hey folks,
just got a bunch of old t-jets and such,i know how to get the plastic chassis good and clean ,,but how do you usualy go about cleaning the copper electricals? is their a type of spray available or do you have to use brasso or something like that. the cars i got are ,,
vw-bug
mako shark
green firebird
brown gto
and about 6-7 t-jet chassis that are for the most part complete,,and a bunch of track with a sound grandstand that i dont beleive has ever been hooked up. all for 20.00
just would like to clean these things up.thanks
matt

Good haul!
Brasso might work..
You just to be careful around the brush contacts so you do not bend them.
Tarnex sometimes works also for cleaning the copper.
An ultra sonic cleaner seems to wrok best...
Scott

yeah, what Scott said...

and that brown GTO is a GREAT find! are these things cut up, or all original? Twenty bucks is a steal for the chassis alone!

--rick

the brown gto is perfect,has a black top.
done some more digging and heres a complete list
yellow w/flower vw bug
black porsche 906 maybe painted?
hacked up yellow daytona cobra
yellow /w black stripe gt-40
yellow /w red stripe mclaren elva w/driver head .and tire under the clear windshield? perfect cond.
brown/w black top 68-69 gto perfect [body]
green mako shark ,excel[body]
green firebird,excel [body]
enough t-jet chassis to last the rest of my life!
those are the t-jets.
afx non-mag
blue porsche gtp car
orange /w white wing can am car
red /w lost wing can am car
plus a bunch of arms ,chassis p/shoes

a hoard of 70s afx track,,pretty good cond[needs cleaned up]
and a fair amount of mm pin together type track.

and a fairly complete matchbox roadway set still in the box.
bout 6 transformers
prob a dozen controllers [aurora]
and a magna sonic grandstand that looks like new,,the rest of the grandstands are still in the origional boxes!

I used some of the copper pot cleaner my wife had stashed under the kitchen sink. A Q-Tip and a little elbow grease and the chassis and armature looked great. :thumbsup: rr

There's a cleaner from Oxy-Clean called Kaboom (and Kaboom Pro paste) that works like you see on TV, where a tarnished penny is restored to shiny new just by dipping it in the magic solution. They do work, but make sure you thoroughly rinse the item in water and dry it completely after using these products. They all contain salt which you don't want to leave in the nooks and crannies of your chassis. I rinse with water and dry with a cloth followed by compressed air to get all the cleaning agent out. The copper will slowly return to its standard brown patina after a while but you'll at least get the build-up and any green verigris off the copper.

Wow!

Excellent deal!

GTO, Bug, Firebird, Mako, GT40... wow.

If these aren't cut, you're lookin' at $150-$200 Fleabay value right there, probably more.

Not that you should sell 'em... I'd tune 'em up and run 'em all! Just so you know, you got a SCREAMIN' deal there! Is your luck always like that? You wanna come yard saling with me sometime? :D

--rick

edit: on that Porsche... is it black painted like from the factory? factory black painted cars are WAY desirable...

rick,the porsche has alot of playware,its too smooth to be brush painted and its light under the paint so it either has to be marker or origional.wish i had a camera to post some pics.,i got this stuff through a buddy that is big into trains,he purchased a couple boxes of trains and the guy asked him if he was into ho cars,he's not but he knows i am,so he sold me the whole bunch for 20.00, most of the chassis are pretty well used and dont have origional arms ,and several have no tires and wheels,but the bodies were spared.im probably going to sell the lock and joiner stuff and maybe the grand stands.i found a crack in the bug body but repaired it from the inside,,paints fair so i'll prob give it a new coat of something purdy,,like blue indigo met.with clear over it.and some nice wheels.whats the track worth ?

the porsche is an origional black with white stripe,no crome on the back ,a few chips around the light sand a couple very small chips on the roof,dare i repair the chips?[with airbrush]

Yeah, I've been told that the Bug is a fragile body...

Just me talking, but I wouldn't paint 'em or touch them up or anything. Clean them up and run them the way they are. Now, cars that have been cut or painted already or otherwise diddled with--paint away. BTW, there ain't nothing wrong with well-used chassis...

As for track, I'm not sure on the value. I know there are still guys out there that use it. I have a couple boxes of L&J myself, but I wasn't looking for them... they came my way along with other stuff I wanted.

--rick

I take two glass custard bowls. I put ammonia in one and Rubbing Alcoholin the other I tear the chassis down then drop all the parts in the Amonia for a couple of mins. If the chassis has dirat and grime I use a Q tip to gently scrup the motor brush holes. Then I move erything to the Alcohol for a rinse then onto a paper towel to dry.

Roger Corrie

Last week my wife handed me a gearplate with armature from one of my tjets. I said to her "where'd this come from, did the cat get this ? " ...Nope she said... "It fell out of your pocket while I was folding clothes... Which means it went through the washing machine too". ........Oh well :(

But was it clean? :jest:

SQUEAKY clean... with an April fresh scent, and no static cling. :p

Well, if it was washed then went through a thorough dry cycle in the dryer, why not give it a try? You never know, you may have stumbled across something here.


;) ;) rr

disassemble your cars and soak all copper parts and chassie in straight lemmon juice , rinse with cold water useing a tooth brush. then blow all parts dry ,the copper will look like new. this is old school but has worked for me nearly 30 years

Are slot car components like socks? That is, you put a pair in the washer and only have half what you expect in the basket at the end? Where does it all go?

I think I'll stick to mineral spirits and turpentine, though neither has much to offer in the scent department.

I got a semi-neat frayed mako from a friends train haul, but a GTO or a Charger would be like winning the lottery....

I have run mine upside down in a little shallow pool of Brasso (wheels removed) for 10 minutes or so. Then I put it upside down in another little pool of track cleaner (Life-Like, whatever) for a few more minutes. Then I take it out, pull it apart, run it under some warm water and scrub any excess brasso off with a toothbrush, dry it off really good, oil it and you are done. It not only breaks in the gears great and makes it run better, but shines up very nicely. Just run it with some brushes you don't really care about and don't make the pool any deeper than your gears will float in and it will work great.