Lima Prairie Alloy Weights!

[Il Grifone]

I know this model does not have a high reputation, but that is no reason to have them break up.

 

Checking my black prairie (for another reason),I noticed the main weight was white and nasty looking and so I dismantled her to clean it up. Once the body was off, I noticed the bunker weight was in the same condition. On further dismantling I found it had expanded and jammed itself in position and there was slight bowing to the rear of the bunker. It refused to shift and required a hole drilling and the insertion of a large screw to grip it. It then finally came out! The opportunity was taken to drill a hole through the plastic bunker base and push out the plastic 'coal', so that it can be replaced with the real thing. The weight will now have a replacement made from lead sheet. The main weight seems to be OK, apart from the white corrosion.

 

Now I have to check all my Lima locomotives....

[Horsetan]

If it's any consolation, I bought a couple of Lima 94xxs a couple of years ago, and one of them definitely had the mazak corrosion problem. Rather than crumbling or fracturing, the weight seemed to be expanding a bit.

 

Didn't matter, anyway, as one body was going to be cut down into a 15xx experiment, whilst the other was going to have a scale chassis stuffed under it.

[Poor Old Bruce]

Their Crab also suffered with the weight in the (tender drive) loco chassis expanding so much that it stopped the wheels going round.

[dunwurken]

I've had the same problem with the N gauge 0-4-0 shunter used as the basis for 'Christine' on the Craig and Mertonford. The expanding weights caused a crack to appear between the cab and the bonnet. Replaced them with weights from another loco which show no signs of expansion.

Malcolm

[Il Grifone]

Luckily I've found a spare weight (which I didn't know I had! ) with no sign of the problem. Stll it's worrying. I've got quite a few to check...

 

So far a J50 and a spare 4575 body have passed OK. IIRC the affected loco is the one I bought in Italy in 1982.

On the bright side, her ponies now have wheels that turn. I've managed to ream out the brass bearings I fitted to reduce the axle diameter to 2mm so that I could fit some Romford wheels in place of Lima's horrors. It would appear that the rod I used to make the axles was a tad over diameter, as a 2mm drill bit spun freely.

[RosiesBoss]

G'day all,

 

About ten years ago, I bought a partly finished Crownline/Lima 45XX though eBay. It was soon apparent why this project had stalled: some of the diecast weights had started to explode, jamming them inside the body and distorting the mouldings.

 

After carefully removing these weights and replacing some with old roofing lead, I finished the conversion, repainted and relettered it. The mechanism still runs quietly, smoothly, and with plenty of tractive effort. Here is 4508, with a suitable branch line passenger train:

 

Regards,

 

Rob

[locomad]

My lima crab has suffered the same problem twisted chassis, common problem on most Lima stock

[DCB]

We have a few Lima Prairies 4 out of use and replaced by Bachmann 1 scrapped and no sign of Mazak corrosion on any of them, They live in a heated shed and unheated loft.  Is it that they get damp which causes the issue?

[Il Grifone]

We have a few Lima Prairies 4 out of use and replaced by Bachmann 1 scrapped and no sign of Mazak corrosion on any of them, They live in a heated shed and unheated loft.  Is it that they get damp which causes the issue?

 

It is possible. The locomotive was kept in our conservatory/modelling zone, which gets chilly in the winter, although it's not damp. I think the effect is caused by impurities in the alloy, but accelerated by cold and damp. The model is thirty five years old at least. Since the expansion effect is only apparent in one of the weights, it does look like a batch problem. The spare weight I found was perfectly OK, but has been kept in the same place. Possibly, it came in a job lot of assorted bits, because I really don't know where it came from. It was just lying around on the bench.

[kevinlms]

It is possible. The locomotive was kept in our conservatory/modelling zone, which gets chilly in the winter, although it's not damp. I think the effect is caused by impurities in the alloy, but accelerated by cold and damp. The model is thirty five years old at least. Since the expansion effect is only apparent in one of the weights, it does look like a batch problem. The spare weight I found was perfectly OK, but has been kept in the same place. Possibly, it came in a job lot of assorted bits, because I really don't know where it came from. It was just lying around on the bench.

Lima diesels had the advantage, generally they just supplied a lump of steel, cut to length to suit the fuel tank of the particular model.

 

Whereas the steam locos, needed some cast alloy, due to the complex shape required.

[locomad]

I've listed the crab in that section where all makes and types of locos affected by mazak rot are listed

 

Recently I noticed the 2 cast metal weights in the tender had expanded enough to crack the plastic tender sides, the loco in question had been on the layout in a room in doors dry and quite cool ie normal room temperature over the summer. It was last used about April.

 

What shocked us is the speed in which it expanded, about 4 months, I've repaired the tender and thrown the weight, will get round to making some lead ones.

 

I suspect other locos to be affected so checking stock and as a precaution removeing weights to prevent further damage

 

I've checked the other Lima crab I have which did years ago suffer chassis rot