Cradle for Train Repairs

here's pictures of the first one I made and the glue I used, not as pretty as the commercial cradles but the price was right.  

Bowser cradle(s) work fine for me (Have HO and O cradles).

 

Only 'improvement' I make considers the details or fragility of things on the top of the engine....e.g., lift rings/horns on diesels, whistles/piping/valves on steamers.

 

I've found the bare foam will sometimes snag these items when the engine is inverted in the trough. After damaging a couple of those details I made a quick change. 

 

I simply lay a thin tightly woven, lo-nap cloth (e.g., satin, nylon/polyester or  pima cotton shirt, etc.) across the trough before placing the engine.  The soft foam still supports the engine very well, and the cloth works to inhibit the fragile details from snagging on the foam cells.  Also, the cloth cradle liner helps me remove the engine from the foam trough, working as a sling, much like the plastic wrap helps get the engine out of the Styrofoam packing box cradle.

 

But, as always, whatever 'floats the boat'...

 

KD

For those of you who have made your own. Where do you get soft foam from?

We have them at Patrick's Trains

ZOOM	$16.99	Bowser O Gauge Foam Locomotive Cradle http://www.patstrains.com/View...Details=View+Details	Stock Number: B24 Gauge: O/O-27 Gauge Manufacturer: Bowser Product Type: Accessories Availability: In Stock

THANKS

PAT

PATRICK'S TRAINS

WWW.PATSTRAINS.COM

Pat, do you have the longer ones?

 

Thanks, just ordered one!

 

- Mike

I got the foam from the box an IBM or Dell server came in, not sure which.  I have not seen anything come in with this type foam in a while, when I go to work on Monday I'll look in the store room (similarly to railroad guys, computer guys tend to save stuff for the oddest reasons )

 

 

 

I made my own U-shaped cradle with scrap wood, then put layers of bubble-wrap over it which can be easily adjusted for different sizes of equipment. For HO equipment I use a block of foam with an appropriate size slot cut out.