The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Pre WWII Marklin clockwork train restoration - from total junk to like new.
This train looks like it was found in a WWII bombing rubble pile - totally gone.
This is one of the best resto videos I have seen, using all the techniques necessary to restore lost cause phonographs, etc.
Disassembly, reverse electrolysis, nickel plating, sandblasting and detail painting all in one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8PLnh8kmEA

WOW very impressive.. Thanks for the link

blizz

Wow! That was fun to watch! I held my breath each time he bent a tab to disassemble something. I found it interesting that he did not put the same level of care into the restoration of the motor. By not disassembling it, he left a lot of gunk in the bearings and pivots which will only accelerate the wear. I ended up subscribing to the channel!
Dave D

It's amazing, but he only shows his successes. The bending of old rusted thin tin tabs cannot be so successful!
And in some videos, the way he throws those delicate parts into the bins is at least frightening... I've picked some other odd things when watching some of the videos... Mmmmm....!
I wonder how many tin toys must have been ruined that aren't filmed...

Inigo wrote: ↑Wed Sep 22, 2021 1:14 pm The bending of old rusted thin tin tabs cannot be so successful!

I refrained from writing at first, but now I have to second these sentiments. The video is interesting and shows a pair of useful tips that I might make use of in the future, but my direct experience in the field tells me that it's just too good to be true, to the point of being suspicious. It's nearly impossible that such a rusted tin car has no perforations or unrecoverable parts anywhere. Also, as said by Inigo, forget to bend back and forth heavily rusted tabs without breaking one.

I also find a bit weird the first section, where he tries to crank up a clockwork that is obviously frozen, which is indeed the last thing you might want to do with a clockwork that is obviously frozen and clearly needs to be disassembled.

Yeah! Suspicious! We see herein everyday the enormous trouble and fight it is to restore an old phonograph, and step by step follow the struggle of our colleagues restoring items that from scratch, they look much better than those tin toys. Yet in the videos of that guy, there is no trouble, everything goes straight ahead and nothing happens!

I totally agree that some parts of the video are suspect, particularly since old rusted tin is not flexible. I have tried before to take one of those tabbed toys apart and ended up breaking the tabs. Some of his methods seem useful, but mainly, I think it's fun to watch even if it might seem like a fiction movie...

"I wonder how many tin toys must have been ruined that aren't filmed..."

All of them are already ruined, so it isn't possible to "ruin" them any further...

I'm very sensitive to broken tin tabs... It must be a trauma since childhood... I was always disassembling things and toys... And how many I broke!

I have been disassembling things since childhood, also. I was never afraid to take something broken, apart to try fixing it, since it was already broken and I couldn't damage it but maybe possibly fix it...