Wooden freight cars

[CP5415]

I have an ancient Ulrich track cleaner car.
It's made out of wood, not plastic.
And I want to fix it.

One of the hole drilled for the trucks went in on an angle long before I got it.
Is there any way to fix this the hole or should I somehow remove the wooden beam the trucks mount to & replace it?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Gordon

[dragonriversteel]

QUOTE: Originally posted by CP5415

I have an ancient Ulrich track cleaner car.
It's made out of wood, not plastic.
And I want to fix it.

One of the hole drilled for the trucks went in on an angle long before I got it.
Is there any way to fix this the hole or should I somehow remove the wooden beam the trucks mount to & replace it?

Any suggestions?

Thanks






You can use piece of wooden dowel or a golf T. Had the same problem with one of my old wooden kits. Before you try to install the truck screw....predrill the hole first.

Patrick
Beaufort,SC
DRSC

Gordon

[chessiecat]

I usually just fill the old hole with wood filler and redrill the hole. Just be sure that you let the filler dry and harden before you drill. Hope this helps! Jim

[rayw46]

You can also use short lengths of toothpick and carpenters glue to fill the hole, then drill an new one.

[nfmisso]

Gordon,

As all of the others have suggested, fill the hole, it may be easiest to drill it to a standard dowel size and fill with a piece of dowel, and some sort of glue or putty.

Allow to dry AT LEAST ONE WEEK before drilling a new pilot hole for the screw - use a drill press to maintain the alignment.

[orsonroy]

If the wood's soft and splintering, filling and redrilling the hole might not work (the filler plug will be stronger than the surrounding wood, and will crush it's way through the surrounding wood once torsion is applied to the screw). In that case, remove the underframe, drill completely through the hole, and add the truck with a machine screw and nut.

[Eriediamond]

As a suggestion, when filling the hole. If possible, like Nigel says, but I would use thin CA. It will "wick" into the surrounding wood thus strengthening it. Don't use excelerator on it. Let it dry on it's own at least over night. Ken