Harland Duzen

Update: Yesterday evening, I've now noticed that a 101 chassis* I have sitting next to my Tri-ang model also appears to have the same "mould" on it. Though with everyone's comments I now think it's just dust that's built up around it and I need to store them better. *Chassis belongs to a R795 "Lion Works" I also brought used for an idea. Having searched and seen a few videos on how to clean Model Trains (Particularly one by SDJR7F88 on Youtube) I'm thinking of getting a Dust Blower / Tiny Henry the Hoover and some cheap makeup brushes to clean everything before I decide to remove and repaint anything. Still thank you everyone for your advice.

Hello everyone and thank you for all the suggestions and advice so far. For everyone's interest, here are some better photos of it currently* and one I could find from April where the paint on the smoke box door looked pristine. I'm still not sure what the mould or effect on the paint is but regardless, I should definitely give it a careful cleaning. I may also (somehow) remove the old Black Paint and give it a fresh coat of Modern Paint that hopefully won't have some kind of chemical reaction (other bodyshells I have in the same place are completely fine). Edit: Does anyone know if I applied isopropol alcohol by toothbrush onto the smokebox, if that might work in removing the old paint without having to submerge the entire body-shell (provided it's properly masked off) ? *It does look dusty but the cotton bud shedded a lot of strands after I cleaned it. Secondly; when I brought it, I hadn't noticed the front steps were missing and sadly it arrived with the right hand side of the body shell snapped off, but I intend to glue it back on, replace the steps with 3D printed replacements and add a 3D printed Cab Interior eventually.

Thank you 33C, I had hoped I would't have to repaint it, but if it comes to that I will do it... In that case, would I need to remove the old paint and how would I go about doing it carefully? It still has the "27" and black lining on the sides and don't want to lose it

Its been sitting on a shelf inside my house since I've brought it. I should have mentioned I also have a few other Tri-ang 0-4-0 and Hornby 101 Bodyshell's (with their paint removed or modern) sitting alongside it that haven't been affected.

Hello everyone and good evening! I've been casually following a few forums and dioramas here since getting into Model Railways at the start of the year (long time lurker, first time poster so to speak) and I wanted to ask for some advice about dealing with possible mould on an old train bodyshell. Back in January this year, I brought a Tri-ang 0-4-0 (R.355G) and this past Friday I discovered what looked like a white looking mould(?) on black parts of the body-shell and the Metal couplings. I tried removing it with some water and a cotton bud but it quickly reappeared and removed a tiny bit of paint from the roof. I haven't seen many other forums online mentioning how to deal with mould if it appears on model trains and I also saw it mentioned that the old paint might be oxidising due to having metal with it? Regardless, has anyone here had a similar issue and / or can recommend a way to fix and prevent it happening in the future?Would appreciate any advice. [Photo shows it after I attempted removing it, I realise now the cotton bud was not a good idea...]