George S posted:Wax is the best way to protect paint. I have never heard that waxing a piece of tinplate would hurt the value. It takes patience and you need to remove the excess wax so there is no dried wax left in the nooks and crannies or on the trim. This is standard maintenance.George
It's not that wax doesn't have it's place, but expecting someone who's obviously new to Lionel blue paint to do it correctly on a fairly valuable train is asking a lot. This is a very advanced job that will require a lot of time and extreme detail work to get right.
Also, while you've never personally heard of wax and polish affecting value, I can tell you with some assurance that it does.... IF it's obvious the piece has been cleaned.
Aggressive cleaning and polishing tactics not only harm a pieces "original patina", but it can be very off putting to a potential buyer, when an antique item looks too new, perfect, or otherwise messed with. You can watch it happen all the time at the auction houses. Unmolested pieces tend to bring the most money. The one uncle George polished the paint off all the edge lines and rivet heads, sells for a lot less.
Blue is one of the hardest colors to clean correctly. Period.
Blue is not always 100% salvageable either...especially if it has low/no gloss.
