repairs and such

I've bought a few bits of rolling stock that I wanted, but they had minor damage to them, mainly the buffers missing or broken in half. I thought I'd give them a go, and repair them, as best I could. It was easier than I expected, but it took a while to imagine up some donor plastic, that was close to the thickness of the buffers, and good enough to be attached to the broken buffer to be shaped accordingly.

So here goes, a step by step process of repairing a broken buffer.






The offending buffer on a VIX wagon and a nasty diagonal break






These will be the donor plastic pieces that will eventually be the missing part of the buffer. They are bread bag tags, you know, the ones that keep the bread bag twisted and sealed.






I used a single paper hole punch to make some pieces close to the size I want to use. You should get 6 or 7 pieces out of one tag if your careful.






Because the pieces "curled" out of the hole punch I had to straighten them with a pair of pliers - put them in a "clear" flat patch, as shown, not in the ribbed part, or they will come out ribbed! I used a small light weight hammer to assist in flatting them out, hitting the top of the clamped pliers.






This is the ugly diagonal break. 






I filed it straight so I could attach the donor plastic easier


 


I made a straight edge with my cutters (everyone should have a pair of these) and superglued the donor plastic to the buffer.






Once the superglue was set, I chipped away at the donor into a rough shape that I wanted.






After a bit of filing it was taking shape!


 ready for painting ………







and viola! The finished product! I reckon it went rather well, and I've done this repair on some of my other wagons, using the same technique. 


I hope this will help anyone wanting to do small repairs too. 


Once you sit down and have a think you CAN do it! 

And at a normal viewing distance, one would never know !
Good Job.

Great job, and a great "How to" too!
Michael

Yes, a good job done there.

It's amazing what can be brought back from the dead with a little inginuity and patience.  :thumbs

Thanks chaps! That's what us Kiwi's are known for - "inginuity and patience". When you're stuck on an Island at the edge of the world you need to have some inginuity, oh  and No8 wire!