A while back I remember Bruce talking about turning a white metal casting in to a puddle.
So, I’d like to duplicate a horn like the vertical one on the EBT’s M-1. It hangs vertical on the cab of the engine and the wide mouth of the trumpet is turned outward or forward.
So how do I make that happen without having to recast and starting from scratch. Any ideas? Just need the trumpet mouth turned 90 degrees from the trumpet body and mounting brackets.
Instead of bending white metal I cut, re-positioned and built up the void with gel CA. I used a thin steel dentist pick to place the CA and another one to transfer droplets of Accelerator. Sculpt and set, repeat as needed.
Paint made it all the same. I did this many times changing people poses.
John
White metal is extremely brittle. Every time I’ve ever tried to bend it, it snapped immediately.
I don’t have a close up photo but the horn on my doodlebug was an Ozark part that I bent. It’s a white metal part and I did not use any heat. It has been a while so I don’t remember the details, I may have bent it around something to keep it from cracking. I also may just have been lucky. It’s not as long as the one on the M-1.
I have bent white metal castings a few times, a couple of times on purpose (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)
I have never had any trouble with it, but usually not bending them much. I always just use something as a form to bend it on so the pressure is more even rather than in one spot, don’t ask how I learned that lol but if done slowly, maybe around a strip of brass rod or something, should be no problems.
Really like that railbus Gary, inspires me to get back to working on mine sometime
They make pliers for just such a thing.
wire bending pliers I would think these would be easy to find where people do beading or wire wrapping, Michael’s maybe? I have a pair that are stepped instead of conical. But this would give you something positive to bend around and hopefully not break it. The pliers are handy for all sorts of uses like pie work, or hand rails ect. They are cheap and worth having on hand. I would buy the conical ones because this allows you to make a tight a radius bend as desired.
You may well find that some “white metal” alloy items have a higher tin content than others and will be more malleable as a result. Hence some of you will not have had issues with bending/reshaping them. I know when I was having “white metal” components produced for the high strutted wings for use on slot cars, typical of late '60’s race cars, I would spec a higher tin alloy for these exposed components. This meant they bent rather than snapped if mishandled. This material my supplier termed as Pewter rather than White metal. Max
Yes, I have to agree, I have had mixed results bending “white metal”. Some will bend, some will snap. But if you try and bend it around something and it snaps, then glue it with CA and baking soda. I have used that trick many times. Coat the gap with CA, then sprinkle a thin layer of baking soda on the wet CA. It dries and turns into cement instantly. Build it up slowly till it fills the gap, then file it down smooth.
Thank you guys, all great ideas and will cause me to get results. I have to get the right scale product to try and that will probably not be in my possession until probably February. Anyway, thank you all for the ideas.
Well Ric,
we expect a full report with pictures
…we might even see it at “The Drag & Brag”…!!
Maybe a heat gun would heat it enough without meting it and make it easier to bend.
I don’t envision any problems…
Bruce Chandler said:
I don’t envision any problems…
And that’s the experience I remembered from Bruce’s story.
Hmmmmm that reminds me of the worst repair job I had as a jeweler.
My boss wanted me to solder the handle back on a pewter tea pot…
No torches, I used a big old iron… lots of puddling solder/pewter.
I told him never again!
John
In my 30+ year experince with Ozark components, they are soft enough to bend easily. HOWEVER, you have to do it in very small increments, allowing the metal to relax between ‘bends’. I used their grab-rails on the roofs of three cabeese, and, as you know, the roof grabs usually have an L-shape. Twenty years later, they are still in place.
Other brands of components or even complete models, like Bowser, use an alloy that is more akin to pewter, as already mentioned, and they can be brittle in the extreme, especially if they are old parts.
Prolly the best plan was the cut and stick method, but YMMV.
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
Gary Buchanan said:
I don’t have a close up photo but the horn on my doodlebug was an Ozark part that I bent. It’s a white metal part and I did not use any heat. It has been a while so I don’t remember the details, I may have bent it around something to keep it from cracking. I also may just have been lucky. It’s not as long as the one on the M-1.
Gary - I find myself deeply in love with your beautiful doodlebug - do tell more, please.
tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
