Soldering white metal

[Jol Wilkinson]

Mike

 

I buy cheap whitemetal kits to rebuild, they get dunked in caustic soda which not only removes the paint but has a good go at glue as well. After they get a good wash and I give them a good burnish with a wire brush in a mini drill.

 

I am just rebuilding a Wills E2 which went through this process. I used an Antex 25 watt iron, London Road Models Phosflux 12 (12% solution) which works (plenty of it) better than their Phosflux 6 which was sold to me as a whitemetal flux and Carrs No 70 solder

 

I cannot better the advice given about soldering, only to report the items that worked on a kit which had been stripped of paint. Good luck

 

LRM recommend 6% Phosflux for whitemetal as a stronger concentration - such as 12% - will leach out the impurities in the w/m and cause a blackening effect. However 12% is more active flux and is therefore more effective. Usually I just dilute some 12% with some pure water (out of the dehumidifier).

 

The Carr's range has a much wider variety of different "strengths" for different purposes. I now use the Carr's 100 deg. solder, as that doesn't require per-tinning of N/S or brass when adding whitemetal detail.

 

Jol