Hey there! Now that this site is back, I figured I'd throw this here too since I've not had much luck looking elsewhere and have gotten good advice here in the past.
So, a few months ago, I FINALLY found my grandfathers missing brass locomotives. Unlike most of the rest of his collection, these I have no intention of selling off, but they need a lot of work, and so I've kind of made a commitment to myself to pick one and start restoring it this spring once my leg heals up (and then onto the next one and so on). Does anybody have any good links on working with HO Brass? In particular:
-Cleaning Oxidation
-Dealing with Corrosion (the Climax in particular has BAD green corrosion, I hope it isn't a lost cause)
-Fixing the electrics (most don't run at all due to age)
-Lubrication (don't know if it is different for brass)
-Painting
-Adding Headlamp Holes (I ASSUME I can just drill the can open but if I'm wrong, I'd like to know)
-Repairing/Replacing damaged parts
-Converting to DCC (the big one, I don't actually have an HO layout anymore, had to switch to N for space reasons, so this isn't a huge deal but I figure prepping the models for DCC down the line would be best done while i'm in there, even if I setup temporary "jumpers" for now in place of actual decoders)
And I'm sure more questions will come as I work, so yeah, lot of info out there, just looking for good resources to get started. Thanks!
Pics of the locos for the curious: https://imgur.com/a/iggutAw
So, a few months ago, I FINALLY found my grandfathers missing brass locomotives. Unlike most of the rest of his collection, these I have no intention of selling off, but they need a lot of work, and so I've kind of made a commitment to myself to pick one and start restoring it this spring once my leg heals up (and then onto the next one and so on). Does anybody have any good links on working with HO Brass? In particular:
-Cleaning Oxidation
-Dealing with Corrosion (the Climax in particular has BAD green corrosion, I hope it isn't a lost cause)
-Fixing the electrics (most don't run at all due to age)
-Lubrication (don't know if it is different for brass)
-Painting
-Adding Headlamp Holes (I ASSUME I can just drill the can open but if I'm wrong, I'd like to know)
-Repairing/Replacing damaged parts
-Converting to DCC (the big one, I don't actually have an HO layout anymore, had to switch to N for space reasons, so this isn't a huge deal but I figure prepping the models for DCC down the line would be best done while i'm in there, even if I setup temporary "jumpers" for now in place of actual decoders)
And I'm sure more questions will come as I work, so yeah, lot of info out there, just looking for good resources to get started. Thanks!
Pics of the locos for the curious: https://imgur.com/a/iggutAw