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Of all my years of MRRing this is the worst disaster I've encountered and it happened to my favorite locomotive. I dropped this SD38-2 from a height of four feet to the concrete floor. The right side of the cab roof took the brunt of the hit. The side railings broke and the rear shattered into a dozen or so pieces. The front railing has only one break and easily repairable. One of the fans popped out - another easy fix.
I started the cab repair and didn't take a before photo, but there were two cracks 1/8" wide, the length of the cab above and below the window. I'll sand and paint them. Not much left of the window.
A piece of the right truck frame broke off and went to wherever lost pieces go. I started this repair and didn't have much faith in it looking good, so I ordered a new one.
When I picked it up from the floor, the front truck fell out. Not good! Further inspection revealed a broken worm gear cover locking tab was broke. No easy way to fix so I ordered a new truck.
One of the worst sounds I ever heard was that Athearn hitting the floor and seeing it all busted up. Stuff happens, but I'll never forget it.
This is where I am in the repairs, so I'll continue with updates until it's done. Check back
It's not the "Thunk" when it hits the floor, it's the tinkly sound that all the little parts scattering to the darkest corners of the basement make that gets you! Been there, done that. If the cab repair doesn't go well, there's always Canon & Company!
It's not the "Thunk" when it hits the floor, it's the tinkly sound that all the little parts scattering to the darkest corners of the basement make that gets you! Been there, done that. If the cab repair doesn't go well, there's always Canon & Company!
After 20 mins. looking for lost parts, I give up the search. When I built the house, I never got the memo from the contractor as to where that secret lost parts place is
I always clean my shop vac, vacumn the floor, and then look in the vacumn.
In a case like this, you may find that some parts have landed on the layout, or a shelf...
After 20 mins. looking for lost parts, I give up the search. When I built the house, I never got the memo from the contractor as to where that secret lost parts place is
My house has one of those too, I call it "the wormhole", or, "the sub-space anomaly". My house was built in 1940, so I can't ask the builder where the "wormhole" is. Maybe one of us can flag down a Federation starship to scan for it.
I recently repaired an Athearn F7A for a friend in Georgia. Some ding-dong decided to make a repair on the rear Delrin power truck feature using epoxy. I am not an enthusiast of using epoxy.
I ended up prying off all the epoxy and providing a plastic fusion weld on the truck frame. To make a plastic fusion weld, I use a Weller 8200N soldering gun. I make my own soldering tip from discarded Romex residential house wiring. I flatten the tip with a hammer on my bench vice so the tip looks like a paddle. I also collect scrap Delrin to make repairs as needed. I heat up the damaged area and melt up the damaged area (carefully). Many adhesives do not stick well to Delrin but the plastic fusion welds hold like new.
When the prongs break of the top of the Delrin gear tower,
When the prongs break off the top of the Delrin gear tower, there are a couple of paths forward.
One thing which can be done (non-reversible) is to install the cover on the gear tower / Delrin gear tower and use a plastic fusion weld to attach the cover to the Delrin gear tower case.
A prong could also be installed on both sides of the Delrin gear tower case using plastic fusion welds. Sewing thread could then be used and wrapped around the gear tower cover. Glue could be applied to the sewing thread if desired. This approach has the advanage of being reversible (that is, removable).
