03-27-2018, 10:37 PM
doctorwayne Wrote:If the parts are metal, lacquer thinner will work, but I'd suggest not submerging the drivers in it: most brass locomotives
I wish!
doctorwayne Wrote:have wheels on one side insulated with paper between the wheel and the tire, and the lacquer thinner may destroy it if submerged. I'd suggest paint some thinner on with a suitable (non-synthetic) brush, let it "work" for a few minutes, then wipe with a rag and repeat as necessary.
If the paint is especially thick, you may be able to scrape it off the wheel rims at least, using an X-Acto #17 or #18 chisel-type blade: keep the blade perpendicular to the work, and with the non-tapered side of the blade leading.
Wayne
Just an old Rivarossi, not brass. The drivers may be plastic with metal treads, so I will be careful. A little scraping cleaned up the treads some. I'll try lacquer thinner this coming weekend. I'll have to pick some up from Menard's.
In other news, one of my friends had a set of Cal-scale tender trucks , so I bought them. Unlike my other set, with brass wheelsets, these have the more standard Bowser wheelsets, and they don't pick up very well, either:
Maybe I just need to couple it behind a train and run it around the layout to break them in a bit...
I worked on my old K4 kit, too. The boiler must be lead, it's so heavy, so I've been careful to wash my hands after sanding and filing:
The frame seemed out of square, so I had to do a little soldering:
It seems to have bind, but I don't think it's the rods. I suspect one of the drivers is a bit out of quarter. Short of the NWSL quarterer, is there a way to check, other than by eyeball?