Removing gold plate finish - Marushin Luger P08

Hello!
I just finished removing the gold finish from my Marushin Luger P08 and I wanted to share the knowledge and insight I achieved.

In the beginning I was afraid that I would ruin the underlying chromelayer that is beneath the gold layer, so I was very careful, too careful because nothing happened. I scrubbed and scrubbed using a schotch brite sponge, but nada...

Then I found these 3M polishing sponges. they can be found in different grains. The gold plate finsish came off pretty ease, but still it´s a couple of hours of labour...I used microfine and superfine:




this is the luger with it´s original gold plate finish:



and this is the luger striped and scrubbed clean from gold layer (there are some parts still with some gold that I will remove when my fingers come back to life):




Notice that the one I have worked on is the second generation, improved marushin gold luger, that have WWII nazi markings. I have also found original luger wood grips that I will use.

The next step is getting the bircwood casey aluminium coating. I will post images on that project as well and share any knowledge I come across.

If someone HAVE done this I would be very happy for any advice!

/ Jeppo

Wow, that's a job! I can just imagine how your fingers hurt now after all this scrubbing :-)
I'm looking forward to blueing part, I'm sure you will research and just as good job as with removing gold layer.

3M pads are a great find, I did not know such thing existed.

Thank you for sharing information :-)

Very nice indeed and that should blue nicely

8ace

I think to remove the gold finish can use steel wool super fine fraction (0000).

I reckon to leave it in chrome is already good enough (also it makes it more rare - can seldom see Luger in chrome finish) - but of course either way is fine!

Another way to remove the gold is to take it to some plating factory to strip off the gold (needs to be extremely careful though - alloy isn't prone to strong chemical) - but it shall be quicker and easier...

Hi.
I have a chance of purchasing one of these Marushin lugers in Gold, can you please tell me if they are real metal or monkey metal, also what price are they, I have been offered for £200, is that expensive or reasonable, he also states they are museum quality, do you agree.
Thanks
Regards
John

If by "metal" you mean "steel", it is not made of steel. It is a metal model however, made from zinc-aluminum alloy.

"Museum quality" does not really mean much in context of a modelgun. A rusty 500 year old sword is museum quality Marushin's Luger is made with a lot of attention to details, it is a replica much more than a toy, if that's what you mean. Way better quality and finish then Denix for example.

For price you need to compare how much you would pay if you wanted to get it from another source. Check "Where can I buy from" thread in "Buy / Sell" section. I would say price is ok if the model is in excellent state, with box, manual and all other pieces. Brief look at online shops says you could get this model for almost the same price (5% difference) from an established UK vendor. Importing would be more expensive.

Yes, as smootik says, it is made of zinc-aluminum alloy (called zamak) with some sort of chromed finish under the gold layer. I imported the ones I´ve got myself, and it costed me approx what you have been offered.
But there are a few around at some dealers so look around and compare is my suggestion.

/ Jeppo

Several discussions with "How To... " help can be found by typing in "Bluing" in the Search facility and checking "topics"


Models commonly blued to replace the gold finish are Marushin's M712 Mauser and the Luger of course.

It'll be worth taking time to read through the discussions you'll find