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New Beginnings in 0 Gauge - Hornby Tinplate!


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Here is my card mock-up - once more at an angle, as this is the only way I can fit in the buffer stop and the small coal wagon. I am restoring a short piece of  Hornby two-rail  track at present, so will see how that goes! The section of goods shed and platform, with a triangle of embankment at the back will be fixed. All the other pieces in the diorama, Dinky Toy lorry, coal wagon, buffer stop, coal staithe and various figures will be placed, as in a Toy layout. Another ‘busy’ scene! Now I have to go and experiment with creating Hornby 0 Gauge style textures, for the backscene, goods shed and platform in Adobe ‘Illustrator’! 

 

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Edited by Marly51
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From a very cheap job lot of rusty Hornby 0 gauge track, I decided to use a particularly twisted small curve to create the track for the model. I came across a a suggestion online to use white vinegar to clean the track, so gave it a go. After soaking for 24 hours, rinsing and drying, the rails appear to be a matt grey colour and the black paint on the sleepers just fell away! I managed to prise off the sleepers, and straighten the track enough for my purpose, with the aid of my husband’s bench vice and some wrestling with pliers. The sleepers have a camber, so I will have to compensate for this, raising the base either side of the track and a couple of shallow wedges under each sleeper. I will prime the sleepers and spray with black gloss so they look like they might have just come ‘out of the box’.

 

 

 

 

Edited by Marly51
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The other good, better I think, rust cure is a 50/50 black treacle and water mix.

 

Whereas vinegar is an acid, the treacle-mix 'sucks' the rust particles out of the metal by a process called chelation. It causes no "collateral damage", which acids sometimes can.

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2 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

The other good, better I think, rust cure is a 50/50 black treacle and water mix.

 

Whereas vinegar is an acid, the treacle-mix 'sucks' the rust particles out of the metal by a process called chelation. It causes no "collateral damage", which acids sometimes can.

 

Thanks Nearholmer! Will try that with the other track pieces which are pretty intact, plus there is a ‘point’ where the connecting rod has snapped. I quite enjoy the challenge of these tinkering jobs! 

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On 31/05/2019 at 08:58, Northroader said:

Does it work using golden syrup?

 

It probably would do, as I believe it is the sugar that does the work.

Following some research on the Web I cosmetically cleaned (not the bearings!) and old watchmakers lathe by layering on a thick sugar solution,

This was left for a day or so and washed of, by which stage most of the cosmetic rust had gone.

 

 

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I feel as series of trials coming on, involving several jam jars containing different solutions.

 

My understanding is that molasses/treacle works best because it is chemically ‘hungrier’ for the metal ions in the rust than are other sugars, but that might be wrong.

 

On Marmite: apparently Aussies use Vegimite as a rust remover!

 

A whole world of food-based rust-removers to be investigated.

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On 01/06/2019 at 11:23, Nearholmer said:

I feel as series of trials coming on, involving several jam jars containing different solutions.

 

My understanding is that molasses/treacle works best because it is chemically ‘hungrier’ for the metal ions in the rust than are other sugars, but that might be wrong.

 

On Marmite: apparently Aussies use Vegimite as a rust remover!

 

A whole world of food-based rust-removers to be investigated.

 

The contents of my larder are now in danger of disappearing into the workshop! It’s like discovering an old household almanac!

 

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I've learned a lot about kitchen goods suitable for cleaning Hornby track and while it is fun to restore things, it would have been easier to get a length of straight track that was in a similar condition to the other components.:dontknow:

    Brian.

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2 hours ago, brianusa said:

I've learned a lot about kitchen goods suitable for cleaning Hornby track and while it is fun to restore things, it would have been easier to get a length of straight track that was in a similar condition to the other components.:dontknow:

    Brian.

 

Hi Brian, I didn’t want to use any of the straight track, in case I could use it for an actual 0 gauge clockwork layout at sometime in  the future! For the small length of track needed for the cakebox, the damaged curve was fine, although it involved a bit of extra work! The track is in fact now finished, the baseboard cut to size, so assembly starting this weekend!

 

Marlyn

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Started cleaning some of the flash off these Slater’s ‘Huminiature’ figures last night. They will have bases, to emulate the Dinky Toys figures which were produced as accessories for the Hornby 0 Gauge clockwork train sets. Slater’s didn’t have 7mm coal sacks so I am using the potato sacks, which come as a two part kit, instead.

 

I was first introduced to Slater’s Plastikard back in the early 1970s when all my fellow students were using card and balsa for their architectural models. Back then, it was Vivien Thompson who inspired me as a female modeller and I still have her book.  When I was searching online for suitable simple and cheap figures for this model, I came across Phil’s Workbench feature on remodelling a Slater’s ‘Huminiature’ figure. I would love to have had some of the original Dinky Toys figures, but not keen on spending too much on these collectibles at this point! 

 

https://philsworkbench.blogspot.com/2017/08/oh-huminiatures.html

 

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The mass-produced old lead figures actually aren’t pricey, provided that you buy worn ones, and steer clear of rarities. Another source is good reproductions, but they are easiest to get at meetings, rather than on-line.

 

People is an area that I need to put more work into on my layout -it’s very sparsely populated currently!

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3 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

The mass-produced old lead figures actually aren’t pricey, provided that you buy worn ones, and steer clear of rarities. Another source is good reproductions, but they are easiest to get at meetings, rather than on-line.

 

People is an area that I need to put more work into on my layout -it’s very sparsely populated currently!

 

Thanks for the extra information about the figures and single-link couplings, Nearholmer. I have ordered two unpainted white metal ‘Hornby’ figures which were described as ‘spares’. They’ve not arrived yet, but were very cheap, so I shall see? 

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