Intermountain F7A instructions

[Anonymous]

I have just purchased an Intermountain F7A RTR HO scale loco decorated in the SP Blood nose scheme. Nice loco and runs very well. However, the trucks are black plastic and I wi***o paint them gray to match the rest of the loco. The loco came with no instructions or parts list, only an instruction sheet on how to mount the Kadee couplers.
To avoid damage, can anyone tell me how to remove the truck sideframes the correct way please?
Maybe there is a web site that has this kind of info on it. I have done a quick search but have not turned up anything useful to date.

[Sunset Limited]

Hi Macrocarpa,
I had the same thing happened to me two weeks ago. I purchased two Intermountain SP 'Bloody Nose Scheme" F7's A and a B unit. When I received them they ran great, but I noticed that the fuel tanks were grey but the trucks were black. I went to their website and looked at the photo posted for the SP's and theres were grey! I e-mailed them of this problem and they were happy to exchange them for the black units. I received them a week ago and now everthing matches. Here's their website http://www.intermountain-railway.com/index2.html

[Anonymous]

Thanks EZamora.

I would still like to know how to remove the truck sideframes though. Sending them back to the US would cost a lot in $ and time. A 5 minute job to airbru***hem the correct colour and also a bit of weathering is what I would like to do.

[Sunset Limited]

Your right Macrocarpa,
Well I can think of a couple of ways:
1) This was 'Plan B' for myself if I couldn't have exchange them. Paint Bru***he trucks, Airbru***he fuel tank. (The exchanged unit that I received back with the grey trucks and fuel tank has a black frame and the gear box/wheel holder clip in the middle is black also).
2) Ask Intermountain for instructions or a simple way of removing those items. Their customer service is great.

[cmurray]

It's been a while since I did mine, but if I recall correctly, you have to remove the trucks from the chassis by disconnecting them from the motor shaft and then removing a release pin that holds the sideframes in place. If you try to simply pull them off, the pin will break and then it's "game over". Hope this helps.