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I have little experience polishing RC metal parts nor removing rust from vintage parts. Can all of this be done easily by hand and a simple drill?
This is almost 30 years old and is in amazing condition despite the humidity getting the best of the metals. Underneath the dust and rust this may be a shelfer.

1) Copper-colored springs -- what grit sandpaper should i use to get the sheen back? Or is steel wool the best?
2) The dogbones and turnbuckles are made of steel and have black anodizing -- Will rust removal liquid restore the original black? Or, leave it alone since it shows vintage character lol?
3) heavily rusted steel screws and ball connectors-- remove rust using liquid, and then polish, and then clear coat?

here are some of the restoration items below...thanks

Soaking in a product like CLR will get rid of the rust and leave the part mostly shiny. Then use of a gun bluing like Beechwood will create a black oxide finish.

Frankentruck wrote: ↑Mon Jan 23, 2023 7:39 am Soaking in a product like CLR will get rid of the rust and leave the part mostly shiny. Then use of a gun bluing like Beechwood will create a black oxide finish.

Brilliant! Why did I not think of that? Oh wait....I know....because I am not very smart.

Sometimes putting blued and not blued parts together in CLR will result in all parts coming out black oxide coated. I wouldn't plan on bluing parts that way but just be aware it can happen.

And don't sand those springs. The coating is very thin. I'd at best lightly scuff with scotch Brite, like the green dish scrubber if you don't know what that is they make different grit depending on the color of it and I think the grey is the finest. The springs are tough to replace.

I learned how to do gun bluing on steel R/C parts a couple of years ago and the results are always fantastic. It's the closest thing I've found to a factory style finish. Although the process can give a bluish tinge sometimes but that's to be expected. It all depends on the type of metal.

I tried submerging the parts in Evapo-Rust first which was a product highly recommended online, but it seemed like a waste of time as I don't feel it did all that much. It didn't matter how long I let the parts soak for either. As a matter of fact, they started turning black after several days which is kind of a benefit since that's the look we're after anyway. Depending on how heavy the rust is, a light scuffing is really all you need.

The more patient you are, the better results you'll achieve.