Help Required - Rescuing Corroded Pointwork

[JSModels]

I was recently given some Peco bullhead points & track by someone at my club. These had been installed on a brand new layout he was building, but then when he was wiring it up he left the layout for quite a while, under a plastic sheet, with an open pot of very old, corrosive flux paste (I'm not sure exactly what type). When he came back to it, all the metal parts had discoloured, and were covered in some sort of white 'blooms':

 

 

At this point he gave up, took up all the track, and rebuilt the layout in OO9...

 

I can only assume that fumes from the flux, trapped by the plastic sheet, corroded the metal. This trackwork is all effectively brand new (and probably cost a couple of hundred pounds!) so it seems a shame to throw it all away. Here's some closer pics:

 

 

 

 

Does anyone have any ideas of some sort of chemical solution I could soak it all in to get rid of it, without affecting the plastic? It will come off mechanically (with a fibreglass pencil) but I really don't fancy spending several days cleaning them all by hand!

 

As a test, I did clean the rail tops of a section of track with a cleaning rubber, and it took off the white blooms and discolouration & brought it back to clean, bare metal. I then left it a week or two, by which time the rail tops had dulled slightly (as I would expect normal track to do) and there was no evidence of the blooming reccurring. The discolouration doesn't really matter, if anything it helps having partially pre-weathered track! I could just paint them, but don't want to get it all laid on a new layout & then have problems further down the line caused by the residue of the flux on the pointwork.

 

I've got some short sections of plain track I can experiment with, before I risk wrecking the points even further. Any help or suggestions would be gratefully received!

 

 

Jonathan

[Mick Bonwick]

I'd be inclined to use an old toothbrush and plenty of elbow grease to apply a strong solution of bicarbonate of soda. Won't harm the plastic and should neutralise the flux' acidity.

 

Still a manual operation, though.

 

Edited July 21, 2020 by Mick Bonwick

[JSModels]

Thanks Mick,

 

I'll give that a try on a test piece. Yes it's still manual, but quicker with a toothbrush than a fibreglass pencil!!!

 

Oh, and I've snuck one of the short pieces into the dishwasher - figured it was worth a shot, as long as the Mrs doesn't find out 

[Harlequin]

If you are going to weather the track after you've installed it maybe you don't need to remove the bloom? Just make sure that there isn't any ongoing chemical reaction, paint rust colour over it and make sure the rail surfaces are clean.

 

You could optionally clean inside the point blades with the fibreglass pencil but with Unifrog points even that's not a necessity...

 

You may have stumbled across a way to create the most authentic rust texturing anyone's ever seen!

 

 

[polybear]

Maybe a soft brass wire brush?

[JSModels]

On 21/07/2020 at 17:09, Harlequin said:

If you are going to weather the track after you've installed it maybe you don't need to remove the bloom? Just make sure that there isn't any ongoing chemical reaction, paint rust colour over it and make sure the rail surfaces are clean.

 

You could optionally clean inside the point blades with the fibreglass pencil but with Unifrog points even that's not a necessity...

 

You may have stumbled across a way to create the most authentic rust texturing anyone's ever seen!

 

 

You may well be right on all the above. I guess as long as I can neutralise any remaining acid it doesn't really matter if the blooming stays.

 

Thanks all for the input.

 

Jonathan