Cleaning and restoration of Marx tinplate

Do not clean them with alcohol. The Marx tinplate is a lithography process and alcohol will destroy the finish.

I use water and maybe a little Dawn dish detergent.

And I have it on hand, too.  Thanks.

If any of the engines are a greasy mess, dust them with plain cornstarch and let them sit a half-hour or so before you wash the shells. Grease will suck up into the cornstarch and be carried off by the wash water so you don’t have to scrub. (This also works on paper with sticky or greasy messes on it!) Old smoke fluid or over-oiling residue will turn the cornstarch yellowish-gray. Most of it will brush off with a dollar store cosmetic brush if you want to avoid water for some reason.

Just my opinion but converting a single reduction motor to a double would be a whole lot of work. This will be the place to find out but I'm not sure I have ever seen that done. With the amount of Marx equipment still available you might try to retrofit a double reduction motor into the shell of the single and see if that would be easier. Robert Grossman would be a good source to contact and discuss.

Train ON!

Jim K

Gabe just reminded me that what you consider garbage may not be. His advice is to strip down anything that looks past restoration, because many Marx parts are interchangeable and even what looks hopeless may be usable once it’s cleaned and you get rid of any zinc-pested parts.

I may have found a man who converts single reduction to double.  I've sent him an email to ask and, as a bonus, he lives about 25 miles from me and belongs to the same model RR club that I do.

More later.

PS: got a box of goodies coming from Robert Grossman to restore a lot of Marx stuff.

More on that later, too.

PPS: anyone have a source for a chimney for a Marx tin station?  I now have three, but one has no chimney.

For bare metal parts (wheels, frames, motors) I liberally spray them in WD-40 and then scrub with a rag. I've tried soaking in vinegar but it tends to make the parts rust again after a few days. WD-40 does the same work and keeps them from rusting again.

If I'm trying to clean and save the original lithography, I wipe on some Meguiars Cleaner Wax and then gently buff it off with a soft cloth. This will take off grime and rust stains. If the paint is badly flaking or has heavy red rust, I usually just give up and commit to stripping and repainting. A wire wheel attachment on a bench grinder makes quick work of old paint.

Here's a basket case that I redid last year, a Marx M10005 diesel. The body was beyond saving-- heavy rust, badly damaged litho, gross black paint of unknown origin. Definitely a candidate for a new paint job.

The motor was in equally sorry shape, but Marx motors are super tough-- the E-unit still cycled and the motor lurched along! I took it apart and scrubbed it down with WD-40 to get most of the rust off. After polishing the wheels and replacing the wiring it ran very nicely.

The nice thing about working with hulks is that you get to make something neat with them. Lots of people have Marx M10005s but I now have a Marx DL109!

@Forty Rod posted:

I may have found a man who converts single reduction to double.  I've sent him an email to ask and, as a bonus, he lives about 25 miles from me and belongs to the same model RR club that I do.

More later.

PS: got a box of goodies coming from Robert Grossman to restore a lot of Marx stuff.

More on that later, too.

PPS: anyone have a source for a chimney for a Marx tin station?  I now have three, but one has no chimney.

Nope.  He says it can be done but it ain't gonna be cheap, so.....................On to plan B.

Trainguy,

Unbelievable job on that Marx diesel!

Were there dents in the shell?   If so, did you try to push them out, or just use something like Bondo to fill and smooth them?

Mannyrock

@Mannyrock posted:

Trainguy,

Unbelievable job on that Marx diesel!

Were there dents in the shell?   If so, did you try to push them out, or just use something like Bondo to fill and smooth them?

Mannyrock

Thank you for the kind words Mannyrock, I am pretty proud of this custom. This is the locomotive that inspired my design. If I ever come across a junker MTH DL109 I'd like to try making a scale one. (I suppose I could 3D print one... I do have the technology!)

There weren't any major dents in this particular build, although some areas like the pilot were badly bent. If I can get the body apart, my preference is to use a ball peen hammer or parallel jaw pliers to smooth out dents in straight surfaces. It's very difficult to repair complex curves though, like how twisted the grille of the M10005 was when I started on it.

I considered trying to reshape the pilot by hammering it against a rounded form, but I ended up seaming the pilot into a blunt point to better represent the DL109's nose. Here's a comparison between a regular M10005 and my custom creation that shows the differences.