Welcome to Jeff Lemke Trains, Inc. where brass model repairs are our specialty. Over the decades I've repaired, restored, painted and weathered more than 10,000 brass models in HO, S and O scales for people around the world, for hobby shops from coast to coast, brass importers, presidents of America's Class 1 Railroads, and even the likes of locomotive builders EMD and GE. 

While working as the Research Specialist for Overland Models during the high point of brass model production in Korea, I was invited to teach professional painting to the production managers and went on to set up the factory paint shop for Ajin Precision in Seoul, South Korea. My first student was Mr. Se Ho Jang, a production manager at Ajin who went on to create his own brass model factory that you might be familiar with—BOO-RIM Precision Co., Inc.

(CLICK HERE to visit my Flickr site to see and read how brass models were made in Korea during the 1980s and 1990s. This was the highpoint of Korean brass model production.)

Thanks to the many workers at Ajin whom I worked with side by side, I learned how to solder in the factories that made the models while I taught their workers how to paint models. Quite an equitable trade in my estimation. Today, I use a variety of traditional soldering sticks and stations, resistance soldering units ranging from 100 WATTS to 1,100 WATTS, and a micro-torch to perform my craft. My soldering acumen is expert level and that is precisely what's required to make pro-level repairs to finely crafted brass model trains. 

Making soldering repairs to fully assembled models is FAR more difficult than anything factory workers encountered when making the models in the first place. But thanks to seeing how they were made, it's relatively simple for me now to make decisions on what can and cannot be repaired. To get a project started, all that I need to see are a few photos of your model and a description of the problems you’re experiencing. If you have a damaged or inoperative brass model train in HO, S or O scale then let’s put our heads together to come up with a solution. They can’t all be brought back to operation, but many of them can with the right tools, techniques, and expertise. Our repairs make brass models BETTER than factory new.

FYI—The painting side of my business was retired in January 2024 so that I could focus exclusively on brass model train repairs, grit-blasting and chemical cleaning, touching up factory painted models, doing full restorations on unpainted bare brass models, and proto-realistic weathering too. If you’re in need of repairs AND a paint job, I perform the repairs, then utilize another full-time paint shop to get the colors onto the model for you.

Likewise, DCC installers tend to be in the highest demand with so many collectors requesting DCC installs in their brass model locomotives. While I do set up brass models to properly accept DCC components (without bending or breaking any parts and without ruining the factory paint jobs), I've always outsourced the actual component installations to several very capable electronics wizards known to me. Like me, they operate full-time businesses as well. Specialization really does make for the finest outputs across the repair, painting, weathering and DCC installation disciplines. Utilizing these trusted industry colleagues—who have similar values and performance standards—means that every service we perform is reliably well-done.  

Thank you for visiting my website today. I look forward to working with you when the time is right. Cheers!