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Best way to dismantle a white metal kit that's been glued?


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6 hours ago, Wheatley said:

If it's been stuck with epoxy then Nitromors works. Discovered by accident, I hadn't intended to rebuild it ...

 

 

Agree, but also I like to dissolve 2 table spoons (stirring a bit in at a time) of caustic soda into about a pint of water and leave the model in over night. Make sure no aluminium (some wheel spokes) is involved, others do the same with foam oven cleaner leaving the model in a sealed plastic bag overnight. Have heard some even use Dettol !!! 

Edited by hayfield
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6 hours ago, Traintresta said:

I received a couple of white metal kits from eBay that have been glued and I would like to re-build at least one by soldering, what's the best way to get the glue off and strip it back to just the kit parts?

 

Can I say well worth the effort and very enjoyable. Do start a thread

 

What are the kits ?

Edited by hayfield
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11 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

Can I say well worth the effort and very enjoyable. Do start a thread

 

What are the kits ?

The one I wanted is a Fowler 2-6-2t but a rather nice MR 3F 0-6-0t also hapoened to be included. It'll fit in with what I'm doing son i might just keep it.  There are bits missing so I will need to get creative but hopefully I can get a nice pair of models out of them.

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On 13/06/2019 at 16:09, John-Miles said:

Epoxy loses its strength in hot water provided you leave it long enough.

65° C is the magic number - most epoxy and cyanoacrylate based glue bonds will begin to denature at that point, unless it's a specially formulated high temp one.

 

If you keep the temperatures this side of 70° and just use water any plastic parts ought to have a reasonable chance of surviving, whereas some of the more aggressive chemical strippers would hit those too.

 

If the thing has been painted it's not easy to know if all the parts are metal or not.

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On 13/06/2019 at 15:36, Wheatley said:

If it's been stuck with epoxy then Nitromors works. Discovered by accident, I hadn't intended to rebuild it ...

 

I discovered by accident that soaking for a day or two in meths also works. I only wanted to remove the paint...

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I've dismantled white metal kits glued with epoxy by putting them into an old metal saucepan, covering the parts with water and bringing close to the boil. After a bit give them a gentle tap with long wooden sticks of some kind - don't scald yourself - and the model should just fall apart. When dismantled the epoxy should just peel off the various bits, you can carefully clean up stubborn remains with a rough file.

 

John

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I seem to recall that heat will dissolve the 5 minute epoxies, but the proper stuff just sets harder. I have a bus kit that someone started and stuck together skew so this is something I have to do myself (eventually - on the 'to do' list!)'

 

The MR 3F sounds like the K's 'Bodyline' kit designed to fit the Dublo R1 chassis (it's that old!). Why they chose this, when Tri-ang's chassis was available and much easier to get hold of, I don't know. It is also nearer the correct wheelbase*, Mine is going to end up on a Hornby chassis (another of those 'to do' jobs!

 

* 7' 9" + 8'3" - 31mm + 33mm - why they made it 2mm short is another mystery, but rulers tended to be elastic back then.

I will grant the superiority of the Dublo chassis, but the wheelbase is unsuitable for anything (unless you are into H0 scale LNER models - it scales at about 7'3" + 9' 0").

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9 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

I seem to recall that heat will dissolve the 5 minute epoxies, but the proper stuff just sets harder. I have a bus kit that someone started and stuck together skew so this is something I have to do myself (eventually - on the 'to do' list!)'

 

The MR 3F sounds like the K's 'Bodyline' kit designed to fit the Dublo R1 chassis (it's that old!). Why they chose this, when Tri-ang's chassis was available and much easier to get hold of, I don't know. It is also nearer the correct wheelbase*, Mine is going to end up on a Hornby chassis (another of those 'to do' jobs!

 

* 7' 9" + 8'3" - 31mm + 33mm - why they made it 2mm short is another mystery, but rulers tended to be elastic back then.

I will grant the superiority of the Dublo chassis, but the wheelbase is unsuitable for anything (unless you are into H0 scale LNER models - it scales at about 7'3" + 9' 0").

Luckily for me I’m an LNER man! Albeit I’m not using any dublo chassis’s, I’ll make one from strip brass so it can be compensated and have a high level gearbox. 

 

Interesting stuff though. I don’t mind the odd compromise in a model so long as it looks the part, couple of mm’s seems acceptable to me. 

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11 hours ago, Il Grifone said:

I seem to recall that heat will dissolve the 5 minute epoxies, but the proper stuff just sets harder. I have a bus kit that someone started and stuck together skew so this is something I have to do myself (eventually - on the 'to do' list!)'

 

The MR 3F sounds like the K's 'Bodyline' kit designed to fit the Dublo R1 chassis (it's that old!). Why they chose this, when Tri-ang's chassis was available and much easier to get hold of, I don't know. It is also nearer the correct wheelbase*, Mine is going to end up on a Hornby chassis (another of those 'to do' jobs!

 

* 7' 9" + 8'3" - 31mm + 33mm - why they made it 2mm short is another mystery, but rulers tended to be elastic back then.

I will grant the superiority of the Dublo chassis, but the wheelbase is unsuitable for anything (unless you are into H0 scale LNER models - it scales at about 7'3" + 9' 0").

The H/D chassis runs much nicer out of the box than the Triang, it has adjustable end float on the armature, a single start worm around 30:1 against the Triang around 20:1, nice wheels which run happily on Farish Formoway and Liveway track as well as Peco Streamline and had the right couplings for serious modellers when people used Peco wagons with springing, H/D wagons etc etc.   The wheelbase is that of the pre war 0-6-2T which I believe came in a clockwork version so needed a big gap between middle and rear axles for spring clearance.

The H/D chassis is much happier on sharp curves than the Triang when both are fitted with Romfords.

The trouble is the whole Bodyline series 97XX, J50, MR  tank looks so wrong to my eyes with that weird wheelbase that either excessive work is needed to lengthen the body and chassis or it will just irritate every time it runs. 

The Triang Jinty  chassis coupling rods appear to be the  same spacing middle to rear as the Dublo so grinding off the detail and re drilling the front axle hole to suit Triang rods is an option.    I measured the Triang Rods as 32mm +33mm  I have done a few chassis like this,  If the new hole overlaps the existing then cutting out the area and inserting a brass block screwed or epoxyed to the chassis  with the axle hole is another ploy I have used,  I can usually drill one axle hole more or less in the right place and square but two or three is beyond me. 

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3 hours ago, DavidCBroad said:

The H/D chassis runs much nicer out of the box than the Triang, it has adjustable end float on the armature, a single start worm around 30:1 against the Triang around 20:1, nice wheels which run happily on Farish Formoway and Liveway track as well as Peco Streamline and had the right couplings for serious modellers when people used Peco wagons with springing, H/D wagons etc etc.   The wheelbase is that of the pre war 0-6-2T which I believe came in a clockwork version so needed a big gap between middle and rear axles for spring clearance.

The H/D chassis is much happier on sharp curves than the Triang when both are fitted with Romfords.

The trouble is the whole Bodyline series 97XX, J50, MR  tank looks so wrong to my eyes with that weird wheelbase that either excessive work is needed to lengthen the body and chassis or it will just irritate every time it runs. 

The Triang Jinty  chassis coupling rods appear to be the  same spacing middle to rear as the Dublo so grinding off the detail and re drilling the front axle hole to suit Triang rods is an option.    I measured the Triang Rods as 32mm +33mm  I have done a few chassis like this,  If the new hole overlaps the existing then cutting out the area and inserting a brass block screwed or epoxyed to the chassis  with the axle hole is another ploy I have used,  I can usually drill one axle hole more or less in the right place and square but two or three is beyond me. 

Sounds much easier to make your own. Could always use aftermarket coupling rods like the Gibson ones. 

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As with the Wills Kits (now SEF) the bodies are accurate dimensionally. Just be careful with the splashers and other obstructions as some were moved slightly to fit the awful RTR chassis that were available at the time.

 

Try Comet or High Level. They fit directly on to a Jinty chassis. Or try the Alan Gibson frames.

 

I've also got a 97XX which is going on one eventually. That was previously on a Mainline chassis. It fitted perfectly with a bit of fettling. Even bought a second one on eBay recently still in it's packaging.

 

Also getting rid of the crew figures is a good way of disguising it's origins.

 

 

Jason

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7 hours ago, Steamport Southport said:

 

Also getting rid of the crew figures is a good way of disguising it's origins.

 

 

Jason

 

Nah, just move them onto a different loco, to confuse the armchair modellers!

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