how to repair "vinyl" handrails?

if it is the stuff I am thinking of, I don't believe you can as the material doesn't take with glues, though I am uncertain - if others can confirm this, perhaps think about replacing them.

I have a Stephenson's Rocket loco from the 60's that had a broken "soft-black-plastic" bit on it and I couldn't get it to bond.

Steve

Super Glue does stick vinyl but not very well. You may be better looking for an aftermarket replacement set.

Try using the Cyanopoxy made by Cool Chem (see

) that was written up in Mainline Modeler a couple years ago. The very flexible or slippery plastics like vinyl or Delrin requires use of an extra Cool Chem "Poly Treatment" on the surfaces to be joined before using the basic two-part Cool Chem "Integrator" bonding system. Some useful tips are at Geezer.

POLY ZAP Is a specialty CA adhesive developed for use on today's newer plastics. Lexan is one of the more difficult plastics to bond, and POLY ZAP was developed to solve that problem. POLY ZAP also works with delron, polycarbonate, ABS, styrene, nylon, and most acrylics. It works on many types of films and painted surfaces. Its perfect for today's ARF type models. ABS cowls, canopies, lexan car bodies, fiberglass repair, model boat parts, and automotive trim are just a few of the many applications for POLY ZAP.

Determine if it is a new Atlas locomotive [chinese built] or an old Atlas locomotive [Roco Austrian built].

If it's a Roco go to the con-cor website. They have trim pieces in their sale section.

If it's chinese built go to Atlas website. hit the 'shop online' button at the top of the page. Then hit the 'HO locomotive spare parts' button on the left hand side in the categories list. then "H0 Gp-40 Locomotive Spare Parts"

The handrails are four pages into it.

Buy new handrails.

Eric

Best way that I know of is to get rid of the rod sections and replace with a single piece of 0.013" (HO scale 1" diameter) diameter piano wire Cut the handrail off at each of the supports and drill a #80 hole through each of them and thread the piano wire through them and reapply to the loco. This will work a lot better than trying to reglue the handrasils as they will just rebreak with any handling. If you insist on regluing the plastic, there are vinyl glues that are available but they aren't available commonly buy you will probably find one at a place that sells plastics in quantity - you'll probably be buying a quart of the stuff.

-- Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?

You can usually find vinyl cement in pool or water bed repair kits.

"Best way that I know of is to get rid of the rod sections and replace with a single piece of 0.013" (HO scale 1" diameter) diameter piano wire "

My calculator says that a 1" ho scale handrail would be slightly smaller than 0.012. 0.013 would be 1-1/8"

"If you insist on regluing the plastic, there are vinyl glues that are available but they aren't available commonly buy you will probably find one at a place that sells plastics in quantity - you'll probably be buying a quart of the stuff."

This is going to be a very expensive bottle of adhesive as I don't believe that the handrails are vinyl. Nothing is more expensive that you bought and found out it won't work.

The handrails are delrin or some other type of engineering plastic.

"Why do penguins walk so far to get to their nesting grounds?"

Because they can't fly there. ;-)

Eric

I agree -- most likely Delrin -- very tough to glue....

But, here is a tip from Phill Derry on the nscale group: "Here is mine:

Ever tried gluing delrin?? Well here's a sure fire way to get the parts to attach themselves permanently together. Use Loctite 770 primer on both surfaces then apply a small amount of Loctite 406, hold both parts together for about 30sec then leave for 24hrs to gain full strength. I used this method on a broken Atlas truck a couple of days ago with excellent results."

and another from Bob Emmett:

"A true story....

Found a "pierced" ear ring my wife bought the day before at a jewelry shop that makes some of it's own stuff. Only thing is I found it in the rug were I stepped on it and bent the thin, but stiff stainless wire at about a 45 degree angle.

Couldn't see how the wire was attached, was afraid if I put a needle nose to it that it would probably separate from and possibly damage the smooth stainless back.

We returned to the store and said could you fix this? The jeweler found a needle nose and immediately bent it back!

Standing in amazement, I asked, "how is the wire attached? I don't see any soldier." He said, "I glue them. Use this all the time."

Devcon 5 minute epoxy Devcon

30 Endicott Street Daners, MA 01923 978-777-1100 " Hope this helps, I have not used them.

David

snipped-for-privacy@bigfoot.com wrote:

I have a German-made small kitchen scale: a simple flat plastic brick until you pull up and fold over the platform, and swing out the little (1.75 inch) flat piece pivoted on the bottom that makes (with little ridges on the bottom corners of the brick) a third leg to support it. We'd had it just a few weeks when the leg got broken, about 1/2 inch from the pivot screw.

The swing out leg was just a thin piece of plastic (about 1.5 mm thick) with a very small (< 1 mm) central ridge as a sort of stiffener. Obviously not a good candidate for a butt joint. But I applied 4 short and narrow strips cut from filament tape to hold it together, on either side of the small ridge on the top and the bottom. Over that I applied a liberal (love that word!) layer of Devcon "gap filler" epoxy, and let it dry overnight under a warm lamp. The result was a translucent white smear wth the strands of glass in the filament tape vaguely showing through. That was 20 years ago, and we're still using it.

Of course the 2-phase material nature of the repair may be as much or more responsible as the brand of epoxy,