HO Trains - Fix Your Boken Loco for a Nickel | Toys & Hobbies

articulatedgeared01 · 2025-11-30T05:23:07.472000Z

Sat 11-29-2025 9:21 p.m. I am having a strange time with my HO locos these days. I am having more success repairing HO locos than any previous time. What surprises me the most is the number of repairs which can be accomplished with sewing thread, tin can stock, paperboard and super glue. I routinely take tin can lids and mark off 1/16-inch wide strips on a tin can lid (for example, a tuna can lid) using my vernier caliper and a steel ruler. I then use a pair of scissors to cut out the strip. The strip curls up and requires flattening with a pair of pliers. I make tiny little angles and other shapes using the tin can strips. Along with super glue it is possible to repair a wide variety of locomotive features. Sewing thread in combination with super glue provides a simple method to make a variety of repairs. For example, I repair split Athearn insulated diesel wheel set tubes and Bachman insulated driver tubes. I start by cleaning out any glue from previous repairs, pinch the cracked areas together in a small vise, provide a plastic fusion weld in the crack area (using a soldering iron), wrap the cracked tube with sewing thread and super glue. I know that there are 3D printed replacements, but the method I use is less expensive. The same technique can be used to repair split Athearn driveline parts too. I made some repairs to N-scale loco handrails using pieces of paperclips. Then I reinforced the break areas with sewing thread and super glue. This evening, I repaired a little Macao 0-4-0. The motor worm and crown gear were not meshing. I started by removing the wide hemi-circular metal clip which holds the motor in place. I shimmed the back of the motor up with 0.040-inch thick paperboard strips. This rocked the worm downward and allowed for re-engagement of the crown gear. Then I attached the motor to the chassis by wrapping the ends of the motor with sewing thread and super glue. There was excessive clearance between the driver axles and the driver retainer plate. I made up some 1/16-inch-wide tin can lid angles and used super glue to attach them to the driver retainer plate directly above the axle locations. The crosshead guides were loose. I attached them to the steam chest with tiny tin can angles and super glue. The loco is running now. Sometimes I work on a diesel where the retaining feature on the shell is broken away, and the shell in not held in place by a chassis feature. I drill a hole in a piece of tin can lid or a series of holes in the lid to make a slot. I cut out a strip with the hole(s) and attach it to the inside of the shell using super glue. This is a strong, reliable fix and is also difficult to see. I have repaired a number of defective open-frame motor armatures. Sometimes, the commutator segments come loose. The ends of the commutator segments can be wrapped with sewing thread and super glue to hold the commutator segments in place. Alternately, a plastic ring can be fabricated using a soldering iron (that is, a creating a ring using plastic fusion welds). Some clearance needs to be provided for the graphite brushes. It is also possible to file the sides of the brushes in order to reduce the width of the brushes. Sometimes a graphite brush will come loose from a brass brush carrier. A small cube of graphite can be filed out of an old electric motor brush (that is, from a discarded appliance / electric tool). It is a messy operation, but graphite rinses off nicely with soap and water. Drill a tiny hole through the graphite cube. Run a piece of telephone copper wire through the hole and wrap it around the brass brush carrier. Then solder the wire to the carrier to assure electrical conductivity. Cracked zamac parts (for example, steam chests from Rivarossi and Varney locos which have been adversely affected by zinc pest, zinc cancer) can be repaired by soaking them with super glue and filing them back to their original size. I have repaired Rivarossi 0-8-0 tender chassis pieces the same way. Sometimes a screw / fastener strips out, and another screw is not available. Alternately, an internal thread may strip out. A screw thread can be placed in bench vise and squeezed. This makes the round thread oval shaped and expands the thread. The wider screw surface can pick up the mating thread. Cracked Delrin (Acetyl plastic) gears can be pinched together in a vise and provided with a plastic fusion weld to make the gears functional again. Quite often, drive tubes get lost from tender drive locos (for example, the Mantua 4-4-0 Generala or Pocher models). A replacement drive tube can be made by soldering two brass nuts on the end of a brass rod. There seems to be no limit to what can be repaired with inexpensive materials and some imagination. Regards,ag01

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