How many are surprised to see the amount of scrapes and chips in paint on new Engines, Rolling Stock, and Accessories 1 items that have been used and are now for sale. Do you think this is due to the current processes in manufacturing?
Joe Gozzo
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No. people just do not take care of things.
Do you know what era MTH was in and when they were boxing with the brown cardboard boxes before they moved to the tinplate tradition boxes, was that the eighties
Joe Gozzo
Trainlover160 posted:How many are surprised to see the amount of scrapes and chips in paint on new Engines, Rolling Stock, and Accessories 1 items that have been used and are now for sale. Do you think this is due to the current processes in manufacturing?
Joe Gozzo
hello
In and word "yes" I just got a MTH Railking "Southern" GREEN baywindow caboose and it had light slight scratch on one side of the baywindow, just the clear coating that was scratched but not the paint. The gate chain needed fixing on both ends. This caboose is hard to find after searching on Ebay for few months # 30-77243 and this one was new in the box from Mario trains. It was not bad at all. This is from sloppy manufacturing handling process, made in China 2013. It was the nicest baywindow caboose I ever owned so NO complains here !!
"The virgin will be pregnant and will give birth to a son. They will name him Immanuel. (Immanuel means 'God with us') ERV (easy to read version)
Tiffany
The new painting process is different than the pre-war process. My understanding is that prewar tinplate was dipped in paint. The new process is probably sprayed. When I strip paint from prewar trains, the paint basically melts off. The old paint is much softer. I stripped a new car last year, and the paint was very hard. It was very hard to remove. So, why would new trains have more chips and scratches? I noticed that I have accidently chipped my new items, but not my old ones. I think the new, hard paint is more prone to chipping. Does this mean that it is not made as well? I wouldn't say that. You just need to be careful with tinplate.
BTW, you should see the packaging of the new LCT items! Mine came wrapped in microfiber cloth. The older items were wrapped in tissue paper. You can use the microfiber cloth to polish the paint and remove fingerprints!
George
The new paints are formulated much differently than they were in ye olden days. Lead for one, is not longer used (or isn't supposed to be used...) Solvents are different.
What's used nowadays is probably much close to automotive enamel.
Rusty
It's a reproduction of an old train set. Old train sets are usually scratched or chipped or dented or even rusted. It can't be a good reproduction without same. 
I would 'GUESS' that maybe the metal was not thoroughly cleaned before painting in the orient. I have painted many items using no primer, but clean metal. Very hard to chip unless dropped or banged around. I have seen quite a few times while unpacking a tinplate item that the paint was chipped and still sitting in the Styrofoam packing. That indicates that the paint had not adhered to the metal "BEFORE" packaging for whatever reason. Harry 
Harry Henning posted:I would 'GUESS' that maybe the metal was not thoroughly cleaned before painting in the orient. I have painted many items using no primer, but clean metal. Very hard to chip unless dropped or banged around. I have seen quite a few times while unpacking a tinplate item that the paint was chipped and still sitting in the Styrofoam packing. That indicates that the paint had not adhered to the metal "BEFORE" packaging for whatever reason. Harry
Harry what do you clean the metal with before you paint.
Just Curious,
Joe
I start w/ powered Tide detergent in a 5 gal bucket of hot water to strip off most of the old paint (boiling hot water is critical in this process). I may strip 10-15 pieces at this time. Next step is to finish the stripping w/ aluminum oxide ( fine powder) in my home built sand blasting box. On bare metal, Simple Green or the Palmolive green dish detergent will remove the sand residue. Rinse off in hot water & blow dry. After this point use gloves to handle. I use our paint ( enamel based Naphtha ) w/ a Paasche #62 3oz. sprayer. No adjustments required other then paint viscosity. Final step is baking in an old electric kitchen stove / oven. Pre-heat to 200 degrees, set painted items on rack (pulled open), and let heat flow over rack w/ oven door open for about 20 min. I always paint the inside first, then after baking, paint the outside. One coat is sufficient. Harry
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