Friday, January 28, 2011

Fungal treatement



Back in June, we took our model railway, Melbridge Dock, to be filmed for Modelrailway.tv

Once it had been unpacked and set up it became apparent that storage hadn't been kind. The were white fungal patches on the cobbles. At the time we just rubbed them off as best we could and hoped the camera wouldn't pick them up. Back home, the model was stored where it could get some airflow and then re-packed back in it's insulated plastic bag.Since there was also mould on the packing boards that bolt to the ends, these were cleaned and varnished at the same time.

This weekend, we're off to Southampton Exhibition so I decided we better get the model out and take another look at the problem. I've also still got idea on the Melbridge book so some decent photos are a must.

The good news is that the drying and then sealing process has helped. The fungus is no longer white and tentrilly but has died down to become brown spots on the plasticard. A quick scrub with an old toothbrush and touch of water has removed the spots, or at least reduced them to something that looks like weathering.

Mind you, the cleaning has highlighted just how dusty the model is. Time to give it a proper clean I think !

After

No comments: