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Heavy rusting on the axles suggests to me that the original silver has been discoloured by decades of storage in damp conditions

SMS88 wrote:Heavy rusting on the axles suggests to me that the original silver has been discoloured by decades of storage in damp conditions

I too agree,
numi

why would it cause silver trim to go a gold shade ??

fixer wrote:why would it cause silver trim to go a gold shade ??

I believe the early silvers had no rust inhibitors as modern silvers do and did contain ultra fine metals which tends to catch "rust" (browning) if exposed to any harsh environment.The lacquers/varnish used back then were also contributors of this browning.Am i right??
numi

I was revisiting this thread because anomalous gold trim is one of my interest areas.
Having looked at the photographs again, what I see is a very even colour on the 58a, whilst the 33a merely exhibits a very coarse mottling. I therefore think there is every chance that the gold trim on the 58a is precisely that - gold trim. (Remember that there was a short run of 57a Wolseleys with gold trim too.)

It may be useful to have a silver and gold trimmed model in the photo with this one so we can compare the colour a little better. The trim looks quite pale although I do have a couple of models somewhere that appear to be that mix of silver/gold that I think we've discussed before.

johnboy wrote:The trim looks quite pale...

I'd put that down to flash.

The B of BEA is a fine dark blue which suggests to me that finger grease or some chemical has rubbed on the front and discoloured standard silver trim

SMS88 wrote:The B of BEA is a fine dark blue which suggests to me that finger grease or some chemical has rubbed on the front and discoloured standard silver trim

1) I think the blue B of the BEA badge on the front of the model is simply the result of the blue body paint showing through, either as a result of high-edge wear (e.g. in the box) or because the original application used rather thin paint which did not coat very well.
2) Please provide evidence for finger grease/"some chemical" turning silver paint gold. Please also provide either an explanation of why we do not see this transformation on other (playworn) models, or photographic evidence of models where the silver trim has discoloured to gold as the result of exposure to finger grease/"some chemical".