hogger

I second the isopropyl alcohol method. I am in Canada and go to Costco and buy the alcohol in a box of six bottles. Very inexpensive. I use a food container with a lid that has a rubber seal. The container is 12 inch high to accommodate long locos. The paint generally comes off in 24 hours or less. The only models it does not work with are Kato diesels. I don't know what type of paint is used, but it is tough to remove. The best job was a Spectrum SD45 which began to peel in one hour. After a 24 hour soak, or less, I scrub the shell or body with a stiff toothbrush and if necessary put the shell back in the alcohol for one more day and then repeat the scrubbing. This gets all the paint off. The clear plastic windows may or may not fall of as may other detail parts. Then, I pour the alcohol through a hand held sieve into a funnel and back into the alcohol bottle. When done, all you have in the sieve are the paint scrap pieces and any loose detail parts. Separate these and then rinse the sieve, and presto your done. The only British model I have done so far is a Lima Class 37, which worked like a charm.

Thanks for the reply. In one of Kent's books he indicates this was an issue with the Dapol 35 ton tank wagon. I wondered if it was the same for the Dogfish/Catfish solebars. Time to press on! Ian

Hello, I am working on some Dogfish and Catfish ballast wagons from Cambrian. I find the detail on the Cambrian kits is comparable to the North American freightcars I usually build. Where there is an issue is the mating surfaces of the parts to be glued together, for example the headstocks and solebars. I used Plastruct Plastic Weld with the first Catfish, having to hold the solebars and headstocks for quite awhile before the glue held the parts together. I left the underframe overnight to set on a flat surface. The next day I noticed that one end of the wagon was on a slant resulting in one W iron being of the flat surface. I am not sure what happened here, so I chalked it up to personal error and disassembled the underframe. Next, after thinking what to do, I did a Dogfish underframe, which is the same as the Catfish (although it should have 8 leaf springs). This time I added pieces of ESM strip at the end of the two solebars and the two headstocks adding more surface area when gluing the underframe together. This also gives a bigger area for the two end platforms to sit on. I also cut very small pieces of ESM to go under the frame cross piece at the opposite end of the platform. I also used Plastruct Bondene which is used to bond ABS to ABS, or Styrene to Styrene. This cement works very quickly so I had to make sure everything was aligned properly before gluing. I placed the frame on my flat surface and paid extra attention to the four W irons being in contact with the flat surface. Next day, tada, lovely job. Until I noticed a 1mm bulge in the middle of the assembled frame. Also one headstock was on an angle. After pondering this bother, the only idea I had was one of the solebars was longer than the other. Each measured 88mm or 88.5mm in length. Any suggestions before I do another attempt? Ian

Thanks for all the replies. I will follow up on all the suggestions. Ian

I need some advice regarding the Dapol 35 ton tank wagon. I am following Geoff Kent's build in his 4mm Wagon book. I want to start building by doing a Class B tanker to become familiar with the kit. So, is there a source for Timken bearings in OO scale? The molding on the kit is "meh". Second, the Class B uses Dowty buffers. Dart's 2314S is not available, so I looked at 2353 BR 1 foot 8 1/2 inch Dowty buffers, the idea to cut off the buffer and add Dart 2376 16" heads. Suggestions? As for the Oleo buffers, Kent's kitbash seems okay, but I looked at Accurail Oleo 13" buffers with the idea of cutting off these heads and replacing them with Dart 16" heads as the Accurale 16" Oleo buffers are out of stock. I prefer to order parts from manufacturers as their shipping charges are reasonable, and I live in Canada. On Ebay, a pack of buffers is 4 pounds and the shipping is 40 pounds. And, lastly, can someone point me to a source for a sheet of 35 ton tank wagon decals? Thanks in advance. Ian