

The LHS guy warned me that removing the chassis would be a problem: it's in grooves in the aluminum shell and slides in and out. The problem is the trucks are wider than the bottom of the car, so it will not readily slide. Also, corrosion of aluminum and rust of the chassis made a really nice, tight fit. The shell has to be spread open to allow the chassis to slide.

This is the point at which tunnel-vision nearly led to disaster. I found the ideal device to spread the shell wide enough that tapping with a hammer could slowly drive the chassis out. Three AAA batteries spaced down the length of the car were perfect. I set it up and went for the hammer.
Batteries? Aluminum shell? When I returned, the batteries were popping and very, very hot. *L* I carefully pried them out without burning myself and ended up using bolts to spread the shell:









I was able to drive it out with a hammer, allowing me to access the antenna wires for removal and transfer.

Antenna: steel wire that has to be removed from this car and reinstalled on the other shell. No biggie, just thought I'd show it.









Closing in on the end....the end pieces are installed. The car has an illuminated "drum head" and light at the back end.


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## T-Man

Are you planning an aluminim empire?

I think it was worth the effort.


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## Reckers

Thank you, T-Man. Coming from you, that's high praise. I feel like it was worth it, too; I learned a lot and had a lot of fun doing it. As far an aluminum empire, I might well end up with one. The cars are pretty heavy and the LHS guy said a lot of engines would not pull them. I told him I was going to put a steamer in front of them and he seemed to think that would work. I recently ebay'ed my way into a 1960's vintage Atlantic, so after I move, it might become a silver queen and pull them. At the rate I'm going, there's a fair chance of eventually having 2 trains out of the deal. I was pretty pleased with the way the first car came out!


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## tjcruiser

Reckers,

I'm at a loss for words. Quite the ambitious project, with excellent results. I keep thinking back to our recent "Frankenbashing" thread. That's it, for sure. Especially since you now have left over parts that will haunt you into rebuilding MORE cars, someday. When you hear voices in your sleep, you'll know from where they come!

I had a good laugh with your battery-spreader creativity. Got the whole car kicking out some juice, huh?

In my professional life, I've spent a bit of time fiddling with racing sailboat design. Back in the 1930's, the J-boats that raced for the America's Cup were state-of-the-art, lightweight construction. Which, back then, meant bronze hulls, aluminum decks and masts, all plunked into salt water. Yep, that's right ... they built themselves some VERY expensive batteries. And they began fizzing away from the moment they took their first salt water bath. They lasted a couple of seasons, and then were quickly scrapped.

Glad to hear your little babies have plans to last a bit longer!

TJ


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## Reckers

Tj,

Love the battery story! As for mine, I couldn't believe I had overlooked something so obvious: those boys were cooking! Thanks for the kind words, and keep an eye out for orphaned car ends for me. *L*


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## Stillakid

Reckers, went to a local train show on Sunday. Found lots of needed parts for my "S" projects. Try,

www.joestrainrepair.com

He had a huge assortment of "S", and his catalog shows a good variety of passenger car repro parts. 

Jim


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## imatt88

Wow...Nice job.:thumbsup:


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## Ahmtoys

stationmaster said:


> Now ya dunnit, TJ. Reckers is gonna get the big head and be unbearable for the next month!!!!
> 
> Bob


Find a local plating shop that does alodine or Anodizing have the clean etch and deoxidise the cars will come out clean but still pitted if necessary they can be electro polished to bring up from Matt finish to a dull shine like the originals. If painted use a paint stripper for aluminium cost s/b small $


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## CTValleyRR

Ahmtoys said:


> Find a local plating shop that does alodine or Anodizing have the clean etch and deoxidise the cars will come out clean but still pitted if necessary they can be electro polished to bring up from Matt finish to a dull shine like the originals. If painted use a paint stripper for aluminium cost s/b small $


So while this isn't bad advice, this thread was almost 12 years old. Most of the previous participants are no longer active. Certainly, the OP is long gone.

You can check the date of the previous post next to the post count number in the upper right corner. There is also a little warning above the Reply box when you are looking at an older thread that you should consider starting a new post instead of replying.


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## T-Man

No on uses photobucket anymore. TJ still visits, Stillakid and Reckers removed themselves. 
The last coaches I cleaned were done with Bar Keeper's Friend. 
It is nice to know chemical cleaning can be applied to them.


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## Ahmtoys

CTValleyRR said:


> So while this isn't bad advice, this thread was almost 12 years old. Most of the previous participants are no longer active. Certainly, the OP is long gone.
> 
> You can check the date of the previous post next to the post count number in the upper right corner. There is also a little warning above the Reply box when you are looking at an older thread that you should consider starting a new post instead of replying.


Yes, I did notice the date however no one has ever published newer or better ways to do this. My searching only revealed a lot of elbow grease with poor to maybe fair results, has a long-time restorer of tin plate trains I've come across many modern methods to strip old finishes and repair metals back to original or near original state.


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