Repairing a broken whitemetal loco footplate

[hayfield]

Just over a year ago I bought a broken Wills Finecast GWR Metro tank. It had been dropped (presumably on the front buffers) and the footplate had broken in half at the ends of the water tanks. Someone had tried to repair it but whatever they used failed to work. I looked at the worst case scenario, the Markit wheels cost £30+ and now Mashima motors certainly go for £25 to £35 each, second worst scenario a new pair of sides/footplate are £5 each. so I knew my £38 total costs were quite safe.

 

The plan always was to buy a new etched chassis as it had the older whitemetal version, probably 10 years ago I bought from Hobby craft some silicone moulding paste called Siligum. Last year I made a mould of the area where the brake is hoping (copying if off a second unbroken loco I have) it will hold the two parts together whilst I soldered them together. Well I tried with my Antex 25 watt iron and it failed to work

 

 

At the end of the year I bought a 75 watt soldering station. Had a bit of time tonight and tried it again, I dialed it down to 300 degrees as per recommendations from fellow members and it worked a treat

 

 

Well with a product sitting on the shelves I saved £10. Now it might not be worth buying a pack for one repair, but for kits now not available it does give a good option. I have also made molds for items I wanted to copy in resin

 

 

 

 

[Gordon A]

Why not contact Dave Ellis of South Eastern Finecast?

They have the Wills Finecast kits.

[Brassey]

Why not make a brass footplate.  even without the damage, I would do that on a white metal kit unless it had a wavy footplate and valance.

[hayfield]

10 hours ago, Gordon A said:

Why not contact Dave Ellis of South Eastern Finecast?

They have the Wills Finecast kits.

 

That was my second option, I had contacted Dave and received a parts list, as I said last year each side cost £5 each. I had this silicone moulding paste on the shelf probably out of date and after rewatching a thread where one contributor cut down a Wills/SEF bunker, then rejoining them by soldering I thought I would have another go with a better quality soldering iron. Certainly at the moment there are either 5 or 7 parts ( I will now recheck what I need) I require, plus a new etched chassis. Excluding the chassis I have just halved the cost of the parts required, most of all reuser a part which is now perfectly good. The silicone cradle supports the items in the correct plane at the correct length

 

As you say for low cost items its not worth the effort. However what about the kits that are no longer available ? There are two parts to this posting for consideration

 

Firstly using silicone moulding material on/for old parts that are no longer available, either from original parts or masters. I have noticed that there are several older kits which used this footplate/tank/cab one piece design and have similar week points. For footplates I have seen various thicknesses of thin wood strip made into a splint for the same purpose.

 

Secondly and what I failed to understand using a better quality tool (soldering iron in this instance) for the job in hand. Since I have owned this 75 watt temperature iron I have found its far better at soldering whitemetal than my old 25 watt Antex iron. I reduce the temperature to 300 degrees, but it has enough power reserves to deal with both smaller and larger pieces at the same time 

 

There is a third point in when building kits ensure that where other parts support these vulnerable areas they are securely bonded, in this case the bond between the 2 boiler parts failed, soldering would have been a better option

[hayfield]

2 hours ago, Brassey said:

Why not make a brass footplate.  even without the damage, I would do that on a white metal kit unless it had a wavy footplate and valance.

 

Good point, I have seen how one contributor made a footplate from brass sheet with a copperclad base under, I have also seen a base made the same way with 20 and 60 thou plasticard sheets

 

 

In this case I would have had to cut and file the footplate off the tank/cab/bunker sides, all it needed was 2 small solder joints, the issue was supporting the 2 parts during soldering. Had a repair not been tried before It may have been easier to repair a clean break.

 

Just an idea which may or may not be of use

[chris p bacon]

If you're really tight careful with your money.... you can make some moulding material from Bathroom sealer silicone, cornflour & a spot of vegetable oil. there are some tutorials on youtube.