Yesterday, I contacted a friend who has two JLCs and told him about this problem. He has 4916 and 4925; upon being removed from the box, he told me that both seem to be nice and straight with no apparent problems. One is brunswick green/broad stripe, the other is tuscan/broad stripe, I just do not remember which one is what number. Good for him, I hope that they stay that way.
Jake,
That is the same info. that I have been receiving from other owners. I am sitting tight waiting to hear from my "SCIENCE PROFESSOR".
On another note, we just finished the mold for McCoy standard gauge steam chests. A sample has been cast from a zinc pest casting which we ground, filled w/ epoxy and reshaped. I need to drill, tap, mount the new cylinders & see how it all fits. I just realized that the cylinder mounting plate is also suffering from zinc pest. It was a casting, nickel plated. I can make out of steel and get plated as I go. We are not the fastest train, but we eventually " arrive at the station " Harry 
Harry Henning posted:Jake,
That is the same info. that I have been receiving from other owners. I am sitting tight waiting to hear from my "SCIENCE PROFESSOR".
On another note, we just finished the mold for McCoy standard gauge steam chests. A sample has been cast from a zinc pest casting which we ground, filled w/ epoxy and reshaped. I need to drill, tap, mount the new cylinders & see how it all fits. I just realized that the cylinder mounting plate is also suffering from zinc pest. It was a casting, nickel plated. I can make out of steel and get plated as I go. We are not the fastest train, but we eventually " arrive at the station " Harry
I look forward to hopefully positive results. I'm not 100% confident in my replacement parts that I was able to acquire at a premium, so new pieces would bring some peace of mind about owning two of the locomotives that have had the problem.
Harry - nickel plate? Do you have the capability to plate an entire locomotive?
BOB2,
We have our parts nickel plated where needed, generally in lots as a fixed price for the lot. We use a method known as 'barrel plating'. I normally wait for a batch of wheel rim stampings, grab rails couplers etc. to run as a unit to keep the piece price down. This limits me to 2 - 3 batches a year. I do NOT do this myself. Nickel plating a loco. is a different job, A LOT more expensive I would believe. I had contacted several plating shops in NJ for prices on plating our wheel rims. They all averaged between $1.80 - $2.00 a rim if I had 1000 pieces or more individually plated. So you can see a loco. would be super expensive. Price ?. I guess $200 - $300 Harry
Harry, go back to the original thread.
Here is a link to the original thread in O-27:
https://ogrforum.com/...-sideframes-zinc-rot
I posted pictures of the only part that needs replacing. All the other parts are attached to the failing part. No need to try and make everything. A one-piece casting of the failing part, on the right above, should be all that's required.
Attachments
PRRMP54 posted:Yesterday, I contacted a friend who has two JLCs and told him about this problem. He has 4916 and 4925; upon being removed from the box, he told me that both seem to be nice and straight with no apparent problems. One is brunswick green/broad stripe, the other is tuscan/broad stripe, I just do not remember which one is what number. Good for him, I hope that they stay that way.
I have the green 4925, so far I see no sign of any issues. I actually put it in the foam cradle and poked and prodded everywhere after the inspection, but so far those castings seems solid. I hope it remains that way!
My thinking is that if they are still good now, they will stay good. Since so many have turned out bad, they went bad quickly.
gunrunnerjohn posted:PRRMP54 posted:Yesterday, I contacted a friend who has two JLCs and told him about this problem. He has 4916 and 4925; upon being removed from the box, he told me that both seem to be nice and straight with no apparent problems. One is brunswick green/broad stripe, the other is tuscan/broad stripe, I just do not remember which one is what number. Good for him, I hope that they stay that way.
I have the green 4925, so far I see no sign of any issues. I actually put it in the foam cradle and poked and prodded everywhere after the inspection, but so far those castings seems solid. I hope it remains that way!
I'd be careful with the 4925 model. That's the same one I have that had the issue. When my NIB 4866 silver model showed up with destroyed trucks due to the zinc rot, I checked my 4925 on the shelf and it was cracking badly around the screw holes as well which is something I hadn't noticed previously. If the new parts work out, you guys may want to buy a spare set to keep around just in case.
If the new brass sideframes for the GG1 come to fruition, is there any way the same process could be done for a sideframe replacement for the Williams/Bachmann O scale Peter Witt car? On the surface at least, it looks like these suffered almost complete sideframe failure as well, perhaps even to a worse extent than the Lionel GG1, although they were not nearly as expensive. A shame, because they were quite a nice model otherwise.
Bill in FtL
Bill Nielsen posted:If the new brass sideframes for the GG1 come to fruition, is there any way the same process could be done for a sideframe replacement for the Williams/Bachmann O scale Peter Witt car? On the surface at least, it looks like these suffered almost complete sideframe failure as well, perhaps even to a worse extent than the Lionel GG1, although they were not nearly as expensive. A shame, because they were quite a nice model otherwise.
Bill in FtL
It could, but last I checked the truck frames for the Peter Witt cars are still available and its probably more cost effective to just buy replacements from Bachmann. They would likely be easier to reproduce though.
Bill Nielsen posted:If the new brass sideframes for the GG1 come to fruition, is there any way the same process could be done for a sideframe replacement for the Williams/Bachmann O scale Peter Witt car? On the surface at least, it looks like these suffered almost complete sideframe failure as well, perhaps even to a worse extent than the Lionel GG1, although they were not nearly as expensive. A shame, because they were quite a nice model otherwise.
Bill in FtL
I would contact QCar Co, they deal in trucks and sideframes.
Brass copies of standard size truck side frames are trivial for a good foundry.
SantaFe158 posted:Bill Nielsen posted:If the new brass sideframes for the GG1 come to fruition, is there any way the same process could be done for a sideframe replacement for the Williams/Bachmann O scale Peter Witt car? On the surface at least, it looks like these suffered almost complete sideframe failure as well, perhaps even to a worse extent than the Lionel GG1, although they were not nearly as expensive. A shame, because they were quite a nice model otherwise.
Bill in FtL
It could, but last I checked the truck frames for the Peter Witt cars are still available and its probably more cost effective to just buy replacements from Bachmann. They would likely be easier to reproduce though.
The sideframes for the Williams Peter Witt are an assembly consisting of the two sideframes cast together with the bottom half of the truck, and Bachmann doesn’t list them in their parts list, they only show complete trucks which are listed as “sold out”. Besides, replacing them with like parts would only mean that the factory replacements will also crumble from “zinc pest” as well. Someone here mentioned Q-car, but their sideframes are separate pieces, not cast as a unit together with the bottom half of the truck in one piece.
Bill in FtL
I would't care if they were cast in aluminum its cheaper and being thicker it will have some weight. Aluminum wont deform like the original, that every one is talking about.
Hi All,
Hope this project succeeds, so my silver 4966 may run again. Presently a hanger queen sitting on the shelf. Any word on where the project is currently at?
David, Harry is working on it, but he has a lot of balls in the air, so results will be somewhat slow in coming. He does have the contacts to get the job done, hopefully we'll see these at some point in the near future. 
So is the thought that if they are currently good, they probably won't rot?
Hope may be a better word. 
1st samples are beautiful, BUT, too much shrinkage. We will be modifying the castings to make a new mold. Mold man says why would you work for $5 an hour? "JUST BECAUSE". Harry
Great to hear of progress Harry, that was pretty fast! How much trouble is it to adjust the size of the castings.
I am looking forward to getting my hangar queens on the high rail. Great work Harry!
I take it you tried the non-shrinking mold material? You still get a half percent shrink,but that is way better than 4 1/2%.
Great news, we may all be back in business again.
Any news on this project?
Patience Grasshopper, Harry's working on it.
Looking forward to a solution. Mine frames shattered as I worked to reinforce them with epoxy.
I will not be working on the repro truck frames now until after the holidays. One of my sons has a medical issue that has slowed me down, and we just lost our zinc caster for the wheels. My injection molder has also moved. The GG-1 part is taking a back seat for now. Sorry. Harry
Sorry to hear that Harry. Best to your family and especially your son for improved health. After reading this thread I really need to get my JLC GG1 out of the box as it's been boxed for the last 3 years.
We of course patiently await your return to this project. No hurry on our part.
Prayers sent for your son, Harry...
Harry III is doing much better, he still has one thing they have to "fix" early next year. He got very lucky, it didn't sound good when I first heard about his issue!
Any progress on getting these replacements made? Thanks in advance for any replies!
It's still being worked, the second set of castings were close, but not perfect. As Harry stated, lots of things have conspired to slow down progress. The project hasn't been abandoned, we're still hoping to see a finished frame sometime soon.
@gunrunnerjohn posted:It's still being worked, the second set of castings were close, but not perfect. As Harry stated, lots of things have conspired to slow down progress. The project hasn't been abandoned, we're still hoping to see a finished frame sometime soon.
Soon?
Well, "soon" is a flexible term. 
The GG-1 truck frames:
We have re-visited the truck frame production logistics. 1st. I do have a set cast in plastic , in a resin mold by my 'science' worker. We have trimmed out and mounted on a GG-1 and lo & behold it appears to be working smoothly. The trucks are mounted , but have NOT pulled a string of cars yet. I expect to put thru that job this weekend. My problem is, and I want your in-put on this, good or bad!! Would you guys accept a plastic type frame? What would be $ practical. I already have over $1K into this w/ the original Pewter castings & mold. Now we have another new mold, vacumn chamber, pump etc. tied up into the plastic production. I am thinking realistically about $100.00 a pair. 
My 'science' employee works part time, 1 day a week, & we are able to pour and trim only one pr. in the course of a day. That is only 4 pair a month. 
Your thoughts please. Harry
I wouldn't mind plastic. Cast metal for a $100 is a great price or is this the plastic cost?
This is a 'state of the art ' plastic, very tough type. Harry
I'd be willing to pay as much as $200 for replacement frames.
Harry the price for plastic would be about $100?
