Would "You" Restore?

Why not -- it is a real mess now and really has no value so do it. rjs. 

Comes a point where the condition of the original is so poor, that restoration is justified. In this case, I'd say go for it. Others may differ! (Some would never restore anything, but then it sits in a box in your house or travel 10,000 miles back and forth to train meets as a 'show museum' item.

Jim

I think it really depends on what the item is and how  you view it, too. If this were some sort of rare item, restoring it could actually decrease its value (and there is a rub to that, it depends on what collectors would be looking for it)...but I would hazard a guess this is not some exotic ,one of a kind item where that would apply.  

Then the question is, how much do you like this item? If you think it is neat to have something so old, that kids 100  years ago or whenever played with this, then it may be worth the cost of restoration, not as an investment , but rather for the joy it gives you. It could be expensive to restore that, but it also might be fun to research its history, see if you can find examples of what it looked like, and be able to bring it back to life. You may be surprised how much it would cost to get this restored, but I am of the school of thought that says if you can afford it and you really think it is neat, go for it. 

Wow! Thanks everyone! Many interesting points!
I think the "pros" are out-performing the "cons" right now:

Check:

1) Rare (no)

2) Would bring me joy if I brought it back to life (yes)

3) Not worth anything now (to me or collectors) so restoring it wouldn't decrease it's value (yes)

If anyone has thoughts to "not" restore, please let me know!

Looks like you just answered your own question.  Go for it and have fun.

One of my favorite gear head tv shows is "Restoration Garage" on Motor Trend TV. They had an episode where they had one of their guys restore this old toy car (I think it was from the 1950's maybe), it was all metal, had a springwork mechanism that you pulled the car back and it went forward when you released it. It must have cost a lot to do that work, it really was like restoring a full blown car, trying to replace parts, etc....but you should have seen the guy who requested that they restore it, guy had tears in his eyes seeing the toy brought back to life

I would restore it, if it isn’t too far gone.  It is actually a Bing wind up.  You can try searching Bonn’s Road,  and scroll to Bing, then search thru that, to possibly get better pictures.

I would.

Normally not a fan of restoring stuff, but as others have said, sometimes something is so badly degraded it only has "monetary" value if it is an extreme rarity. Really it comes down to what YOU want, if you are going to run it and enjoy it , why not restore ? It might harm the "original" value , but lets face it , unless it is a "rocking horse poo" rare model it wont be of any interest to a speculative collector in its current state

If it were mine , I think I would be facing the same conundrum you pose and would probably do a light mechanical resto and run it , but I would always be considering a cosmetic redo as well

Fix that little critter!   

Mitch

TeleDoc posted:

I would restore it, if it isn’t too far gone.  It is actually a Bing wind up.  You can try searching Bonn’s Road,  and scroll to Bing, then search thru that, to possibly get better pictures.

Google search turns up nothing for "Bonn's Road"...how about a link?

PD

pd posted:

TeleDoc posted:

I would restore it, if it isn’t too far gone.  It is actually a Bing wind up.  You can try searching Bonn’s Road,  and scroll to Bing, then search thru that, to possibly get better pictures.

Google search turns up nothing for "Bonn's Road"...how about a link?

PD

"Binn's Road" I think there may have been a typo?

http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/oindex.html

I would fix it up. Maybe not showroom perfect, but at least get it running smoothly, do something with the rust, and get some paint on it. Those little coaches need a neat little loco to pull them around!

My response would not be a function of monetary value but historical value.  If the item is a truly rare example of a piece and retains any remnant of unique decoration or significant design useful for documentation of otherwise lost historic information, leave it be.  Otherwise, return it to its original glory.  

Either way, enjoy.

Elgaucho posted:

I'm grappling whether or not to restore this wonderful loco. I'm a stickler for details so not sure whether it'd be done to it's original specifications. 

My question is to you is... would you have it restored? I don't even know the model number to this train. All I know is that it came with brown, English, GWR passenger cars (provided below) but not sure if they were original to this loco. 

*I've also provided an internet photo find which looks like a MATCH.. just not sure.

Any observations? 

I think it is cool as it is for display.

If you plan on playing with it I'd vote to restore

handyandy posted:

pd posted:

TeleDoc posted:

I would restore it, if it isn’t too far gone.  It is actually a Bing wind up.  You can try searching Bonn’s Road,  and scroll to Bing, then search thru that, to possibly get better pictures.

Google search turns up nothing for "Bonn's Road"...how about a link?

PD

"Binn's Road" I think there may have been a typo?

http://www.binnsroad.co.uk/railways/oindex.html

 

Thanks, Andy.

My thought is that once there is that much rust, you need to do something. Otherwise, the rust will keep doing its thing, and eventually there will be nothing left. I use EvapoRust to remove rust from tinplate. So, were the pinstripes hand painted or litho? Maybe you can find an art student if you aren't steady enough to paint the stripes? Or, you could mask it off. Just make sure the paint is very dry before doing the masking. Letting it sit a week or two would not be out of the question. I bought some craft enamel paint at Michael's to hand paint some details after a base coat. That worked pretty good with a fine art brush. Another options is to have some decals made. Stan Cedarleaf has done custom decals for me in the past, and I was very happy with them. Good luck and enjoy! Please share when you are finished.

George

Thanks everyone! Really appreciate all your points!!

To answer some questions, this looks like a later Bing model (with BW marking) so I’m guessing it’s a litho body (not hand painted)

Also, I’ve decided to get it restored! Mostly because I want to play with it! But also because it’s not doing it any favours by sitting there rusting away. I’m gonna get it to track condition and if I can get away with just getting the rust off only, I will. We’ll see if I want to get it fully detailed or not(I kinda prefer when the toy looks more played-in)

Its being delivered to the resto shop as we speak so will keep you posted!

Thanks again everyone! Love the tinplate love here 🚂