In my layout thread, I have introduced my next project.
I have had this 3005 BR 23 for a while now. I bought it for a very good price as a repair job.
Part of the left hand valvegear was broken, and the housing was not in top condition. It was in good electrical and mechanical order, and runs pretty quietly.
This is how it looks now:

I have already touched it with a paintbrush, to keep it reasonably presentable. However, this is the plan:
-Strip as many metal parts as possible. I may or may not strip the chassis, depending on how easy the wheels are able to be removed and reassembled.
-Repair any blemishes in the metal. There is a little bit of rust and some chips that need work
-Add lighting and coal to the tender
-Paint loco and tender
-Weather the loco
-Add a decoder

My intent is not to bring it back to a factory new condition, but to improve some points to reflect how I think it should look and function.

This should be a straightforward job for me after building locos and kitsets, and like always, I hope it will be a fun little project.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Will be following your project closely, lots of photo's please.

I've got 2 BR23's that need some work done to them, so this will be very interesting.

Ian.

Please let us know how you make out with any paint stripping and what kind of paint you use. I also have a 3005 BR23 that needs a little cleanup. A previous owner has done some paint matching that doesn't match well and I would like to tear it down and build it back up. Great topic that will be followed by many.

Thanks
Darren

Thanks for the encouragement

Today I made a start by disassembling the engine. I took off all the parts that could be screwed off, but as there are a few bits attached to the chassis I decided to leave the electrics on the chassis as they are.

The first bits to go into two way thinner. A gas mask should be worn because this is nasty stuff.
Once the thinner had time to soak in, I scrubbed off the soft paint with an old stiff paintbrush. The black paint Marklin used was reasonably sturdy, but dizzolved nicely after a while. The red paint was a bit harder to get off, but it came off eventually.
here are the loose parts:

You will notice only the right hand valvegear is there, this is because the left hand set needs replacing.

Next to swim was the housing

The same process was used, scrubbing, soaking and more scrubbing until it was clean.

While it was soaking, I started work on the tender. To begin, some burrs left over from the moulding process were filed smooth. The lights were drilled out next. I did this by hand, in three steps. First, a small pilot hole was drilled, makeing sure it was dead centre. Then the hole was opened out to 1.5mm, and to finish off, a hole just smaller than the light housing was drilled about 1mm deep.
Here one light is done, and the pilot hole is being drilled out in the other.


One thing I noticed on photos was the handrails extending above the tender. These are are not on the model, so I added them. In real life these are extensions to the handrails with steps on the back of the tender. The ladder on the tender is moulded on the model, but there is a gap around the lights, as you can see from the previous photo. Two 0.5mm holes were drilled in the top of the tender, and a suitable length of 0.5mm wire was bent to shape. I guessed the length and adjusted it until it looked right. There are plenty of other discrepancies on the model, so I figured one more slightly incorrect length would not make a diffrence The gaps around the lights were also filled with some 0.5mm wire cut to length.

On a few photos of ther real thing, one or two of the handrails were bent, so I did the same.

In the meantime, the housing was scrubbed clean. It looks a bit nude now...


Happy modelling
Rick

Good process.

With the housing thouroghly clean, it was primed. I use Tamiya primer. you should aim for a coat that is as thin as posssible, while still covering everything. I tend to err on the thin side, as more can always be added.

Once it had some time to cure, I filed down all the spots that had become raised due to zinc pest. Rough spots are much easier to see whith the primer on than without. I also discovered that there were some rough spots on the top of the boiler, including file and grind marks. Seeing as the origional paint was still on it, It must have been done in the factory I guess even then Marklin didn't always get it right. A coat of light coloured paint can be very revealing, I noticed the housing and tender both read DA 800. She's an old gal Purists have been warned I actually quite like just how much detail is on the loco. In black you notice this much less, but there's a fair bit, considering the age of the tooling.

Anyway, back to the overhaul.
With the first bit of filing out of the way, Tamiya putty was applied, and it was left overnight to cure.

As I'm not giving the boiler bands any special treatment, I thought I would show how I would paint them.
There are two ways to do it: Either do the band colour first or second. If you can get strips of masking tape cut to the right width evenly, you can paint the band colour, then apply the tape strips and paint the cladding colour. The major downside to this is that it is extremely hard to cut strips of tape that have an even width across their lrngth, and it is very hard to get the tape dead straight.

I prefer to use method number two: cut strips of tape that are slightly wider than half the space between two boiler bands. The width is not critical, as long as one side is dead straight. Now cut the tape to length. it may be easier to cover one side of a boiler band with multiple pieces, especially if you have a lot of piping to mask around.
I cut all my tape on a clean pane of glass(I use a broken one from the fireplace) Which ensures that the tape will still stick and the cuts are perfectly clean.

Start by pulling the tape under any handrails or other pipes by poking one corner through first and then pulling the rest through with tweezers. Be careful not to let it stick to the boiler. Now bring the tape to where you want to start taping, and pull the tape tight and sligtly against the edge of the boiler band. Use the ridge of the band to your advantage. As you work around the model, work slowly and push down on the tape with the back edge of a hobby knife or a piece off wood to make the tape stick. If you make a mistake, pull the tape back and try again.
When a moulded on obstace is reached, I push the tape into the corner before going over the pipe, beng careful not pull the tape out of the corner.
Once the sides of the bands are done, I go over any other spots with small bits of tape.
Then we are ready to paint:


Rick

Hello Rick.

This looks great.

I have a Primex 33005, which is a newer model based on the 3005.
As it was new when I bought it, I have only converted it to digital and installed rear light in the tender and interior light. A smoke unit will be installed later.

If you like, see 33005 rebuild

Our in house restorer,

looks very professional.


let me know where you get the windows from.

John

Edited by user 01 June 2011 17:25:56(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Dr.D.

thanks for the tip

Had the same idea and I've already inserted them into the BR 23, the only difference is they don't have recesses.

John

Hi all,
Maybe -off topic- and I don't want to take away from Rick's fantastic work/thread,...
John,I have used clear inserts from Piko/Lilliput wagens and even some tools and etc., that use clear plastic for packaging.
Simply measure the 'frame',cut,clean,place and glue.Much more to scale than factory windows.

Dr Dirt

Here's a link for a tip (thanks to Intruder) if you want to get glazed windows like the ones in old Märklin models.

https://www.marklin-user...ranslucent-material.aspx

Due to supply problems, I still dont have plastic primer. This is the primer I have used until now, as it is especially made for modelling purposes. However, I have done something I have wanted to give a go for some time.
Elsewhere I have heard of automotive etch primer being used. Etch primer is a special primer that bonds very well to metals, so it is ideal for models that get a lot of (ab)use. The catch is, it usually comes in spray cans that will inevitably drown out details on models. There is a way around this. First I spray the paint into the jar of my airbrush, and then I apply the primer with the airbrush.
All the bits that have to remain metal were masked and the remaining gears were removed before I fired up the airbrush. All the metal bits are now ready for some colour.
Proof:

The result looks slightly blotchy, this is because I prefer to have my coats as thin as possible, to minimise the loss of detail. The darker bits just have a little of the bare metal showing through. This should have no effect on any top coats.

As for the etch primer, The jury is still undecided. It was a bit hesitiant to come out of the aibrush, but the finish looks reasonably good at first sight. A great advantage over the usual method is the control that the airbrush gives in applying the paint.

As soon as I can prime the plastic bits, I will paint the loco. I want to do all the bits at the same time because it is very easy to get colour mismatches if the painting is done in two sessions.

Looking great sir

Great work. I can't wait for the finished product.

Chris

Thanks Steven and Chris

The next step is a round of masking before I can do the black, which is the last really big job.

Cheers,
Rick

I'm astonished

Rick,

Agreed, great job, the finishing colours on the body look excellent !

Regards,
John

Great job.

Psssst, Hey Rick, you wanna restore my 3005 next........???

Looks like you did a super job here.
Did you remove the hand rails before painting?
I hesitated a long time before doing it myself for these type of repaint: while dissasembling many little fixtures would break...
But after I figured Ritter had the parts to replace broken/ bent fixtures, I did it systematically, and carry a supply of these parts systematically!
This also gives an opportunity to remove little blemishes on handrail and repolish them properly.(Keeps you busy as you listen to the paint drying... )
Only then did I get a real *factory fresh* look.
Cheers

No kiddin'!
Labor of love is what's it's called.
My display shelves are full of them...

Merci Jaques
I didn't remove the handrails, I just painted over them. Why? because in real life they were black. On my model, the wire was so hard that the wire is already partially fractured from when the model was made, so I would have to get new ones if I were to remove them. Mine had lost most of the shiny plating anyway, so they would have to be replaced if I were to restore the model to original condition, but I'm not doing that. A good bet for replacement wire would be stainless steel wire, if you can get it. Then you will never have to worry about rusty handrails again.


John, you are absolutely right. If I were to be paid minimum wage for this restoration, I would probably earn three or four times the value of the restored loco. I do it more for fun than anything else. It is quite a good feeling to see the finished model knowing you (re)built it

Live workshop update:
Today I did some touch ups between working on A 300. Nothing exiting, but it is another step closer to the goal.

Rick

Rick,

I had the same issue about handrails in the past. I found a quick, easy, cheap and rust-free solution.

And the results is very good in my opinion. See:

https://www.marklin-user...aspx?g=posts&m=96727

Regards.

Great job