On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:11:40 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

I've obtained some better ones but would like to protect them in the best
way possible. Any sort of plating worth doing? Especially a home kit? Or
any other tips?

Firstly get rid of all the rust. If the size permits the best way of
doing this is electrolytic de-rusting as this does not effect the bare
metal.

http://www.remap-internet.org.uk/remapedia/tiki-index.php?page_ref_id=59

If the items still have some paint on you may need to wire brush the
piece several times at intervals of about 12-24 hours in the derusting
process to get rid of all the poorly adhering paint at the rust edges.

After washing and drying you can use whatever undercoat you like
followed by topcoat. As the electrolytic derusting gets rid of all
traces of active rust the paint cover is much more effective than it
would be on most chemically treated pieces where some rust nearly
always remains and starts again after a few months (or less).