I recently received my dad’s old Lionel from when he was a kid, one of his locos was a 210 Texas Special Alco FA. After servicing it, it ran well, a little too well, and flew off the layout at the first curve (I really ought to do something to prevent that, its the second loco to do so), and the oh-so fragile pilot apron broke. I was wondering what kind of glue I should use to re-attach it, and I would like it to be unnoticeable (no glue globs, or sanding paint and repainting). Searcing the internet I only saw how to replace a missing apron, not fix one I still have, so I hope someone here can help.
Weld-On #16, thickened. It will even glue LGB stuff together.
Wait foR it…the ex-spurts who have never glued an apron back together to be presentable to tell you what works best.
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I had to do pretty much this exact same operation on one of my B&M 217 ALCos. In my case, I used what was handy- super glue. I carefully applied just enough to make the joint, and tried to avoid that undesirable result of getting excess glue where I didn’t want it. The repair will break far easier than the solid, continuous piece of plastic it once was, but it did work and I’m okay with my results.
For a stronger solution, I would epoxy some reinforcement material onto the inside of the pilot where it will be largely unseen, but provide extra strength.
I have no reason to doubt Curmudgeon’s advice is sound, and it’s probably better than super glue (aka CA).
-El
TAP Plastics. The old type we used as kids. Smells nice and STRONG!.
Wasn’t you I was referring to,!.
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How well would modeling glue or plastic cement work? I have some on hand already, but I don’t want to use it if it is harmful to the type of plastic Lionel used for the shell.
Doesn’t develop the bond strength for that type of repair. Trust people who have done this specific type of repair before.
You can test a very small dab of glue on the inside of the shell somewhere and see how it affects the plastic, if you want to go that route.
-El
Don’t know if they are still available, but years back sheetmetal reinforcement pieces were on the market that could be used to back up such a repair. They surrounded the coupler “window,” and had a thin tab that slipped into the slot above with the tab on the frame.
I used a combination: ACC on the plastic-to-metal contact area and good ol’ Testors on the plastic-to-plastic. Been a lotta years with he repair still in place. I even cut the entire repair off the original shell and attached in similar fashion to another shell altogether. Just one datum: the plural of anecdote is not data.
Palallin, that metal part was developed in the postwar era. It is part number 204-78, described as a “nose support” in the service manual. They can also be installed to help protect an undamaged pilot from breakage.
-El
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Thanks for that wisdom, El!
Here’s an Alco broken shell restoration video all may find interesting.
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If there’s no material missing, use a plastic welder, not glue. You assemble and clamp the parts, and then touch the backside of the repair with a wet brush from the bottle and capillary action takes the welding solvent through the mated surfaces actually melting a thin film between them and drying fast leaving a plastic weld. I have used this and other brands(Tenax-7R was the original):
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