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Offline 5HorizonsRR  
#1 Posted : 19 December 2020 02:21:44(UTC)
5HorizonsRR

United States   
Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC)
Posts: 2,863
Location: CA, USA
Hi all,

I was fortunate enough to acquire a large marklin metall set the other week, which I am thrilled to start building soon! Unfortunately, due to improper care the hardware and anodized pieces have begun to rust, although the painted parts are all just fine.

Does anyone have any tips on reviving these nuts and bolts? I believe they are brass-plated steel. The black anodized parts I've soaked in vinegar to much success, although it removes the remaining coating. Those I will likely need to spraypaint once they come out of their bath tomorrow.

But the 2000+ nuts and bolts I need a plan for! Any ideas?
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Offline cookee_nz  
#2 Posted : 19 December 2020 10:18:44(UTC)
cookee_nz

New Zealand   
Joined: 31/12/2010(UTC)
Posts: 3,948
Location: Paremata, Wellington
Originally Posted by: 5HorizonsRR Go to Quoted Post
Hi all,

I was fortunate enough to acquire a large marklin metall set the other week, which I am thrilled to start building soon! Unfortunately, due to improper care the hardware and anodized pieces have begun to rust, although the painted parts are all just fine.

Does anyone have any tips on reviving these nuts and bolts? I believe they are brass-plated steel. The black anodized parts I've soaked in vinegar to much success, although it removes the remaining coating. Those I will likely need to spraypaint once they come out of their bath tomorrow.

But the 2000+ nuts and bolts I need a plan for! Any ideas?


Hi John,

I faced this issue with the repairs I did on the Wonderwheel and Sundial previously reported here. I'm not sure how old is the set you have (set number?, photos would be lovely) but my two display pieces are both from 1956 and the nuts and bolts were all a rusty/brown. When I removed them, the inside face of the nuts, and the hidden portion of the screw thread were still the original brass colour.

I tried all manner of things to get the best appearance without much success. My best results were actually to spray them with WD-40, and then scrub them. The WD-40 turned them almost black, not quite but visually (in my opinion) still better than the rusty brown. I did also soak some in a rust-removal solution which got them back to plain steel.

I experimented with spray painting some a brass colour, that was quite effective but they are just a tad too shiney for my liking, but I may yet revist that.

My problem is compounded by the coloured metal parts not being pristine either so if I have nice shiny screws & nuts, then the other parts don't look so flash by comparison.

When the painted metal parts are new, and the screws/nuts also the whole effect is awesome.

Here, getting them re-plated is not an option, just too small and fiddly for those companies that even do plating. I even considered doing it myself but brass plating is actually quite a process, and potentially dangerous as well but you might check around and perhaps you can find a company that will do them all for you?

Failing that, to be honest, replacement Screws and Nuts (old stock or used) are quite cheap on ebay and not hard to find. if your painted parts are nice and clean I'd personally be inclined to just get replacements. I've seen them often sold in packs of 200 so while 2,000 seems a lot, it's only 10 packs.

Hope this helps.

Steve
Cookee
Wellington
NZ image
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Offline Michael4  
#3 Posted : 19 December 2020 19:40:42(UTC)
Michael4

United Kingdom   
Joined: 02/02/2017(UTC)
Posts: 637
Location: England, South Coast
On bare metal...

Wondering about a weak solution of oxalic acid? It gets rust stains out of glass fibre and out of wood and cleans rust out of cloth very well so long as the item has been well degreased beforehand.

I might experiment unless others have tried?

(In the past I have used diet coke on very old car parts, slow but it works sometimes.)
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Offline 5HorizonsRR  
#4 Posted : 20 December 2020 04:25:23(UTC)
5HorizonsRR

United States   
Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC)
Posts: 2,863
Location: CA, USA
Thanks guys! Sorry for the delay, my computer was acting up today.

I have the Metall 1082 Mississippi Steamboat kit. I cannot wait to build it!

The main painted parts I gave a vinegar soak for security, then put them right into a neutralizing solution followed by a heat dry. So they should be good.

Back to screws and hardware, today I tested vinegar on the longest screws, since there were only ~30 of them. They actually cleaned up quite nicely! Agreed a few black spots where the rust must have been prior, but overall very good, no doubt because it was only surface rust for the most part. (Images to follow tomorrow) So now the real question- what do I coat them in to keep them from rusting right away again? Would a soak and then dry in kerosene do the trick? I've heard it would but wasn't sure.

For the black anodized hardware, the black came off with the rust cleanup. So my plan for tomorrow is hit them with an etching primer and then a good black spray. Its not anodized, but will go the long haul.

Lastly- where have you seen those 200 packs of hardware? 1 each would probably be good insurance for me to pickup...
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Offline 5HorizonsRR  
#5 Posted : 21 December 2020 16:52:55(UTC)
5HorizonsRR

United States   
Joined: 05/12/2004(UTC)
Posts: 2,863
Location: CA, USA
Some images from the field. As mentioned, the painted parts were good, the black anodized parts were not. Very strange. So a (much bigger than intended) restoration and futureproofing job was done on the black bits:

- Acid bath (vinegar 100%) for 2-3 days
- Scrub
- Neutralizing solution dip, baking soda and water
- over baking to 100% dry
- Etching primer, 2 coats to 100% seal the metal (may be overkill, but at this point I wasn't cutting corners)
- 2 top coats in black

Black is currently drying, but some images from last night's primer are below:


primer 1.jpgprimer 2.jpgcleaning 2.jpgcleaning.jpg
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Offline Bryan  
#6 Posted : 20 July 2021 23:04:51(UTC)
Bryan

Australia   
Joined: 08/09/2010(UTC)
Posts: 209
Location: Bowral, NSW, Australia
Dear All
At the beginning of the year I aquired a very large stock of Marklin screws. They came from a Queensland Marklin agent and were as new, except slightly rusted. To have all the parts restored was very important so this was done.

The first step was to remove all the rust and original black finish. Originally they were hot dipped in oil to get the blackened finish. This is no longer used in industry. Some people use HcL acid, which does remove the rust, however it is dangerous and very easy to get rust flash when done. The product I used was evapourust, which is none acidic, no rust fash, does not attack the actual steel and available at autocheap car assessory shops.

Once the steel is clean back to a nice grey colour after 24 hours the parts can be blackened.

The product I used was Blackfast solution process. This is a UK company and use to supply Hornby Hobbies to blacken all their parts when production was at Margate. The Blackfast process is four different solutions done in series, cleaning, neutralising, blackening, oil proofing. The result is as new and the screws I did were perfect, 100’s of Marklin screws, some from the *800 so really worthwhile. The cost though for the Blackfast kit was about $250 quite a few years ago, not sure now, so expensive. However getting basically a full set of MArklin screws was well worth the cost. The result is a far better surface protection than the original oil dipping as well.

David
Bowral NSW
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