hi group. another dumb question. had a Proto2000 GP7 [recent issue] on static display for a time. unknown to me, something leaned or fell on the front side rail. found a little bent out of shape. is there a way of straightening this to original shape? not sure of type of plastic Proto used. thanks for any tips. regards, michael.
They tend to be somewhat fragile, if gently coaxing back to shape won’t work, you could carefully try to remove the rail. (I have broken a few pins doing this- but is doable) A dull #11 blade helps when used as a “mini- flatbar” to pry. Set the rail in a small tray of very hot water and occasionally work the kink out until straight. Hint: when reinstalling rail, it sometimes helps to ream out the locating hole on some of the stubborn ones (#76 bit I believe) . Don’t force or the pin will mash, mushroom or knock to the side. Some early Proto stuff used to heat mash the pin inside the shell, some portion of the rail pins may have this done also.
If you don’t want to try removal you might try removing the shell and allowing that portion of rail to sit in the hot water. I never had any luck w/ a heat gun, so I wouldn’t go that route, Good luck
One method that works for me was to remove the handrail,lay it on a flat surface then laid one or two old Athearn weights on it to straighten it back out.I have also used heavier objects if the warp was severe.
As far as I can tell Walthers uses the same slippery plastic Life Like did when LL produced the P2K line of locomotives.