Have You Tried the Dishwasher?

[John Candy]

"Calcutta" needs a very thorough clean to remove the soldering residue. My normal procedure with brass locos is to scrub with "Cif" cream using an old toothbrush, rinse off, spray with "Cillit Bang" (leaving for a few minutes), then a final thorough rinsing.

Looking at all the nooks and crannies in Calcutta, I am wondering whether a session in the dishwasher would be simpler and perhaps more effective. I don't know the ingredients of dishwasher tablets but if they produce a weak NaOH (caustic soda) solution then might that may be good for cleaning the nickel silver and brass?

Anyone ever tried washing a model in the dishwasher? Any thoughts?

John.

[AllWight]

Hi john

i would not recommend it to be honest as you have no control over the internal heat in there and if any whitemetal parts are glued on then it may end up with those bits falling off and being lost.

I always scrub by hand be it 00 or gauge 3. Also have you thought about using some jizer a degreaser? We have it down at moors valley. I have previously dunked a model in the jizer tank for 30 mins come back and rinsed it off thoroughly and its brilliantly shiny and perfect to paint once fully dried

Mark

[John Candy]

Mark,

The dishwasher has temperature settings which vary between 30 and 85C so that would not be a problem. As it stands, the lowest melting point material is "Wood's metal" (70C) which I used as a "filler" and nothing has (yet) been attached with glue : The final detailing, which includes home-made resin and whitemetal castings, will be fitted after cleaning but It is probably better to stick to handwashing and I may try Jizer as well as "Cif" and "Cillit Bang".

A couple of photos of bodywork in present state : The loco is being modelled in "final" (late 1930's/40's) condition as seen in a photo taken in 1950 (Calcutta was withdrawn in January 1951). It has the final pattern of strengthening plates as fitted on the external frames, the bogie is of the modified de Glehn type, the cab is "flared" to suit the later pairing with a Churchward 3,500 gallon tender (originally had a Dean 3000 gallon type), it has a screw reverser (she had steam reverser when built), tapered cast-iron chimney and a short (Collett pattern) SV bonnet with top feed.

The underframe is not as sophisticated as Mike's (753) "City", having the bearings on the inner frames with dummy/cosmetic external frames.

Regards,
John.

[753]

John
You have made a supper job of the Bulldog body, did you make a former for the firebox and the transition plate? as it's a tricky form to get right, It looks very accurate
Regarding cleaning metal after soldering I used to use pumice powder i.e. Vim or Ajax but I can't find any locally, the liquid in Ciff softens the pumice so it less abrasive I wish I still had a pickle tank for boiler making, that shifts muck!
You must be near completion of the Bulldog, keep up the good work.

Mike

[John Candy]

Mike,

Thank you for your kind comments..... you wouldn't have said that six weeks ago!
This loco has "history".

It all started a little over a year ago, when I was deciding what to do with a surplus 3500 gallon tender.
I am not particularly a GWR "fan" but wanted something "different" to run on the Monkton Priors line and decided upon a Bulldog. Since I already had at least a dozen projects "on the go", I decided to commission somebody (who will remain nameless but claimed to be a professional model maker) to build the Bulldog.

It was delivered here during March (along with a GN Ivatt Atlantic which a friend had commissioned) .
Both models were a total disaster : My friend showed photos of his Atlantic to Roger Marsh and he commented it was the worst workmanship he had ever seen!

The faults on the Bulldog (both dimensional and constructional accuracy/alignment) ran to around 40 items, mostly cosmetic but some serious and fatal to the successful running of the loco. (driven wheelbase differing by 1.3mm between sides and bogie wheels jamming against the frames).

I had to totally dismantle the loco, reshape the mainframes, correct the wheelbase, make umpteen new body parts (including boiler/smokebox and splashers) and reshape EVERY OTHER PART EXCEPT the front sheet of the cab! Even the running plate had to be narrowed by 5mm and the height of the running plate differed by 3mm between sides and was not level!
So much for saving time by "outsourcing"....it would have been just as quick to have built it myself.

To return to your question of the firebox, that was one of the, comparatively speaking,  better parts....if you ignore the sides having been of unequal length, front end not vertical, all the washout plugs being in a wavy line in the wrong places and the front being shaped from car body filler (the smokebox door was also made from Isopon or similar)!  The firebox consisted of three major parts, the top plate and the two sides. It was possible to salvage this by extending the sides at front ends, improving the profile of the lower sections and using a thick brass section to replace the Isopon and then filing the rounded shoulders on the leading edge.
There are now just a few detailing bits left to fit,  including a new smokebox door and foundation ring which I have cast from whitemetal.

As for the Ivatt, that was just as bad and is undergoing a full rebuild ... about the only reusable parts are the cab and a handful of parts from the tender!

Regards,
John.

P.S. Ajax and Vim : Haven't seen those for years....I think they went out when acrylic baths and non-stick pans arrived.....they would have played havoc with the finish! I might try a Brillo pad the steel wool should shift more stubborn muck.

[753]

John

You have my sympathies, how do people who attempt to make things they are clearly incompetent at get away with it? Looking on the bright side you will end up with a well made and good looking loco.

Talking of scouring powder, I went to the place of all things useful i.e. e-bay and found this pumice powder.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Superior-Pumice-Powder-All-Grades-Craft-Cosmetic-Jewellery-Pick-Pack-Size/111108519099?_trkparms=aid%3D111001%26algo%3DREC.SEED%26ao%3D1

Mike