that silky plastic for trains

[cteno4]

Ive been on a search of that silky plastic that tomix has included with some of their trains as a small wrapper that surrounds the train cars as you nestle them into the foam inserts. these are nice as the plastic is so smooth it makes the card slide into tight foam inserts very easily and also makes it very easy to remove the cars but just pulling on the plastic hammock of the plastic film to easily pull the car straight out w/o trying to lever it out with your fingers. i think the first ones i remember it showing up in was the tomix E4s a few years back.

 

the plastic film is very supple and i have not been able to track it down anywhere. it feels like it may be a poly propylene film as i have had some heavier poly propylene films that had the same smoothness to them.

 

the other day my wife brought home some produce from the coop in a new biobag there that feels very much like the train case film. unfortunately its a compostable plant based plastic so im not sure how stable the stuff is for the long run, but im going to try it in one case and see how well it holds up.

 

anyone else have any ideas?

 

cheers

 

jeff

[serotta1972]

Hi Jeff,  I recently got an Tomix E3 Shinkansen and it came with these silky plastic thingy and I took them off and I had the hardest time taking the car out because the tolerance on the foam inserts were so tight.  These things really help and now I want them on all my trains even if the foam inserts aren't as tight.  I like how it cradles the cars and you're not touching any delicate parts or the car for itself.  I got some of those bio bags and they're great.  I'm cutting them out right now.  

 

Junior

[katoftw]

I'm missing some from my MicroAce trains I picked up from Yahoo. Most of the 2 car MicroAce stuff comes in jewel cases, so its nice to have this stuff, so you abs train shell isn't banging up against your abs jewel case directly.

Edited February 21, 2015 by katoftw

[serotta1972]

Oh man, I can't believe I'm getting so excited over something like this but as often as I take out and put back my trains in their cases this is some revelation as like I said I removed these plastic thingies in the past because they were ugly and I wasn't able to admire my trains while in their cases.  Now I see the practicality of it and it's awesome.  It is especially great for the EH500 and the Eizan 900 Series as I've always had some difficulty removing them from their cases and I didn't like having to drop them on to my hand and worrying about breaking the connection between the 2 cars.  

[kvp]

Just one advice: Don't use bio degredable plastics anywhere. They fall to small pieces and then to dust in 3 to 5 years. This is a personal experience of accidentally using a few bio degredable bags for long term storage and then after a few years finding everything in a big mixed heap of small plastic pieces and my originally nicely sorted and bagged stuff. And this happened in a fairly constant temperature, relatively dry and completly dark closet. The bioderadation can also damage other plastic items and clothes, especially if the bag had any paint on it.

[cteno4]

Yes unfortunately the bio corn starch bags will not hold up as kvp said and could even stick to the paint as they degrade. You are spot on though those bio bags are closest thing I've felt to the stuff tomix uses.

 

I think it's a polypropylene of some sort actually as I remeber some heavier archival plastic sheeting in some museum work I did like a decade ago. It had that velvety feel but was much heavier stuff (like 3-5mils) than this stuff. I may go and contact some archivist friends to get their ideas,

 

I'm hoping we can source it as it is so much easier to pull trains out, especially some of those tight ma cases. I experimented with a couple of tight ma cases and the tomix sheets worked. My only concern there is that with time there may be too much pressure with the ma foam and the plastic sheet that it could eventually stick to the paint or effect it. I was planning on doing a test, I'll get on that and let it sit. At time it almost seems like it's woth the risk as getting some trains out almost seems like you are going to tear them apart!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[serotta1972]

Thanks kvp, I was afraid of that and actually was going to pose that very question and you answered it.  Oh well, now I'm on the hunt for these plastic sheets that won't degrade or affect the models themselves over time.  Jeff, please keep up posted on your findings.  

 

Best, Junior

[cteno4]

Junior,

 

Will do and please keep us posted on your findings. I've planted the bug in Nariichi San's ear about it for his next tomix meeting to ask if possible.

 

Jeff

[marknewton]

I don't use the silky sheets for storing trains as I don't keep the boxes. I did use some to make a wagon sheet or tarpaulin, which appear in many photos of JNR era freight trains with open wagons in the consist. It was very effective.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.