Stripping

Whilst I have a reasonable skill for mechanical restoration, my artistic skills when it comes to painting are a bit lacking to say the least. I was rubbish at art when I was at school and I've never really tried anything particularly artistic since then, apart from painting rooms around the house which I can just about manage without screwing it up.

So having read numerous internet forums, I was intrigued as to the many different methods of paint removal and decided to test one of them for myself.

Now there are two reasons for doing this - First of all I need more platforms, although Dublo did make platform extensions, they cost a bomb. If I could track down some shabby stations / platforms that are worse for wear or have been repainted then potentially I could strip them and repaint them myself (also avoids the issue of poor colour match between my different stations and platforms) I've picked up two more island stations, both for less than a tenner each and one without platform ramps - ideal for extending the existing stations, if I can make this work!

Secondly, I have now amassed quite a collection of spare bodies and ages ago I purchased a spare set of transfers for a 0-6-2 loco, so I decided to give it a go. I selected two bodies for repainting - a 0-6-2 and a 2-6-4 (which I later discovered had a buffer missing) nothing too elaborate for my first attempts, just standard black paintwork.

Priority at the moment is the platforms but as I needed to strip the paint it made sense to bung in the two loco bodies while I was at it. I opted to go for the oven cleaner method, using the sealed bag supplied with the cleaner.

This is the first station, bought without ramps and has been repainted along the edges, although the station building itself is in good condition so I drilled out the rivets underneath and removed the waiting room, also because it's the platform I'm really interested in...

Two island station platforms, both with the waiting rooms removed and two loco bodies, ready for stripping...

Frothy! - After only a few minutes in the oven shelf cleaning bag, this was the result...

The transfers literally fell straight off the loco, the paint wasn't far behind...

After a couple of hours I turned the loco bodies over to ensure they were fully soaked...

Still soaking but not much paint remaining...

The view after an overnight soak...

Platforms removed and rinsed thoroughly...

Loco bodies, after final rinsing...

All dried and ready for primer...

Really impressed with the speed and ease of this method. Now for a final rub down, primer and paint.

I wonder how well this stuff works on cleaning ovens.

Next project...

Both sourced from Ebay, the loco currently shows no signs of life whatsoever and the body is pretty poor...

With luck all it needs mechanically is a clean up, magnet and lube but I have enough spare parts to repair anything electrically that may be at fault, once it's running I'll fit this body...

The end result should look quite nice.

I didn't really need anymore 2-6-4 locos but this body caught my attention, it was a good price and has a good paint job.

I'll update further once it's finished.

Saved from the scrapheap

This is one of the three locos I picked up recently as part of a job-lot of Dublo items, all 3 of the locos are non-runners.

No body fixing screw, no rear pony, a very play-worn body, missing buffer, stuffed armature and a magnet with very little magnetic field strength left. Oh and the axles were pretty stiff too.

I own an 80054, it was my first repair project when I started out and, although it only cost me 13 quid, is still in way better condition than this one...

So did I scrap it?

Well, no... 

I did this instead...

Found the body on Ebay, it was listed as a repaint. most likely a Wrenn.

I had a spare armature in the spares box, once I'd cleaned and lubricated the axles I then found it would barely move due to the poor magnetic field (to the point of the armature smoking)

Another batch of neo magnets arrived, so with nothing really to lose I threw it straight into the back for a quick test, thinking that I'd already cooked the armature.

But to my surprise, off it went without complaint, so after a further dig around I found a replacement bogie & pony (even though they're from a later 2 rail chassis) a new body fixing screw and the transformation is complete.

I really like the end result. 

Better than scrapping it, not that I really needed any more 2-6-4 locos.