ON3O 2-6-0 Wheel bolt removal tool

Humm.. maybe you have been wondering how I get those little bolts loose that hold the rods to the wheels?

I went to the hardware store and bought a 2.5mm allen setscrew and super glued it into a piece of brass tubing...I cut my brass tubing to about 2-1/2"

Do a light grind on the end of the setscrew. (I do mean grind, as setscrews are hardened) . This is to remove most of the chamfer at the end of the setscrew, so you get a firm bite on the end of the wheel bolt...

That's the deal ......Vance

Why doesn't Bachmann include or sell this tool?

I remember years ago, that Mantua always included tiny wheel bolt wrenches with all their kits.

Back to On3O 2-6-0 Painting Chassis and Wheels

Back to On30!

I usually start with a Bachmann 2-6-0 Hawthorne Village engine, as I can get them cheap on ebay (if I am careful). So hence I will need to do some painting... See Ebay item number 221150634583 for a Hawrthorne Village engine to mod and bash...

P.S. If you buy a Hawthorne Village loco to bash / repaint, choose one that has the bottom plastic cover plate molded in black. This is very slippery plastic and it is best to buy it in the color you want, as  it is unlikely you will ever to get paint to stick to it. Sandblasting the plastic almost... sorta... kinda... works.

But is best to skip the whole problem...

Below is my painting jig for the wheels. The cutout in the middle is to clear the drive gear...I clean the wheel assembly with ammonia and water 50-50 before I start masking and painting. Then I add a little masking tape on the fixture and around the wheel rim, a piece of #12 house wire insulation over the crank pins, and I'm set to paint.....

Looking for a good paint to shoot the wheels and chassis can be somewhat interesting. I have discovered that most flat and semi-flat acrylic paints tend to absorb the grease or oil that the chassis and side rods require. In my experience, when I use acrylic paints, there is a shiny seep of grease or oil in to the adjoining areas of the flat acrylic paints. (Looks awful)  So I have set my thoughts towards using rattle can enamel paint.

It would seem easy enough just stop at Home Depot or Lowes and pick up some nice hard Rust-oleum paint. After spending more than 45+ minutes looking through ridiculous designer colors that I would never buy for anything, I discovered that they have flat black and satin black.... Where is the semi-flat black? Oh here it is on line from Lowes... humm..., it's not in my store, but it can be ordered in quantity? What! 

If I drive to Granger in Spokane and take a 7 hour+ round trip, I can buy it for about $7.00 without paying $12.00 for shipping...

Rust-Oleum 12 Oz. Semi Flat Black Flat

Spray Paint

Item #: 89137 |  Model #: 1678830           ( Lowes P/N )

Sorry about that...but I get it... The industrial product lines are not shipped to rural America. Check it out,  if most, if not all of the semi- flat black paints only occur in the "Industrial Line". I know Krylon is that way too. I think it is all tied to the 6 pack that aerosol paint is being sold in. Rural America can't move 6 of the "speciality paints" in a year, so they don't buy any in that line. If the corporate enties would sell paint in 3 packs, rural America would likely stock it, as they could likely turn it in a year. 

As close as I can come at the moment is Rust-oleum Trim and Bumper paint 251574 Matte Black.  It's a little shiner than I would like....But it's good hard paint... Talking to the Rust-Oleum Corp customer service folks, the flatness goes like this....Flat black, Semi-Flat  black, Matte Black, Satin Black, Semi-Gloss Black and Gloss Black....

But I still haven't completely given up on the Rust-Oleum Semi-Flat Black.....more later

Vance