The tender steps have fallen off my Heritage 0-6-0. Being older and hamfisted as well, I wonder if there is a good way to replace them. I was considering ACC over regular plastic glue. But my main concern is how to place the steps in the right place. Can I put ACC on the step rails and then to the tender? My ACC is hot stuff and has the consistancy of water.
Have you any tips for me?
You should be able to re-attach the steps using the Hot Stuff.
Here’s a method that I use to attach parts back in place.
Spread a little drop of glue onto a piece of glass, foil, or something that the glue will not soak into. Using a needle, pin , or toothpick, pick up some glue on the end, and then place the glue onto the part. Repeat if not enough glue gets on the part to cover the edge you need to glue.
Place the part back into it’s proper location and hold in place until the glue sets. I find that placing the part back in place using tweezers works for me. Also use a light touch with the tweezers or you’ll find the part shooting across the room, falling into a place where you’ll never find it again!
Can you find something to clamp the steps back in place? Alligator clips from Radio Shack, spring clothes pins, paper clips, spring tweezers, hemostats, anything.
Once clamped, a thin watery adhesive will suck into the joint by capillary action. If the parts are plastic, I’d use a plastic welder cement. Otherwise I’d use superglue. You can apply just the right amount of either by dipping the eye of a sewing needle into a drop of adhesive and then touching the needle to the work.
Yes, if you’re using the thin CA, then it’s best to clamp and apply a small amount to the interface between materials.
Sometimes the thick, gel-type CA glues work better, because it’s more forgiving of positioning errors and don’t set so fast.
If it’s where it’ll be hidden and you’ve got it where you want it, then a shot of CA kicker will set things up quickly with either thin or gel CA.
Bruce, if you have an Optivisor, use it. If not, get one.
I resisted the purchase of an Optivisor for years. Once I finally purchased one, I simply could not do without it.
Using the Optivisor will greatly assist you in applying just the right amount of glue and in the just the right places. It will also help a lot to place the step back in exactly the right place.
Rich
Easy question, easy answer:
Look at photos of the prototype to determine where to place the part. Then simply eye it.
Whenever parts have fallen off, I’ve had great luck with testors model master glue (The one in the black triangular bottle with a metal applicator tip)
I’ve also had luck with Testors clear liquid cement in the glass bottle. This glue is great for holding things like grab irons, because the glue placement isn’t as picky as it spreads out. And it really doesn’t leave visible marks if used conservatively. Just brush it overtop. The only downside is it isn’t as strong and it is still a solvent glue. So if you use too much, it will eat paint!
This post at first may not seem important, but after I’ve aged–I understand it a lot. I used to be unable to relate to the difficulty my Dad had in dealing with small parts, etc. Now I’m like my Dad, with failing vision, shaky hands, arthritis, etc.
I have found a few things have helped me in general.
Get good light over the work place
Get a quality not cheap(I tried the cheap ones) magnifying visor with light and a changeable magnifying levels.
Get a few good tweezers of various sizes with various teeth sizes, some with no teeth. Some lockable, some not. Forceps are also helpful for a variety of projects.
Get a few good clamps, some spring loaded, some with threaded clamps
Work over an area that is clean and with some walls around it to find the parts if/when they are dropped or pop out of the tweezers.
I have found using the table or clamp as a form of steady rest for my hand helps with the shaking.
Practice using the above and other tools you will find with a variety of techniques.
Richard
As some have suggested, a solvent-type cement is the best choice for plastic - it literally welds the parts together and offers much greater strength than ca. If the parts are of a type of plastic which doesn’t respond to solvent cement, I drill-out the attachment points on both pieces, then insert short lengths of music wire into the holes in one piece, securing them with ca. Once the cement has set, the detached piece is mounted onto the protruding pins and a minute amount of ca applied to the joint.
As noted, good lighting and any necessary vision aids should be included in your selection of tools.
Wayne
If you wear prescription glasses, have a pair made with a very short focal length, say 6 inches (15 cm).
I do N-scale. It would be impossible without an Optivisor. I had two and “loaned” one to my wife, who is a doctor. Goodbye, Optivisor! She won’t part with it.
Max in New Zealand.