Thursday, October 24, 2019

Hogwarts Castle pickup repair


I've been passed a Hornby Hogwarts Castle to take a look at. The loco has been in the wars and one pickup is pointing in distinctly the wrong direction. 

Now, I should be able to wave a magic wand, incant something and all will be well. Sadly, I might look a bit boy wizard-like (although more Where's Wally if I'm honest), I can't do magic. When I can do is wield a screwdriver. 


With the model upside down in a Peco cradle, I simply undid every screw I could see until the plastic keeper plate on the bottom came off. That's three screws, one of which is actually a bolt so the nut at the back of the motor it screws into has to be held or you just spend the rest of the evening rotating the screwdriver. 

Keeping everything safe, I eventually got to the pickup plate show and re-bent the phosphor-bronze piece with some small pliers. 

Re-assembly was the reverse of the above, although it took me two goes as I bent a different pickup putting it back!

Rebuilt and after the thorough wheel clean, the model runs perfectly and will hopefully delight its owner again. 

To be honest, I could have probably bent the piece back to shape with some very fine nose pliers, but it's fun taking things to pieces isn't it. 

1 comment:

Huw Griffiths said...

It probably doesn't surprise you - but this "nuts and bolts" stuff is the sort of thing I hope to see in railway modelling magazines.

I suspect that some people might take a different view:

"It's all about shaking brand new models out of our favourite colour box, innit? What's the point in railway modelling magazines actually featuring some ... railway modelling? We're having none of that scary stuff - that involves people getting their hands dirty - not in our magazines. After all, we're scared that we might feel the urge to pick up a screwdriver, or a scalpel, in anger. Oh no, no, no, no, no - that would never do!"

Sarcasm aside, where's the fun in handing over loads of money, just so you can pretend to admire a coloured box, or maybe even a ready made model inside it?

What's the point in pretending to admire someone else's work, when you can enjoy actually doing something practical - get a warm feeling about achieving something yourself - and genuinely admire your own work?

OK - I believe I'm preaching to the converted here. I certainly hope I am.