Desperate, random use of chemicals

 

How do you get paint off a hull moulded in ABS? 

Well, you can't use Nitromors for a start. That's a good way to make holoes. And while I do own some paint stripper that is safe for use on plastic, not nearly enough to attack a boat this size. 

With the hull on the garage workbench, I tried a Scotchbright pad in the sander. Nothing. Hardly scratched it. Could I replace this with something more abrasive? Probably not, stopping at that point between removing the paint and going through the plastic wasn't likely to happen. 

In desperation, I cast around for other chemicals I could try. By this point I'd decided that if I couldn't have a smooth hull for painting, at least I could extract the working parts for another boat. 

Meths seemed to do a little, but not much. Cellulose thinners though, now that shifted the paint, especially when followed with a metal, kitchen scouring pad. 

Trouble is, the cellulose turned the paint into a slurry that had to be scraped off. Washing with meths seemed to help move it a bit, but the slurry hardened too quickly for easy removal. 

Still, there is progress, but I need to go and buy a lot more thinners!

Oh, and it stinks. Future paint stripping will be carried out outdoors.

Even ugly people are useful

 

Look at these two. Pretty much everything that is wrong with 4mm scale whitemetal figures. The bloke especially has some "interesting" proportions - the photo actually makes him look better than he is!

Both were found at the bottom of my figure box when searching for seated people to populate a tramcar. For this role, they will do the job perfectly. You can't see them properly through the windows, but you will be able to see that there is a figure in there. Hence my perfunctory efforts at painting. No need to spend lots of time, or use highly detailed (read: expensive) miniature people. 

And it's better than throwing them away.

Sunday sad Sprinter

 

OK, it's not actually a Sprinter, but the title doesn't work if you put the correct unit number. That, and I'm not sure what it is - 158?

Anyway, a unit on accomodation bogies spotted at Long Marsden in 2014.  

And I think it looks sad.

Saturday Film Club: Bernard Cribbins Hornby adverts

With the sad passing of Bernard Cribbins, I thought it would be fun to find some of his old Hornby adverts.

The quality of transfer might be "interesting", but they are wonderful period pieces.

 

Repairing Lord Westwood

Bought at Ally Pally earlier this year, my Tri-ang R765 "Lord Westwood" was a bargain. Mainly because it didn't work. 

This didn't put me off. Models of this vintage might lack detail, but they are easily fixable with the aid of some simple hand tools. The heart of this, and many others of that vintage, is the X04 motor, a rugged unit that is easy to find second-hand if the original is toast. 

The body is removed by undoing a long screw under the back of the cab. The chassis can then be wiggled free for examination. 

Inside, there was some fluff, and only one brush on the motor. This looked promising. 

You won't be surprised I had a spare set in my stash of bits. The only problem is that the wire on top of the motor was broken. It should be steel, but I couldn't find any, so made up a brass version. I'll keep an eye out for the correct replacement as the softer metal might work, but it won't last forever. 

However, work it does, and the locomotive now bumps it's way along the railchairs on Code 75 track (I'm out of Code 100) very smoothly. 

In the tender, someone has swapped the wheelsets over to disable the steam noise feature. 

The sound is generated by a steel tab rubbing on a strip of abrasive. This sounds a bit crude, but the metal strip is attached to a plastic soundbox to increase the volume. 

I've heard worse, and anyway, love a gadget in a model loco, so the wheels have been swapped back, the sideframes can be flexed enough to release them using a small screwdriver. 

After this, a good clean up with a stiff brush to remove all the dust and I have a near mint model for the collection. Just the think to wind up GWR fans, and valuable too. From £15, this thing is now worth around £70!