smiths park Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 A few years ago at the Newcastle show someone was demostrating the use of chassis for his O gauge locos using plastic sheet for the chassis, using metal hornblocks and bearings as usual. Does anyone know how well these worked and their long term stability. Has anybody else dabbled with this method. I'm thinking of giving it go. I'm useless with metal, and quite useful with plastic and glue. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Prism Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Plasticard tends to go brittle with age, and butt joints, e.g. frames to spacers, might crack under strain unless fortified with L-section plastic etc. Over long lengths, there will be a temperature expansion difference between plastic frames and metal rods. I think plastic frames is workable in the short term (and good for diesels etc), but I wouldn't expect any longterm integrity. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hayfield Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Just a thought, a ridget plastic like perspex might work better than a softer type like styreen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pebbles Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Back in the early sixties there was an article of a plasticard Q1 built with a paxolin chassis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxinghobby Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I think it was this website somewhere where someone shewed some old 7mm models with plasticard chassis, they had not disintegrated, they had been glued together with super glue. I've seen successful all cardboard 7mm models running, just the bearings where metal. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Clive Mortimore Posted March 21, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 21, 2013 Plasticard tends to go brittle with age, and butt joints, e.g. frames to spacers, might crack under strain unless fortified with L-section plastic etc. Over long lengths, there will be a temperature expansion difference between plastic frames and metal rods. I think plastic frames is workable in the short term (and good for diesels etc), but I wouldn't expect any longterm integrity. Hi Miss Prism Everyone keeps telling me that plasticard goes brittle with age. No seeems to have told my 30 year old plasticard Baby Deltic it should have gone brittle. It is the second one in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin parks Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Gosh! I didn't think that plasticard has a shelf-life. I do wonder if it depends on the quality. David Jenkinson always used Slater's Plastikard and I have not heard any tales of his models fracturing as yet. His book on carriage construction (forgive me, I know this topic is really dealing with loco-building) was written twenty years after he had made his first 0 guage masterpieces. I do agree that plastic and metal have a potential problem with diferential expansion, so there could be parts of the construction that are best not made of mixed media. Come to think of it, how long do resin parts last? Dare we even think what might happen to rapid-printed components in the future?! Colin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Traxson Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Plastic sheet tends to go brittle on exposure to light but we usually paint our models, pretty much nullifying this effect. Hence the thirty year old Baby Deltic and this and other wagons on this site of a similar age. 100_0339 by Phil Traxson, on Flickr Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted March 22, 2013 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 22, 2013 I built a plasticard chassis for a Knightwing derived critter ten, maybe more, years ago. I used brass bushes for the axle bearings otherwise it was an all plastic job. Worked well until it suffered from gear meshing issues which were to do with my poor attention to detail vis a vis strapping the motor firmly in place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurenceb Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Does anyone know what happened to Malcom Carlsons 0 scale locos? His early ones had plastic frames. An other reason plastic might degrade is lubricant migration. Laurence Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Plasticard tends to go brittle with ageIt's a plastic thing in general - exposure to UV light is a cause of brittleness. That's why windows are uPVC rather than plain PVC - all to do with combatting the effects of this. Painted plastikard shouldn't suffer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham456 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 This is not overly revalant to O gauge but back in 1978 to 80 I built several airfix kits. using the plastic chassis of the kit, just bushing the chassis with top hat bearings, all of them are still active forty years on .Even the one pug that used the kits plastic coupling, connecting cross heads and slidebars has had need of replacements , plastic isn't to bad you know after all that's what most of the RTR stuff is made of I think the biggest problem in 0 gauge will be that the frames will have to be very thick to reduce flexing or have a excess of cross bearers to stiffen them up to take the weight of a O gauge loco that can pull anything Can you buy just the mainframes of the loco you want or something with the right wheelbase from a kit supplier? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham456 Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 OOOOPS ! sorry there's a NO missing from that post , it should read ( has NO need of replacements ) its still on the originals! Rats ! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smiths park Posted March 22, 2013 Author Share Posted March 22, 2013 My fault I didn't say what scale I was working in, but I dabble in OO and HO. I enjoy making as much as I can, no rtr and very few kits. But as much as I've tried I am useless at metal work (I'm not much better at woodwork) but in plastic card I can make things I'm happy with but nothing I'd share on here. I've a few spare wheels and motor's etc I've picked up over the years, just needed some pointers and some general advice to avoid some pitfalls. Thanks so far gentlemen, it's given me some encouragement to have a go. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
relaxinghobby Posted March 22, 2013 Share Posted March 22, 2013 Go on let's see them. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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