So I removed the couplers and keeper plate, and with a BIG file ground the cover off thus exposing the gear as above which is now proud by no more than 1mm. Result: the 03 glides across the ramps like John Sergent on ice.
Wednesday, 17 August 2011
Bachmann 03 problem
One of my major moans about this jump into mainstream RTR modelling is that things that should work together...don't. Case in point is this standard Bachmann 03. It runs beautifully, far better than I could manage with a kit-built chassis. It comes complete with tension lock couplers, as they all do, which are designed, one assumes, to work with the trade's uncoupling ramps. This is another gripe, but my point here is that this little beast runs up to a ramp, and then 'clunk'! There is a cover over the gear wheel which is lower than the coupling droppers. Why? Did someone fail to notice this at the design stage? So I removed the couplers and keeper plate, and with a BIG file ground the cover off thus exposing the gear as above which is now proud by no more than 1mm. Result: the 03 glides across the ramps like John Sergent on ice.
So I removed the couplers and keeper plate, and with a BIG file ground the cover off thus exposing the gear as above which is now proud by no more than 1mm. Result: the 03 glides across the ramps like John Sergent on ice.
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Mmmm....I guess the cover's there to prevent unwanted hairs (?)from entering the mechanism while the train set is being played with on the carpet...
ReplyDeleteI feel I should share the joke.
ReplyDeleteThe above gent and I were standing idle in a local model shop when a ginger bearded chap came in complaining that his locos wouldn't run and could the shop fix? We spent the next hour disassembling and removing a not unsubstantial pile of ginger pubes from each loco. Draw your own conclusions.