[Tibbs]

Hi all,
I showed a mate the VW I'm building and it got his juices running to fish out his old tracks he has.
Attached is both sets, his cars are in pretty good nick and he's got a few odd ball cars which are cool.
Both have been in the loft for quite some time and there is some surface rust on parts of the track.

Is there any tips of how to remove it, obviously I wouldn't think you'd use anything abrasive?
Any advice would be appreciated to resurrect these two old tracks.

   
   

Cheers

[Kevan]

Pan scrubber and WD40

[Kevan]

[Bazzer]

It is a shame when the track gets rusted but if you want to still use the track then you have to get rid of significant amounts of the rust, doing this also removes the plating (nickel I think) this is just a price that you have to pay, the nickel is there to help prevent tarnishing and corrosion.

If the cleaned track is regularly given TLC then it will work like new, the best thing for the track after it has been cleaned is to drive hard and fast that will keep the rails nice and bright.

Also use Inox 3 once the track is clean, it really is as good as people say, we call it Snake Oil in our house.

B.

[Tibbs]

It is a shame when the track gets rusted but if you want to still use the track then you have to get rid of significant amounts of the rust, doing this also removes the plating (nickel I think) this is just a price that you have to pay, the nickel is there to help prevent tarnishing and corrosion.

If the cleaned track is regularly given TLC then it will work like new, the best thing for the track after it has been cleaned is to drive hard and fast that will keep the rails nice and bright.

Also use Inox 3 once the track is clean, it really is as good as people say, we call it Snake Oil in our house.

B.

Thank you Bazza and Kevan,
I will pass this on, it's much appreciated.

Cheers
Tony

[964rh]

Hi Tony

I refurbed a load of classic track from my loft using small abrasive wheels on a dremel (so similar to the kitchen pad but with less elbow grease) finished off with a wipe over with Imox. Used Grey, red and green if that's correct order to get a real shine on them.

Tried a couple of methods before deciding on this - 

Track in a dishwasher - deffo cleaned the track (only tried this to see what happened, but the rust set in everywhere)
Wiped rails with brasso - on the few bits I did cleaned and polished but left the pitting in place.

It's not been used much since I did it and stored in a lidded plastic container box, and it still looks as good as the day I did it.

Don't make the same mistake I did initially though and cover the whole track in Imox, it's slippy stuff and lasts forever!! 

Rob

[Kevan]

Then once that jobs done, an easy way to keep the dust at bay...

[Tibbs]

Hi Tony

I refurbed a load of classic track from my loft using small abrasive wheels on a dremel (so similar to the kitchen pad but with less elbow grease) finished off with a wipe over with Imox. Used Grey, red and green if that's correct order to get a real shine on them.

Tried a couple of methods before deciding on this - 

Track in a dishwasher - deffo cleaned the track (only tried this to see what happened, but the rust set in everywhere)
Wiped rails with brasso - on the few bits I did cleaned and polished but left the pitting in place.

It's not been used much since I did it and stored in a lidded plastic container box, and it still looks as good as the day I did it.

Don't make the same mistake I did initially though and cover the whole track in Imox, it's slippy stuff and lasts forever!! 

Rob

Thanks Rob, very helpful.
I'll pass it on. 

[Bazzer]

For cleaning the running surface of the track rather than the pick up rails, I use a painters tack cloth, these work really well and are super quick.

I have also found that really dirty track benefits from both a degrease with painters panel wipe agitated into the surface with a stubby paint brush and then follow up with warm soapy water agitated into the track surface with a stiff scrubbing brush, now air dry.

This process is best carried out after cleaning the rails first. I can get old grubby looking track looking really smart and more importantly run very well.

I am refurbishing some Airfix track at the moment and it is looking very sweet, looking forwards to setting up an Airfix Monte Carlo track, I am collecting the steel rail type and I have a feeling it will be a quick track, I will graft a Sport World control tower onto a piece of Airfix track for power and lap counting.

B.

[Tibbs]

For cleaning the running surface of the track rather than the pick up rails, I use a painters tack cloth, these work really well and are super quick.

I have also found that really dirty track benefits from both a degrease with painters panel wipe agitated into the surface with a stubby paint brush and then follow up with warm soapy water agitated into the track surface with a stiff scrubbing brush, now air dry.

This process is best carried out after cleaning the rails first. I can get old grubby looking track looking really smart and more importantly run very well.

I am refurbishing some Airfix track at the moment and it is looking very sweet, looking forwards to setting up an Airfix Monte Carlo track, I am collecting the steel rail type and I have a feeling it will be a quick track, I will graft a Sport World control tower onto a piece of Airfix track for power and lap counting.

B.

Thats great Bazzer and quite ironic as he's a custom car painter so has all those materials.
Bee good to see a thread on the Airfix track your bringing back to life.

Cheers
Tony