Good Morning!
Well, I had an accident yesterday and thought I would pass it along as it just might save you from a similar "tradgedy".
I have a "new in the box" Spectrum ATSF GE 44 ton switcher that I've had for a number of years, but just forgot I had it. I put it on the test track and it growled, so I took it apart and "lubed and tuned" it, and then broke it in on the track rollers (Aristocraft). This little loco has two small motors, and really is kind of neat. Anyway, while it was breaking in I switched out the NMRA couplers, and noticed that one of the two "headlamps" was burnt out.
Well, I had some spare grain of wheat bulbs and soon had the replacement soldered in. This is a fairly intricate job and came out nice so I was pretty happy with myself.
Soooo, I put the body shell back on the loco and picked it up (by the shell) to admire my handicraft and ohmygosh, the chassis assembly slipped right out of the shell and hit the carpeted floor!!!! In my haste, I had not secured the chassis to the body, and now I paid for my mistake......
At first it didn't look to bad, for only a couple of truck feeder wires were knocked off, but then I realized a truck side frame was broken off as well. I attempted to glue it on, but delrin plastic just doesn't glue very well. And in looking at the parts diagram, it was obvious that the part that really broked was the main truck/gear box, as the pins holding the side frame are a part of the main "box". Looks like a call to the Bachmann parts people is in order!
Well, I am sure I'll get this thing fixed and all will be well, and while I am "mad" at myself, I am really thankful that is was this loco rather than one of my BLI steamers or Kato diesels.
ENJOY,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
If GM "killed the electric car", what am I doing standing next to an EV-1, a half a block from the WSOR tracks?
I've NEVER done anything like that before...
I've had pretty good luck with Bondini gel CA and also epoxy on Delron plastic.
Try drilling a hole in the corresponding parts; the pin on the truck and what remains of the pin on the sideframe. CA a small piece of wire (using it like a dowel) into one of the holes ensuring that the wire is not too long to allow the sideframe is mount properly. Let that cure. Then put epoxy around the pin and other surface and join the sideframe to the truck. Using the epoxy there gives you some play time to make sure it is level etc. The sideframe is not usually subject to a high stress load so it should hold up.
This sort of thing always seems to happen right after a lot of work has been put into the model.
Mine was an Altas N-scale E7.
believe it or not, I actually just did that with my Gn15 loco an hour ago
fortunately, nothing was broken.
"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." - Jim Elliot Visit my blog! http://becomingawarriorpoet.blogspot.com
A few years ago I was finishing up re-motoring and painting a 1950's Mantua Big Six. I was working at my desk, made the final assembly and set it aside. While working on the computer I moved my elbow and heard a huge THUD. Broke the cast steps off the pilot, and left a nice dent in the wood floor.
As you pointed out, at least it's an inexpensive Bachmann, and they have great customer support. You should be able to get parts, but if not you can get a full replacement for a small fee, assuming you can't put Humpty-Dumpty back together.
Nelson
Ex-Southern 385 Being Hoisted
TA462 wrote:The very first thing I learned at my train club was to always grab a diesel loco by the fuel tank. I was picking up one of my loco's and one of the older members stopped me and told me a story very similar to yours. Ever since then I grab em by the fuel tank.
That works for diesels but steeplecabs don't have fuel tanks....
Oboy, now I don't feel too bad. Mine was a Hallmark brass Missouri Pacific 4-6-2 that dropped off of a viaduct onto the cement floor of the garage on my first layout. I didn't even want to look. Oddly enough, though things were a little bent, nothing was BROKEN. So I took it to the workbench, checked it out. Funny thing, before it took its nose-dive, it was never that good of a runner. After the nosedive, and a few repairs, it turned out to be a pretty good little runner--much better than when I originally bought it. Although I don't reccommend it, perhaps a 'shock to the system' was all the little devil really needed, LOL!
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
The joke around the office is, "Drop your calculator. It'll work better." Seems to work too. Though no one has taken that to it's next conclusion. Drop you computer, it'll work better.
That's how I ALWAYS pick up diesels! Mainly because there's no little details to break off down there, but also because I have an Atlas SDP35 that has a removable dynamic brake blister to access the DC/DCC switch. I've never dropped a loco before, luckily.
(Although Guilford Guy is "leasing" me a Bachmann GE 70-tonner that the shell isn't fastined on, I picked it up once leaving the chassis on the track holding the shell! He got a laugh out of watching me......)
You could outfit a pretty nice Model Railroader project layout with the stuff I have dropped on the floor and destroyed over the years .....
The one lesson of course is no matter how angry you are at yourself, and no matter how therapeutic it would be to toss the broken pieces away and never have to look at them again, it always pays to save every bit for who knows what project down the line.
Dave Nelson
Been there, Done that.. It's for this reason, diesels are Never picked up by the shell in my layout room. No carpet to pad the fall either.
I once had a section of track that ran underneath some benchwork. As Murphy's luck would have it, this is where the trains always stalled. Use to have to use a yardstick to nudge them along. Well, guess what happened one day?? Nose dive, 4 feet right on the nose. My Brand New P2K GP7.. The thing that probably saved it from real tradgety was that it still had those crappy plastic couplers on it. I think it absorbed the shock enough to prevent a complete disaster. Coupler is still on the loco, I just haven't replaced it yet.. Guess what section of track is no longer inaccessable..
I've done that before. Broken a few, my protos haven't broken though. (one of my GP9s hit the floor once, nothing broke off)
I have done somehting with some other locomotives that hit the floor. (stuff I had before I got my proto's [I call them prots])
I don't know what I did.....
Vincent
Wants: 1. high-quality, sound equipped, SD40-2s, C636s, C30-7s, and F-units in BN. As for ones that don't cost an arm and a leg, that's out of the question....
2. An end to the limited-production and other crap that makes models harder to get and more expensive.