Tomix 98769 Hikari Rail Star has a crack on the side, what can i do to fix it?

[Steventrain]

Edited November 4, 2023 by Steventrain
Clearer picture

[Steventrain]

Only just created this account so pardon me if I’m uneducated about this place.

[disturbman]

What happened? Fell from a high place? The paint on the side of the car also looks damaged.

Edited November 4, 2023 by disturbman

[Kingmeow]

Is it causing operational difficulties?  How deep is the crack, to the point of the left piece falling off?  If not too deep and not causing any running problems, I would just leave it.

 

If you want to "fix" it, use a fine modeling paint brush and get some liquid plastic cement.  Tamyia makes a good one as well as Tenax 7 if you can find it.  Apply a sparingly amount to the crack and bend the left piece up slightly to be level with the rest of the car body.  Hold for a minute and see if it holds.  You may have to go back and correct the angle until the glue has fully dried.

 

I would apply the liquid cement to the non-paint area.  Capillary action draw the glue up.  Touching the paint with these liquid cement will almost surely mess up the paint.

Edited November 6, 2023 by Kingmeow
typo

[Steventrain]

Yes it fell from a high place and the crack is all the way through (very deep).

 

thankfully no operational problems.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Steventrain

[Kamome]

That’s some unfortunate luck @Steventrain

 

If it’s not causing running issues at least you can still use the train. Certainly some carefully added plastic glue will help but the ideal option would be to add this to the inside as most will dissolve the paint. 

 

If you remove the body, will pieces break off? It yes, leave it. 

 

Best to look out for future releases of the model and you should be able to order a body from Tomix Techstation. You could ask shops like RG Rokko to aid with this if you’re not in Japan. Probably good to include on a larger order to warrant the postage. 

 

Other options in the shorter term would be to find a replacement coach. Shops like Poppondetta and Hobbyland Pochi have single coaches from sets. You’ll probably look at ¥1000-3000 per coach dependant on the intricacy and how rare the model is. Obviously anything with a motor or directional lights will cost more. This set and its component rolling stock, I see quite a lot but not sure how common a car 2 would be. 

 

I’ll keep a look out the next time I’m perusing the above mentioned shops. 

[cteno4]

If you can remove the shell easily, then applying a little liquid plastic solvent cement on the inside should permeate the crack well and stop it from breaking off.

 

jeff

[Guest]

I wouldn’t go anywhere near the crack with glue as you can bet some will seep thru onto the paint.  I would glue a support piece behind the crack.

[cteno4]

Right, I would not use a very thin plastic solvent cement, but the right consistency (ie thicker) plastic solvent cement should not wick through that tight crack. But a solvent cement will make a better bond fusing the back of the plastic. Thin acc would wick through and thick acc wound not bind well to a thin crack on the back side and be fragile.

 

something like the plain old testors model cement should do fine, it does not wick in those conditions fro a back side application.

 

but if nothing is loose really and the end bit not in the position of breaking off easily it may not need an glueing. Have you opened it up to see if the crack is on the inside as well or may have just cracked the paint layers on top.

 

one problem issue with the Tomix swinging diaphragms is sometimes the body shell gets a tad bent in and the edge of the swinging diaphragm rubs on the shell then and hangs up its swing some and can cause derailments. These were usually around points where any impediment to car swing can cause a flange to pick a blade point or hop a flange way. I’ve had this a few times and popping the shell off and gently bending the ends of the shell where it meets the sides of the diaphragm solved it. Just a tiny amount needed to stop the rubbing. But with your whack it may have bend the end of the shell in on the side of the diaphragm some and thus may hang up free swinging of the cars. How does it run now?

 

I doubt there is anything you can do to repair the crack cosmetically, luckily it looks like it’s invisible to the eye at more than a few inches away (but you will always see it from across the room with the memory of the crash to the floor!).

 

If you were in Japan you could haunt some of the stores with used car bins and maybe find a donor shell, but that’s tough to do not being there…

 

cheers

 

jeff

[disturbman]

There are a few donor cars on YJA, but from the older release and they are missing the car number. I didn't checked if the decal sheet is provided with the car.