Cleanliness might be next to godliness but more importantly (for model makers anyway) it's vital if you want paint to stick. Normally I'll clean up any kit I'm building at the end of every soldering session. My hope is that a nice clean model locomotive won't go green from the corrosive properties of the flux and if I repeat the scrubbing, any lingering traces will be removed.
With the Garratt though I have a problem. Even if I clean every bit of valve gear before attaching it, there are still a lot of fluxed joints that have to be washed afterwards. The wheels are trapped in place too.
This time then I've head to take a risk. Once the running properties had been proved the motors were removed and the entire chassis unit washed with Shiny Sinks and rinsed with water. This isn't ideal as those steel wheels and axles are vulnerable to rusting but there's no way they are coming out now.
After it's wash the unit received a good long blast from a hair drier. Then every pivot and bearing was oiled. I'm not sure if this is going to make a difference in the long term but I can cross my fingers and hope.
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