hdrider

I have a quick question regarding the above loco. Did they ever appear in blue with a single yellow warning panel or yellow front only? I have seen pictures of class 26 and 27's like this but I have only seen 33's with the yellow extending around the cab side windows and door. I'm respraying Lima 33's and would like to do the single warning panel but I don't know if this is historically correct or not.

I have an old Mainline J72 which had been in storage fort years and all the axle spacers were split at the ends so the wheels slipped out of sequence and jammed when I tried to run it. I flooded the hole in the spacers with thin super glue and then soaked away most of the excess with the point of a twisted peice of tissue. Once the super glue had gone off the wheels were a tight fit again and there was no wheel slippage. Fortunately, the split had not extended across the gear wheel. When I ran it again it still jammed even though the wheels were not slipping. The problem seemed to be that there is so much play in the wheels and tie rods that the lead wheel set can still get out of sequence. A liberal oiling seemed to cure this, and although a bit jerky at first, a good 15 minute run seemed to sort it out. I can't guarantee this will be a permanent fix, but superglue is a great gap filler and if you use the thin stuff it will easily find it's way into small splits.

I have a triang Hornby Flying Scotsman which was in storage for at least a couple of decades. When tried recently it ran, although not particularly fast, but was barely able to pull a couple of coaches. I cleaned it up a bit but there was little improvement so I fitted an N52 super neo magnet. It has done little to improve the running speed but the loco will now pull at least 6 Hornby dublo super detail coaches. I'm a little puzzled that it has not increased the speed at all but has definitely improved the pulling power. I remember that it ran pretty fast when I was a teenager. I also have a Wrenn A4 and an N2 which are in a worse state than the Scotsman. They don't have the power to move their own weight. I was considering fitting super neo magnets to these as well but given the experience of the Scotsman, I'm wondering if the improvement may not be sufficient to allow them to haul anything at a reasonable speed. I'm really looking for a cheap fix so I didn't want to get into the whole issue of remagnetizing. Any advice would be welcome.

Thank you Golden Fleece, sagaguy and ikks for the replies. The paintwork on the southern suburban car is a slightly different shade to that on the EMU but It's still bright and doesn't seem to be sun damaged. I think I'll just leave it be as I already had the coach apart once to clean the interior and I don't want to risk snapping the tags second time around. If the EMU was a 3 car set in the first place I assume that the centre coach would have been a better match. Some years back I turned a batch of super detail coaches into a 4 cep and encountered some of the issues you have described. The plastic roof rivets snapped so I carefully drilled them out and replaced with a short length of acrylic rod secured with a generous puddle of superglue. This seems to have worked well. Also when I reassembled the coaches I didn't bend the tabs back but have relied on the roof rivets and centre screw to hold them all together. This means that I can get them apart safely if I ever need to. ( I wish I had remembered to do this with the suburban car) The driving car bodies I relaced with brass etched versions. I did use a Debeer etch primer which I mixed and applied with an air brush followed by a cellulose topcoat. I didn't have much trouble with paint lifting except for a couple of places in the interior. It probably helps to abrade the surface slightly before application and to avoid masking as much as possible. Where I had to mask I de-tacked the tape by dragging it through my fingers repeatedly and I removed it as soon as possible which was within minutes because cellulose is very fast drying. Fingers crossed I haven't had any problems with paint chipping or lifting.

Apologies for reawakening a year old thread but I have a related question. I have a few super detail coaches I have picked up over the years. Some have grey roofs but some have grey/green roofs despite being in otherwise good condition. This is most noticeable on a southern suburban coach which contrasts a bit with the two coach EMU I run it with. Is this a result of exposure to sunlight or was the colour different in the first place? Is there anything that can be done other than trying to source a replacement roof? I have tied T-cut which cleans them up wonderfully but the colour remains the same.

Thankyou for the advice. I shall have to find a sewing machine shop.

Thank you for the advice Stewart. What kind of oil would you suggest? Alastair

I have a couple of the above which squeal and screech especially on corners and at speed. Is this just a matter of lubrication and, if so where should I oil them? (I'm a bit of a novice and don't want to make a horrible mess of them!)