Thursday, November 23, 2006

A new start for the Lionel 812 gondola



Cutting the brass plate and getting the holes in on the right place was quiet some work. The Proxxon SS230 mini-cutter together with the old fashioned drill and the Dremel were handy to get the shape right and the holes in place.
Today, I finished soldering the side boards back on the new base plate. A new gondola is born... Although there is still enough to be done, it is nice to see that it is starting to look like a gondola again.


Some people might argue that buying a second-hand base plate is much easier. Well that is right when you have easy access to those. Here in Europe it is rather difficult to get spare parts, unless you order them in the States. Moreover, these base plates of the 812 are not ubiquitously available in the US and hence it is quiet a challenge to repair this Gondola from the bottom on.

Other people argue that buying another old 812 Gondola can be used as a base plate donor. But what about the other old car then? I prefer to get them all running again!

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