Slaters wagon woes

[mopar]

Evening all,

 

I've been slowly building a collection of opens and vans, comprising examples from Peco, Parkside, JLTRT and Slaters.

I'm on my second Slaters, a standard van, having completed a shock wagon.

 

I'm finding it impossible to complete the brake gear guides, on the open I ended up with 3 of the 4 broken and managed to hide the damage on the inside of the brake gear.

 

Broke another one this evening

 

To be honest I'm not too impressed with the way they are moulded on the sprue, plus the plastic seems very brittle.

I'm a signwriter by trade so do have a deft touch, it just seems that the parts in question defy all attempts to either be removed

from the sprue in one piece or be cleaned/fettled without breaking.

 

Is it just me or have any of you chaps had problems?

I should add I'm not bashing Slaters kits here, it's just these little parts are a nightmare.

 

Pictured are the bits in question....

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Gene.

[3 link]

Hi,

 

I think Slaters are doing their best to try and keep most parts to a scale size, if you look at the brake detail on the Parkside kits they tend to be a bit more " chunky ". Personally what a lot of us chaps do is to replace those brake safety straps with some pieces of scrap brass fret , easy to make and a lot less brittle.

 

Hope this is of some help.

 

Martyn.

[LooseHead]

Gene,

 

I agree with Martyn that substituting brass scrap for the safety loops is a good, possibly the best, idea; but if you want to stick (sic) with the plastic there are a number of ways you can try to strengthen it before cutting, starting with a thin overall brushing of liquid cement, or a couple of coats of 'Klear' (whatever it's called in the UK this week)*. Either way leave the coating to dry thoroughly and if you don't think it has been effective enough don't hesitate to do it again.

 

You've obviously discovered that it is then important to cut the part from the sprue very carefully, either with sprue cutters or a razor saw. But you could also try cutting through the sprue itself in a couple of places, which relieves any strain on the part before you attack the actual attachment points. That won't be easy the way Slaters have laid out the underframe bits, but it's a trick I've found useful in other situations. For 'fettling' , make sure you use only a new or next-to-new scapel blade and don't feel obliged to overdo it - remember where these things lived, they spent their lives collecting gung and track-dirt, so after a few weeks in traffic their outlines were inevitably softened or 'fuzzed'.

 

Best of luck and don't give up on adding the details - they're the difference between a good and an 'average' model.

 

David

 

*Other acrylic varnishes are no doubt available. It's only us (occasional) aero modellers who seem addicted to the Klear stuff

[Poggy1165]

Oddly enough I've never had any problem with these items, despite building many Slaters kits over the years. The main fault is they are overscale (though personally I don't think they are that bad) and fussy people replace them with etched parts or with bits of etch.

 

Another option is simply to stick the bits back together with some thing like Plasticweld, which has a lot more 'grip' than ordinary Mek Pak. It's amazing what you can repair with this stuff and a bit of care.

[alant]

I have previously built a few Slater's and Parkside kits and I have a couple of Slater's van kits in the "to do" cupboard which I bought a few years back. I have put off building them for some time as there is a huge amount of flash around the brake parts photographed and can only just about make out the actual part.

[David Siddall]

Have no fear Mopar, you're not the first and certainly won't be the last to face this challenge.

 

 

The Slaters van in the photo was my second attempt at a kit in 7-mil. As you'll see, I replaced the brake retaining thingies with rather more robust examples crudely fashioned lovingly crafted from brass strip. I also made new wotsits to run between the axleboxes and reinforced them with brass strip too!

 

My first kit was a Peco mineral and I've subsequently built wagons by JLTRT and Parkside. I went back to Slaters for a BR Brakevan and have two more of their kits in line to build. Some aspects of Slaters kits may be a bit of a fiddle and their instructions assume quite a lot of prototype knowledge (not a patch on either Peco (nee Websters) or JLTRT in that respect) but they do offer plenty of choice if your preferred medium for wagon building is plastic ;-)

 

David

[2ManySpams]

Yup, been there as well - spent ages cutting them out and cleaning off the flash. Only broke one but fixed it with a touch of solvent. I think i'll be using scrap brass too next time! 

 

I'd certainly agree that the moldings could be a lot cleaner...

 

 

Hard to believe that the two items on the left come out of the mess on the right!

[mopar]

Thanks for the replies/encouragement everyone.

 

Glad it isn't just me!

 

Cheers,

Gene

[Kev_Lewis]

Most of the Slaters 7mm wagon range have been around for quite a few years now. So I suspect the moulds are getting worn by now, hence the excessive flash on the mouldings.

 

As already mentioned above it's a simple job to replace them with brass strip. All part of the fun that is O gauge modelling.

[81A Oldoak]

Yes, keep at it. It is often quicker to replace the straps with replacements from brass rather than trying to clean up the plastic mouldings. My first foray into 0 gauge was a Slater's 7 plank open wagon, followed by a couple of yards of track, then a Parkside van and eventually an ABS Peckett to move them around. I suspect this is a familiar story. Times have moved on somewhat and while I have still to build an actual layout in 0 (my 00 Cambrian Abersoch layout is well known), I have built quite a few locos, wagons, coaches, buildings, signals and points as well as starting up Ixion with my chums Lindsay O'Reilly and Phil Badger in Australia.  Model railways are fun and have been ever since I received that Triang-Honrby Car-a-Belle train set for Christmas in 1964.

[alant]

Yes, keep at it. It is often quicker to replace the straps with replacements from brass rather than trying to clean up the plastic mouldings. My first foray into 0 gauge was a Slater's 7 plank open wagon, followed by a couple of yards of track, then a Parkside van and eventually an ABS Peckett to move them around. I suspect this is a familiar story. Times have moved on somewhat and while I have still to build an actual layout in 0 (my 00 Cambrian Abersoch layout is well known), I have built quite a few locos, wagons, coaches, buildings, signals and points as well as starting up Ixion with my chums Lindsay O'Reilly and Phil Badger in Australia.  Model railways are fun and have been ever since I received that Triang-Honrby Car-a-Belle train set for Christmas in 1964.

Hi Chris,

 

Yes, as you say a familiar story starting in 0 Gauge with a Slaters wagon kit and a yard of track! I have at least finally just about completed a layout now though after a few false starts.

 

I also remember reading one or two articles by yourself in the Railway Modeller going back over the years.

 

Alan.