I have 7 Athearn passenger cars that I bought the appropriate ‘‘American Limited’’ diaphrams for.
So far, I’ve destroyed 1 pair- luckily, I heard they could be a pain and I’d bought an extra pair ‘‘just in case’’ –They’re winning. They appear similar to what Walthers used to offer, in respect to the folded paper portion.
Any tips or ideas?
Hi!
There was a recent posting/thread on this and I suggest you look it up.
I’ve built dozens of these and have been there, done that. Three suggestions:
Get a piece of tinfoil upon which to do the construction. The pieces are less prone to stick, and are easier to get up if they do. I do use ACC and it seems to do a much better job.
Build several at a time, mass production style. That is, apply the same part to each, before moving on to the next construction sequence.
Most important, take your time, especially between construction sequences. If you are using ACC this wait time can be fairly short (15 min), but if you are using plastic cement, it could take hours.
Ohh, I’ve found that painting them after construction works best for me.
I have them on all my passenger cars, I have built dozens and dozens of them. All the above advice is good. My only comment is about using ACC. Personally I hate it, and use if for very few things.
For these diaphragms I use liquid plastic cement and a VERY small paint brush. It dries almost instantly. I simply lay the bellows on the striker, and brush the cement onto the joint while holding them down.
The approach for most plastic parts should be to assemble then glue with liquid cement, not to try to apply glue than assemble.
Just my thoughts,
Sheldon
If you are talking about N scale diaphragms, I have built and installed many sets with no breaking, just a lot of time to make the darn things. I’ve got them on some passenger cars but mostly diesel locos. They make the loco look more prototypical.
I like the diea of assembly line production, too. Use a visor and tweezers to help construction. Go slow and be prepared to chase parts.
-Paul