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Repairing Brent's Trains

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Posted by Jumijo on Saturday, October 27, 2007 8:21 AM

 

Use the fine tooth blade, Mike. Good luck with your repair.

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Posted by ezmike on Friday, October 26, 2007 8:06 PM

Jim,

 I found the blades and heandle at Michael's. Which saw blade do you use, the one that fits the mitre box or the heavy duty blade?

Mike 

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Posted by rtraincollector on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:12 PM

Thats proof the wife has you working to hard on remodeling the house you need to be given a whole week of nothing but trains

 

Signed

 

DR. B.&O. Train is calling

Life's hard, even harder if your stupid  John Wayne

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:50 AM
Lowes has em!  I can get one on my way home! Wink [;)]  I can't believe I actually have their inventory pretty much memorized for certain areas... I'm sick... need to go to a ALA meeting...
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Posted by Jumijo on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:39 AM

 

According to a Lionel drawing, it's a 6-32 hex nut. Part number 5C-99.

If you don't find one at a hardware store, I'll try to find one at the train show next month. 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:28 AM
OK... do you know the size and thread pattern?
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Posted by Jumijo on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:23 AM

 

It's been a fun project so far, Brent. Now comes the unknown territory - airbrushing!

And a correction - there is a nut missing, not a screw. 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:17 AM
 Jumijo wrote:

 

Old Toy (whoever you really are),

I made the "liquid plastic" by cutting little pieces of styrene. After I had a small pile of styrene, I added some Testor's liquid plastic cement. The model cement melts the plastic and it becomes semi-solid, depending on the cement/plastic ratio. I mixed enough so that the slurry would flow like a thick pancake batter, but you could make it thinner by adding more cement. The resulting patch is more or less welded to the damaged shell via the cement in the mixture, creating a monolithic piece.

When using a wire wheel in a Dremel to clean Lionel wheels for re-blueing, use a steel wheel, not a stainless steel wheel. As the wire wheel cleans the train's wheel, a residue is left behind. Most re-blueing formulas do not work well if at all on stainless steel. 

I've never had a wire wheel damage a train wheel, and I run at a high rpm. The wire wheel breaks down, but not the train wheel.

Stainless steel or a Scotchbrite pad is recommended if you are cleaning drivers on a locomotive. Especially near the motor. 

----------------------

Last night I repainted the missing letters on the other side of the shell. Brent's tender is now finished. But I noticed that a screw is missing that secures the mechanism to the frame, Brent. That is causing the tender to lean to one side slightly, and is most likely why the mechanism made the hole in the first place. It is loose and does move around in there, so get yourself a replacement. I didn't have any spares. 



Jim,
Thanks for the update! Thumbs Up [tup]

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Posted by Jumijo on Thursday, October 25, 2007 5:42 AM

 

Old Toy (whoever you really are),

I made the "liquid plastic" by cutting little pieces of styrene. After I had a small pile of styrene, I added some Testor's liquid plastic cement. The model cement melts the plastic and it becomes semi-solid, depending on the cement/plastic ratio. I mixed enough so that the slurry would flow like a thick pancake batter, but you could make it thinner by adding more cement. The resulting patch is more or less welded to the damaged shell via the cement in the mixture, creating a monolithic piece.

When using a wire wheel in a Dremel to clean Lionel wheels for re-blueing, use a steel wheel, not a stainless steel wheel. As the wire wheel cleans the train's wheel, a residue is left behind. Most re-blueing formulas do not work well if at all on stainless steel. 

I've never had a wire wheel damage a train wheel, and I run at a high rpm. The wire wheel breaks down, but not the train wheel.

Stainless steel or a Scotchbrite pad is recommended if you are cleaning drivers on a locomotive. Especially near the motor. 

----------------------

Last night I repainted the missing letters on the other side of the shell. Brent's tender is now finished. But I noticed that a nut is missing that secures the mechanism to the frame, Brent. That is causing the tender to lean to one side slightly, and is most likely why the mechanism made the hole in the first place. It is loose and does move around in there, so get yourself a replacement. I didn't have any spares. 

 

 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Old Toy on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:13 PM

I'm new to the forum and fairly new to repairs; thus, I have not heard about liquid plastic. Could you tell me about this product and where I can get it. I'll start with walkways on box cars. Or does the liquid plastic need to be supported on all sides?

Dremel wire brushes can be rather harsh. I have a large wire brush on a motor that turns at 1150 RPM and usually does not remove the bluing. Keep in mind that any NEW wire brush will be very harsh.

Thanks for you time and tallent.

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Posted by Anonymous on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:55 AM
You can find a nice selection of X-Acto blades here:

http://www.markstrains.com/gen/T-CUT2.HTM
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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:04 AM
Super glue applied with a toothpick.

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by SPFan on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 9:01 AM

Jim, Nice work! It came out great but how did you add the rivets after the fact?

 

Pete 

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Posted by Jumijo on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 7:36 AM

 lionroar88 wrote:

Jim, WOW... I'm speachless...

That's a first.

I had to make the rivets by hand because the plastic slurry I made must have been too thick to fill the tiny rivet holes in the mold. I wasn't completely satisfied with the repair last night, and even brought it to work today to do it over, but I eventually said "it's good enough".  Certainly better than the gaping hole.

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by lionelsoni on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:37 PM

Ironically, the one thing that duct tape is not good for is sealing ducts:

http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/duct-tape-HVAC.html

 

Bob Nelson

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Posted by rtraincollector on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:11 PM
Didn't you forget to paint it Pink Whistling [:-^]

Life's hard, even harder if your stupid  John Wayne

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 8:11 PM
 fifedog wrote:
Gotta hand it to you Jim-Bo, looks sharp.  I still think you should have posted it with duct-tape covering the hole.


LOL!!!! That would have been funny... beyond funny!

Jim, WOW... I'm speachless...

Speaking of duct-tape, Susan took the passenger mirror off her car a couple weeks ago during lunch.  When she got home she had it held onto the car with packing tape... lots and lots of packing tape... I guess packing tape is the business equivalent to duct-tape?
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Posted by railfan23 on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 7:43 PM
Very nice work, looking forward to seeing the finished pieces.
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Posted by ezmike on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 7:28 PM

Jim,

Thanks, now to find one.

I thought maybe there is a dremel attachment that worked. Although everyone I have looks to be too big, plus I guess you want the stability of a blade to keep it as straight as possible.

Mike 

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Posted by fifedog on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:38 PM
Gotta hand it to you Jim-Bo, looks sharp.  I still think you should have posted it with duct-tape covering the hole.
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Posted by Jumijo on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:29 PM

 

Here are a few quick photos of Brent's tender with the hole patched and painted. I just finished brushing on the last coat now. It's dark, rainy and windy outside, so I snapped these at the kitchen table. Better photos to come as soon as weather permits.

BEFORE:

 

 

AFTER:

All that's left to do is touch up the white letters and put it back on the frame.

Jim

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Jumijo on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 11:09 AM
An exacto saw.

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by ezmike on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 11:06 AM

Jim,

Thanks. What do you use to cut the shell?

Mike

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Posted by Jumijo on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 6:09 AM

 

Mike, the easiest way to repair that step is with the step from a donor shell. Make your cuts along seams so they won't be seen, or at least not nearly as evident. Over cut the donor shell's step slightly and sand it down to size. If you cut it too short, you're screwed. Undercut the damaged area and sand it square. Use plastic model glue, not super glue. The model glue will actually weld the plastic together and the shell will once again be a monolithic piece. An area this small can be painted with a brush as mine was. Good luck with that repair.

Here is an image showing where I made the cuts.

 

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by ezmike on Monday, October 22, 2007 7:19 PM

Jim,

You can't blame a guy for trying! Actually, I have a friend locally that has done step repair like yours. I'm going to try to connect with him for advice and instruction and try it myself. Can't hurt, how else will I learn. Besides, what harm can I do, the shell is damaged already. The painting can be tricky especially if you're re-doing a small spot and you don't have a feathering technique to speak of. BTW, I have a can of Krylon semi-flat black, are you up to explaining how to do the feathering? You can e-mail me if you wish. Let me know.

I can't wait to see how this comes out.

 Mike

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Posted by Jumijo on Monday, October 22, 2007 6:24 PM

 

Nice try, Mike. 

I pulled the mold away today and saw a few imperfections that needed filling. I used super glue for that chore. The tender is now ready for paint. Photos soon.

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by ezmike on Monday, October 22, 2007 10:49 AM

Hey Jim, I'm impressed. I've seen the pictures of the repair you did to the step on you 2046W tender. I suspect this one will look as nice, hopefully no shrinkage so you don't have to do any touch ups/fill ins!

When you're done here I have an original 2671W shell neeeding a step. Whistling [:-^] (I really try to stay away from these but how else to convey what's in the thought bubble). Maybe you can start a little cottage industry here!

Mike

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Posted by Jumijo on Sunday, October 21, 2007 5:55 AM
 kpolak wrote:

Does the bluing protect the wheels from gunk, or is it mearly cosmetic?

Kurt

The bluing is cosmetic only, Kurt. But removing all that crud before the blueing process will help the car track better, reduce derailments, and promote much better electrical contact.

Modeling the Baltimore waterfront in HO scale

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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, October 20, 2007 8:38 PM
Lookin' good Jim!

I really appreciate this!
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Posted by kpolak on Saturday, October 20, 2007 6:40 PM

Does the bluing protect the wheels from gunk, or is it mearly cosmetic?

Kurt

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