Best way to "restore" aluminium cast model?

Hi there try and find sombody that does soda blasting that is very gentle then get it polished and it will look fantastic. I have an aluminum world war one model plane that my great grandfather made and it languished in our shed for years I had that soda blasted then spent an evening polishing it and it looks really good I then laquered it with some auto body laquer to keep the shine. Its still as good now as it was 10 years ago when i did it.:D

The choice between restoration and ‘preserving the patina of age’ is difficult and often a matter of taste. I tend to leave brass, bronze, etc ‘as is’. But alloys often don’t improve with age, becoming quite dull and often with an unattractive matt/white tarnish.

Anyhow, here’s one I bought years ago and which looked very unloved. A soft cloth, plenty of elbow grease and a tube of Solvol Autosol brought it up a treat – or at least, I think so……

It would look much better chromed

No it wouldn’t, you sound like one of those Harley riding Chromosexuals..

Well done that man. A pleasure to see. Thanks for sharing,but any chance of a view of any of the others?

What a Dad !!

A.M. What super model and testament to your dads skills.

Bill T.

After retirement, my dad decided to “do something” with a number of similar, roughly cast model aeroplanes that I had acquired over the years and which had been cluttering up his shed.

He spent hours with a series of coarse, then progressively finer files until he was satisfied with the basic shape, airfoil thickness, etc. Then it was onto many hours of rubbing down with wet and dry to get the smoothness he was after.

Even then, he found that the surface of the model had numerous imperfections from bubbles in the molten alloy. He devised a technique of shaving minute slivers of aluminium from scrap sheet, then hammering them (with a toffee hammer!) into the imperfections, with a final file/sand/polish to remove the excess. You had to see it to believe it, but once the whole thing was polished up, you could not tell what was original surface or “filled” surface (and years later, not one bit of aluminium has ever become dislodged).

He then turned to the detailing, by adding wheels, propellors (made from beaten and shaped knitting needles!) aerials and guns etc. Finally, he scribed the surface to reproduce panel lines, and roundels.

I have about two dozen of them: Spitfire, Hurricane, Defiant, Hotspur, Anson, Boston, Mosquito, Blenheim, Manchester, Lancaster and York.

I took the York to an aerojumble years ago, not really intending to sell it. An old chap stared at it for ages. He swore he’d last seen it on display in a cabinet at RAF Transport Command H.Q. – I didn’t put him right.

Sadly, I’ll have to part with them one day as I’ve no-one to leave them to but I think I’ll have them engraved with his name before I do.

Here’s the Manchester. The picture was for another purpose and doesn’t really do it justice.

B55 metal brightness is used on ally applied with a brass brush will kill it all and clean it too.works like genolite on steel.

It would look much better chromed it wouldn’t cost much £15.00 if that look localy for compaines.

What was its surface when new?

By restoring or polishing it, you could turn a nice antique toy with patina into something it never was…(refer to an Antiques Roadshow or a photo of over restored aging film queens for examples 🙂 ).

If you decide that want to do it, you might try sanding it with increasingly fine sandpaper grades then polishing it, a method I had to do with new castings for my vintage car. You’d be surprised who quickly a rough surface can produce a nice shine.

Depending upon its size, a buffing wheel might work or to get into the small spaces between the engines and fuselage, a hand held rotary (Dremmel) tool would work. Or you might even try asking a jeweler to polish it.

I found a Canberra cast desk model at an antiques shop and made a stand for it out of a marble scrap and a short piece of aluminum rod inserted where the factory stand was once attached. Added a small engraved name plate and it looks fine.

If you can find MicroMesh, which, among other things, is used for polishing canopies, it does a superb job on aluminium, too. I’ve managed to return a corroded aluminium cover to the appearance of chrome, using that material, but had to treat it as a wet-and-dry paper, and use it wet. Follow the instructions, as well, which tell you to sand in straight lines, and use successive grades, with each at right angles to the preceding. Some model shops sell starter packs, at around £15, which will be a lot cheaper than the aviation packs at probably double the price.

I am sure there are others on here who can offer much better advice than I can on the best cleaning method.
Once you have cleaned and polished it the options are to give it a coat of clear lacquer or accept that you will have to give it a polish from time to time. Both have advantages and disadvantages so you just have to choose what suits you best.
You will be very lucky to find an existing ready made stand that fits. None of the diecast aircraft ranges use a threaded bolt to hold the model on the stand although you may get away with a pin which is a tight fit in the threaded hole provided the hole in the model is deep enough. You could try having a look at Corgi stands although their mounting pins are usually pretty small diameter or you might find something in a trophy shop that you can adapt.