American Flyer Project 110

I can hardly wait to see what it looks like when it is brought back to its former glory.

Since one of the major issues with this station is the warped base, which has caused the tower to pull away from the main portion of the building, I realized that I had to remove the building from the base.

I did attempt some light cleaning to the driveway and it seemed to clean ok.

Next up, I am going to work at removing the framework that was added to the base.  It is not original and needs to be removed in order to flatten the base.

NWL

Your progress will be fun to watch. I think this is one of the most unique accessories that Flyer made.

The added framework came off quite easily and now the warpage of the base is clearly exposed.  The base is not sitting on anything, other than the counter, yet the edges of the base do not touch the counter due to the base sagging downward in the middle.

Next up, I am going to remove the nails that previously held the hedges in place and remove all of the original shrubbery, so that I can flatten the base, without damaging any of the shrubbery.

NWL

Removing the shrubbery was interesting, as it was held in place both by nails and by glue.  I used a putty knife to gently go underneath the shrubs and to then pry upward.  Some of the nails stayed with the shrubs and some stayed with the base.

Sadly, the few remaining spots of original hedges will likely not be able to be re-installed.  However, I would only guess that about 15% of the original hedges remained with the piece, so it may not have matched well with replacement hedges.  At least I have some original to match when creating new hedges.

Here is a picture of the base.

I also removed the clock tower from the building, as it was no longer attached to the top of the building and the nails that formerly held it in place at the top of the building were bent.  So I thought that in order to properly reattach it to the top of the building it was best to remove it and straighten the nails.

It will also help to have it removed, when cleaning the building.  Here are some photos of the clocktower and inside of the building.

Now that the building has been removed from the base and the clocktower removed from the building, I can start the cleaning and repair process.

One thing I noted that was different between the original and reproduction (at least the ones I have), is that the clocktower was powered independently from the building on the original.  My reproduction has the clocktower wired in series with the interior lighting.  The original had separate power wires going to the clocktower, from the wires that powered the interior of the building.

The building will need to be re-wired as all of the rubber insulation on the wiring had hardened and much of it was broken away.  I may end up wiring it similar to the reproduction I have, as I see no reason to have separate power to the clocktower, but I will have to think about that, prior to rewiring it.

NWL

VERY interesting!  I have been curious about this building lately, and I am learning a great deal here.  Please carry on!

BTW, do you know who made the repops?

I know who made the reproductions and he is out of business to my knowledge.

NWL,

A great find and I'm really enjoying following your restoration pics.

Thanks for sharing

I would rearrange my layout if I could find one, even a repro.

Steve

Flattening the Curve!

I am taking a big leap of faith here, but I viewed a YouTube video about flattening warped plywood.  The video instructed one to wet the concave side of the board, place that side down on a flat surface, in heat and weight it down.  The video used a concrete driveway in 80 F heat for their example.  Unfortunately it is c. 3 F here right now and the driveway is snow covered.  So I am trying the next best thing, the concrete floor of the train room, with a space heater directed at the board.

First step was to wet the concave side, which would be the top of the base.  I wetted it thoroughly, while doing a preliminary cleaning of the surface.  Used paint brush, soap and hot water, and the spray/rinse option of my kitchen faucet.

Here is the base after the preliminary cleaning.

As you can see, the base is much cleaner.

Then down to the train room.  My first attempt, did not have enough weight.

Second attempt was much better.  Note the use of Trainshelf, seems it is more than just for displaying trains.

Well, I gotta go check on the progress, as that black box on the left is the space heater.  Don't want to start any fires.

NWL

Update:  After 2.5 hours, I took the weight off and flipped it.  The base is not yet dry, but has flattened out.  So I now have the top facing upward and weighted it down again, with the space heater still blowing on it.  My guess is that it needs to be weighted down until it fully dries.

NWL

While waiting for the base to dry, I decided to work on cleaning the building.  I had tried soap and water with a qtip the day I brought it home, but it did not seem to clean the white painted areas very well.  A friend indicated I should try either Fantastic or 409 on a qtip.  I had some 409, so I decided to try that.  Here are some results.

It is not going to look like one of the reproductions when cleaned, but it seems to be cleaning up nicer than just the soap and water.

I always like the right and left contrast, so here is one.

Here are a couple of the front of the building, left corner.  I only cleaned the white at the bottom of the building.  Note the white touch-up paint near the door.  At first I thought this had been added by a former owner, but after looking over the entire building, I note that there are several areas of touch up paint, mainly along the edges of the sides and to cover the nails that hold the sides of the building to the frame, that appear to be factory painted areas.  Therefore, I suspect this touch-up paint is from the factory.

This is the before.

Half cleaned

Completed

Overall, it seems to be cleaning up nicely.  However, it is going to take a lot of time to clean it.

Good thing I bought a container of 500 Qtips this morning.  I suspect I will use most of them on this project.

NWL

Looks like a great project and cleaning up well! The round cotton facial cleansing pads work well in some applications. Hope the base flattens out ok, an old timer taught me long ago that when straightening always be prepared to go a bit past the original bend and it'll settle back just like new. May take a couple tries with different weights and wood blocking shims. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

I am enjoying your restoration.  Here are a couple of catalog photos for your AF Union Station.

Bob Nelson

What a great project! I agree with John, and have had more luck bending something past flatness to allow for spring back. That would mean putting a shim in the middle under the convex side- maybe 1/4 the size of the base and 1/4-1/2" thick and then weighting the corners so it is now slightly curved the opposite way it was while it dries. This can also be done clamping the 4 corners to a thick piece of ply the same size with the shim in the middle to bow it.  I also wet both sides. Hot water is best- steam would be ideal to penetrate the wood. Like he said, it may take a few tries. Be prepared for it to look great when you take the weights off, and then gradually warp back.

Hopefully it will come out fine. Worst case scenario, you affix some  screws and little brackets or similar to hold it down without drilling through it on the train table. Then over time it will stay flat.

I am guessing the base will sit for about a week before I take the weights off.  It has to dry and I cannot rush that.

So I am still cleaning.  I chose the dirtiest side of the clock.  This is a view of work in progress.

Here is the photo of it cleaned.

What a difference!

Now for the next 3 sides.

NWL

Wow, this is cleaning up great! This is wood and cardboard and paint? It's like cleaning the Mona Lisa.

@Will posted:

Wow, this is cleaning up great! This is wood and cardboard and paint? It's like cleaning the Mona Lisa.

It has a wooden frame, cardboard walls that have a printed design, and some wooden trim, which is painted.

NWL

Have you tried a Mr Clean Eraser in an out of the way spot?

Steve