Bachmann Class 47 model 31-656 body removal!

[centenary]

My word, taking the body off some manufacturer's locos is sometimes not for the faint hearted, is it?

Ive a previous tooling of the Bachmann Class 47, 31-656. To date, it's the only loco Ive really (and I mean, really!) struggled to get the body off and back on again to fit a decoder and speaker!

The loco has 6 screws, 2 alongside each bogie and a longer more coarser threaded screw behind the buffer beam. Taking them out was a breeze although due to the size of the screw behind the buffer beam, this needed the use of a pair of tweezers even though I was using a magnetised screwdriver. Although completely unscrewed, due to the weight and length of these screws, they wouldnt just stick to the screwdriver hence the need for the tweezers.

Next, you have to grapple with 4 body pegs just under the cab doors which each fit into a recess in each cab door glazing piece. These pegs, attached to the chassis are quite stout and, to release them, simply pushing upwards with some card will not necessarily work.

Using the old 4 pieces of card trick to get the clips out of each of the glazing recesses didnt seem to work for me. Once I did get the body off, I could see how everything was held on and how springy these body pegs were.

After a lot of frustration and fraught attempts to get under these clips, I actually found a very small jeweller's screwdriver did the job best. Gently holding the body away from the chassis with a finger nail, the small screwdriver poked upwards under the body and light pressure inwards towards the chassis, separated the peg from the glazing recess. Then, a piece of card could be shoved in place to stop the peg slipping back into the glazing recess while you attacked the remaining 3 in turn.

Even so, I managed to break one door glazing piece off completely which somehow caused the half open window to fall out! It was easy to remove the cab assembly by gently spreading the body with 2 fingers and using the tweezers to lift it out. A small bit of pva fixed the glazing pieces back in place.

The speaker and decoder from Roads & Rails was a breeze to fit although a bundle of wires had to be gently teased out of the way to let the 40 x 20 x 6 tablet speaker to fit in the recess.

Getting the body back on was equally fraught as you dont want to force everything together and risk either more glazing falling out or breaking anything. Again, I found placing the body on the chassis so it was central and then push the chassis into the body rather than the other way round worked.

At this point and checking everything is equal, gently pulling the body sides near the cab doors away from the chassis while continuing to push made the pegs engage at one end. Repeat at the other end, hold your breath and the body should finally reseat.

I should really have taken some pictures to show the process but as I said, due to how fraught it was to remove the body, I think that would have stressed me even more! All I can say is thank goodness manufacturers are now designing loco bodies with easier fitment of speaker and decoder in mind.

Finally, I should say the sound from the Loksound 5 and speaker is excellent.

[Mountain]

Things these days are so complicated! I noticed how in the past things were made to be serviced by their design. Some designs today look A1 on the outside, but as you mention, are not really made with opening up in mind.

[Phred]

centenary wrote:
My word, taking the body off some manufacturer's locos is sometimes not for the faint hearted, is it?

Even trying to change the couplers on some models can be fraught with peril, not to mention frustration.

[centenary]

centenary wrote:
My word, taking the body off some manufacturer's locos is sometimes not for the faint hearted, is it?

Even trying to change the couplers on some models can be fraught with peril, not to mention frustration.

Totally agree!

In contrast to the Bachmann Class 47, I had the body off my Hatton's Class 66, Loksound and speaker installed and body back on the chassis, all with no damage in about an hour!

[Metadyneman]

I sympathise with your frustration, but I have now removed so many of these over the last few years, I now know what to expect. So I am fore armed with liquid poly cement to glue the door windows and cab windows back on and any other windows around the cab which want to fall off when taking the body off a 47 (or any other loco come to think of it. Sometimes we just need to take a bit more time and give it just a bit more patience than is written in the instructions to get the body off. The best way is to do it all on a table with a white sheet of paper to catch all of the bits which fall off!

[aleopardstail]

I sympathise with your frustration, but I have now removed so many of these over the last few years, I now know what to expect. So I am fore armed with liquid poly cement to glue the door windows and cab windows back on and any other windows around the cab which want to fall off when taking the body off a 47 (or any other loco come to think of it. Sometimes we just need to take a bit more time and give it just a bit more patience than is written in the instructions to get the body off. The best way is to do it all on a table with a white sheet of paper to catch all of the bits which fall off!

video camera rolling helps too, specifically with the "where the heck does this bit go?" question

[centenary]

I sympathise with your frustration, but I have now removed so many of these over the last few years, I now know what to expect. So I am fore armed with liquid poly cement to glue the door windows and cab windows back on and any other windows around the cab which want to fall off when taking the body off a 47 (or any other loco come to think of it. Sometimes we just need to take a bit more time and give it just a bit more patience than is written in the instructions to get the body off. The best way is to do it all on a table with a white sheet of paper to catch all of the bits which fall off!

Wish Id have known, Id have asked your advice! TBH, nothing else broke off which is a benefit!

[Bigmet]

I sympathise with your frustration, but I have now removed so many of these over the last few years, I now know what to expect... Sometimes we just need to take a bit more time and give it just a bit more patience than is written in the instructions to get the body off...

After many similar wrestling matches, I had reached the same conclusions, until one finally arrived with no instructions.

The body stays in place like a close fitting glove, no clips or screws, comes off with minimal effort. Of course, this would be found on a subject of which a sole model is sufficient. Dapol NBL DE type 2, TOPS 21, only current traction model from this brand that I own, so no idea if this is typical of their twin bogie products.

[Ken Shabby]

I sold my Bachmann 47 a few years back. It was running perfectly, but I knew sooner or later the body would have to be removed for servicing . One day I came across a video on YouTube , in which an experienced modeller struggled to remove the body of a Bachmann 47.
I remembered how easy it was to service my Green Lima Class 47, and realised I wasn't bothered about the lack of detail and huge couplings . My mind was made up, and the Bachamm 47 was went on eBay, and the funds from it's sale bought me 3 more Lima Class 47..
Ken

[Metadyneman]

Wish Id have known, Id have asked your advice! TBH, nothing else broke off which is a benefit!

I'm always happy to give advice on things like that, I've been railway modelling for over 50 years now and not a lot beats me when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back again. I guess it's a lack of fear which helps. I bought a brand new Accurascale class 50 and within days I had it in bits due to a seized gear tower. I didn't actually know it was that until I'd taken it apart as the loco just stopped and sat there humming without reason. Bit of lubrication to un-seize the bearing then re assembly and it has been running perfectly ever since. I would definitely not recommend doing that under normal circumstances especially if the thing is under guarantee but I have a curious mind and to know how to do something, I use the "let's see how this works" method!
P.S. I'm currently waiting for parts to arrive from Dapol to get one of my Class 52s back on the rails after a disaster to one of it's gear towers . Happy days!

[centenary]

Wish Id have known, Id have asked your advice! TBH, nothing else broke off which is a benefit!

I'm always happy to give advice on things like that, I've been railway modelling for over 50 years now and not a lot beats me when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back again. I guess it's a lack of fear which helps. I bought a brand new Accurascale class 50 and within days I had it in bits due to a seized gear tower. I didn't actually know it was that until I'd taken it apart as the loco just stopped and sat there humming without reason. Bit of lubrication to un-seize the bearing then re assembly and it has been running perfectly ever since. I would definitely not recommend doing that under normal circumstances especially if the thing is under guarantee but I have a curious mind and to know how to do something, I use the "let's see how this works" method!
P.S. I'm currently waiting for parts to arrive from Dapol to get one of my Class 52s back on the rails after a disaster to one of it's gear towers . Happy days!

Richard at Roads and Rails has a lot of how to get the body off locos web instructions but, they can be a bit brief. I used that for the 47 but it didnt go into detail about pushing the pegs inwards!

[Bigmet]

...I've been railway modelling for over 50 years now and not a lot beats me when it comes to taking things apart and putting them back again. I guess it's a lack of fear which helps...

I operate on the basis that RTR models are simply assembled kits, and anything that can be assembled will come apart, unless a 'permanent' adhesive has been used.

..currently waiting for parts to arrive from Dapol to get one of my Class 52s back on the rails after a disaster to one of it's gear towers...

I have never yet had a centre motor twin bogie drive have a 'disaster' in a gear tower requiring spares to fix; I would be interested in a fault description if you care to add that? (Limited experience of Dapol, just one item and no trouble thus far.) I feel I know all that's necessary for the Bachmann, Heljan, Hornby, centre motor designs: is the Accurascale scheme like any of these?

[Metadyneman]

I have never yet had a centre motor twin bogie drive have a 'disaster' in a gear tower requiring spares to fix; I would be interested in a fault description if you care to add that? (Limited experience of Dapol, just one item and no trouble thus far.) I feel I know all that's necessary for the Bachmann, Heljan, Hornby, centre motor designs: is the Accurascale scheme like any of these?

Quite simply, one of the brass bearings holding the drive shaft overheated and the plastic housing that it sits in melted, I'm not sure why it overheated as there was plenty of lubricant on the shaft through the bearing. This resulted in the whole drive shaft making a bid for freedom and in so doing the worm drive stripped the idler gear in the tower, rendering the whole thing dead! I decided that it would be better to purchase a completely new bogie direct from Dapol for £30 rather than try and rescue one which had died so spectacularly. I might just add that as you may recall, I have a garden railway and locos can be left running for some time, so I can only assume the bearing ran hot due to the length of time the loco had been running. This is the first time I have ever encountered a total failure though so hopefully it's a one off.
As for Accurascale locos, the mechanical "innards" of the diesels are almost identical to every centre mounted motor loco on the market, and have the usual cardan shaft through a universal joint to the gear towers. Once you've taken one of these types apart, it's a bit like riding a bike when doing it again as I'm sure you may have encountered, although there are obviously minor detail differences.

[Metadyneman]

Richard at Roads and Rails has a lot of how to get the body off locos web instructions but, they can be a bit brief. I used that for the 47 but it didnt go into detail about pushing the pegs inwards!

I have always found Richard very helpful and have "picked his brains" on many occasions, particularly with DCC and DCC sound issues.

[Bigmet]

Thanks for such a detailed reply altogether, covering everything I had batted in your direction, this is much appreciated.

Quite simply, one of the brass bearings holding the drive shaft overheated and the plastic housing that it sits in melted, I'm not sure why it overheated as there was plenty of lubricant on the shaft through the bearing...

To deal with this specific aspect I have once had a similar brass bearing overheat, and I expect the cause might be the same. The item on which this occurred was one of the initial Hornby 08 releases, which swiftly produced complaints online of high pitched screaming when running, often accompanied by slowing to a stop or near halt. The source proved to be one of the brass bearings on the worm shaft, which was sufficiently hot when the screaming started that it caused a blister on my finger tip.

Primary cause: much too close a fit between the steel shaft and the brass bearing.
Contributing cause: steel shaft machining finish. There was ample lubricant on the shaft but it was efficiently pumped out of the bearing when running, because of the (invisible) helical track on the shaft from machining. Sustained running left the bearing effectively dry and heating to seizure.

Your outdoor layout sustained operation will have presented ample opportunity for prolonged heating, if the cause was the same. (I fixed my own and a friend's 08 by utilising the pumping action to push 'Brasso' through the brass bearing several times, and that slackened the fit sufficiently that the problem was eliminated once all cleaned up and relubricated.)