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Need To Clean My Rails Again

2843 Views 38 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  stoner
Soon after I got back into slots again I read a suggestion that wiping plastic track with a cloth moistened with WD40 was/is a good way of removing accumulated dust. So I tried it a few times but gave it up because I thought it was the WD40 that had caused the rails to become sticky over time.

Then I read that cheap baby wipes are a good idea, so I dismantled the track, wiped each piece, cleaned the rails with a rubber and blew the debris off with airbrush propellent. At this point, all my cars got new braids before going back on the track. I only wiped the track infrequently, but after only about 4 months the rails are dirty/sticky again and I'm looking at having to go through the cleaning process again on 100+ pieces of track.


I suppose that I could get some of this wonderful Inox stuff I've read about to wipe on the rails to keep them cleaner longer (once I've cleaned them yet again), but I'd have to get it shipped from Australia which is hassle, not to mention potentially expensive. I'll have to replace the braids on 40-odd cars again as well.

What methods do others use for removing dust from plastic track? Is it the stuff I've been using that's causing the sticky rails, or am I missing something else? When it first happened, I thought it could be thrown-off toothpaste I'd used to mesh gears, but I stopped doing that before I last cleaned the track.

Any advice/thoughts gratefully read.

TIA
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I wipe mine over with a microfibre cloth if the track hasn't been used for a little while. If I've been working on scenery I'll give the track a vacuum with the cobweb brush attachment. Every 3 months or so I clean the rails with methylated spirits and then wipe them over with Inox MX3. The MX3 is not a cleaner it's a protective treatment, a conditioner if you like.

I've only recently (in the last 2 weeks) painted my plastic track. So, I'll probably delete the methylated spirits out of the care routine.

Embs
I'd use Prepsol, but I've been told it's not readily available over there Snurf. It's a solvent that is used to prep vehicles prior to vinyl graphics application, also used to remove tar from car duco. You could also try one of the citrus based cleaners, but you will need to clean a second time with isoprop afterwards to remove any oil residue from the cleaner.

Embs
QUOTE (snurfen @ 8 Jun 2012, 18:44) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I'm on leave for another week. Grrrrr.
First time I've ever heard someone complain about being on leave.
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