Hymek Diesel-Hydraulic

A cast resin Hymek has been on Bruce Smtham's project list for quite some time. Although The 3mm society produced an etched-brass Hymek kit it is now out of production and hard to find, so I found the idea of a resin Hymek particularly appealing.

Having built one of these kits years ago Bruce was now planning to sacrifice his running loco for the master required for the cast resin moulding process.

Hymeks have always been a particular favourite of mine - yet every time I asked how the project was coming on, he would reply that it was nearly done and the body just required tidying up a bit to be fit for the master. After a couple of years passing with the same answer, I casually asked if it's just a case of a bit of tidying up - could I be of assistance?...

May 2008 the loco body as it arrived in the post. It would appear that "Tidying up" is a relative term. :-)

This is the first time I've seen one of these kits, it's well-executed; etched-brass with cast whitemetal inserts for the cab sides and ends. It's surprising that it was taken out of production.

Having coated the body with ModelStrip paste, wrapped it in an air-tight plastic bag and left it in a warm airing cupboard for 36 hours, it turns out that a secondary effect of alkaline model paint stripper is that it breaks down epoxy and other super glues.

So someone obviously soldered up one cab, but then got bored with the other end and used glue - all the parts have now come adrift! Not a problem, it just gives me a reason to try out a new soldering iron and some low temperature melt solder I picked up a while back.

Work ongoing, why not check back in a month or so...

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