No.27 All Steamed Up - repairing Bachmann coach glazing

The sun has come out and the garden beckons.  With the sunshine we can also see which of our double glazed units have failed.  Upstairs the sudden warmth is likely to be responsible for the spontaneous failure of the glazing in one of my Bachmann Mark One coaches:





This need not be a major problem.  Many of us will be familiar with the ‘stress test‘ applied to items sent by post and will have received coaches with displaced glazing.  I must have been inside over half a dozen Bachmann coaches, the first being a Restaurant Car Unclassified where some of the tables had been glued at a jaunty angle and were shouting out to be repositioned.




First you need a soft cloth to protect the roof of the coach.


With the coach on its roof the two screws holding the bogies are removed.

After lifting off the two bogies the Bachmann coupling compensation units can be lifted out, coupling end first.  This way the retaining spring at the opposite end can be gently eased off its plastic spigot using a fine screw driver.  The secret is to not stretch the spring.  This way you are in control and the spring should stay attached to the plastic compensation device.

Finally the three screws in the underframe are removed.  These release the underframe from the seating unit allowing the coach body to be dismantled.  However before proceeding to the final stage it is necessary to disconnect the water tank filler wires at the coach ends:

This is where you need to be on good terms with your wife and why you may need to undertake time in the garden.  You need a pair of eyebrow tweezers to gently pull out the filler wires from the coach ends.  I wrapped the metal ends of the tweezers with masking tape to ‘soften’ the tweezers and prevent damaging metal to metal contact, and hence preserve the blackened finish on the filler wires.

With the wires disconnected the coach underframe can be removed from the rest of the body.


You might be lucky sliding the seat unit out and only removing the filler wires at one end of the coach.  You will need to look out for the internal metal weight which may not be glued and which has the potential to damage the external paint finish of the model, so be careful and put the weight to one side. 


If possible the filler wires should be removed at both ends allowing the coach to be completely dismantled


This way the failed glazing can be easily repositioned.  At the same time it is sensible to check the rest of the glazing and to see which other units need reattaching.

I don’t know what adhesive Bachmann use but I have successfully repaired a number coaches using Butanone.  In the past I had access to Methyl Ethyl Ketone (MEK) but this supply has dried up (literally).  I am not a chemist but I suspect from the literature that Butanone is just another name for MEK.

I apply the Butanone sparingly with a fine paint brush around the edge of the glazing unit while at the same time making sure that the glazing is pressed firmly into its final position.  With the coach dismantled it is an easy matter to see how far the Butanone penetrates the joint.  Too much Butanone and you will get coloured liquid plastic oozing out round the front of the glazing – so be sparing.


When the glue has hardened, which can take around 30 minutes, the coach can be reassembled which is the reverse of disassembly.  With this particular coach it might have been sensible at this stage to glue the metal weight to the inside of the underframe as done on most Bachmann coaches.  However I chose not to glue the weight and underframe together and final reassembly required the coach to be held correct way round with the screws pushed in from underneath – not clever.



Sometimes there can be difficulties reattaching the filler wires and on occasions the existing holes in the coach ends can benefit from opening out with a 0.5mm twist drill rotated by hand in the existing hole. 



With the body reassembled and wires reattached it only remains to reattach the coupling assemblies and the bogies.  It is important to check that the coupling assembly is properly seated and is lying flat with the two prongs resting up against their respective stops.  Past experience shows that where this has not been carried out correctly the compensation unit will not function and the coach will unexpectedly derail on curved track – so be warned.  If all goes well the labour time for the job should be less than 30 minutes and the coach should be back good as new:



Location: Dumfries and Galloway, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

No.123 Chocolate and Cream and BR1s – the Replica Railways Restaurant Buffet

Image
This Post describes some modifications that I have made to a Replica Railways BR Mk1 RB. Previously i have modified the Mainline Maroon RB by fitting Finecast glazing, wire handrails and Bachmann close coupling mechanisms. I promised myself that I would do the same for the chocolate and cream Replica BR(WR) RB. Success! Replica Railways BR(WR) Restaurant Buffet on BR1 Bogies First task - find a suitable coach! Replica Railways Mk1 RB from around 1992 Models are bit like London buses. When I first started looking for a BR(WR) RB there didn’t seem to be any around and eventually my coach came from Australia. Then suddenly there were lots available here in the UK. On opening the box I was surprised to discover that Replica had painted the solebars chocolate to match the lower body panels – why? Was someone confused by the blue solebars ion the blue and grey version? They should be black and they can be over painted with new transfers added from the P
Read more

No.98 The Peco Streamline 3 Way Point.

Image
The Peco Streamline 3 Way point is an extremely useful space saving device. This Post is prompted because I had to sort out a couple of problems with the installation of my own three way point. I was also aware that other modellers   were finding difficulties with the operation and installation of their 3 way points. The design of the point is symmetrical and has the appearance of a LH point being placed directly on top of a RH point. As a consequence the construction of the point is quite complex and the point requires careful handling especially during installation. When first marketed by Peco the point was only available with ‘Insulfrog’.  The view below shows my first ‘Insulfrog’ point but reinstalled on my second layout. Peco Code 100 3 Way Insulfrog Point – the Park View Layout 1990s The big advantage of the ‘Insulfrog’ point is that it does not require any separate electrical switching and hence is suitable for manual or simple mechanical operation. My same poi
Read more

No. 163 Hornby’s new A2/2 and A2/3

Image
Coming from the North East of England I couldn’t let these new Hornby models pass me by.    Thane of Fife had already disappeared from my 1960 ABC books and I never got to see Cock o’ the North.   There is a big red line through the number in my book, confirming its imminent withdrawal.   I did see the two A2/3s, Steady Aim being a York engine whilst around the beginning of the sixties Sun Castle was based at New England and then Doncaster. Thane of Fife after some adjustment to sand boxes and running plate Steady Aim after some adjustment to the speedometer bracket I hadn’t pre-ordered any of these Hornby models and was initially only interested in the two Late Crest engines.    The two Early Emblem engines were bought as an afterthought with some surprise earnings. All the models I have handled have run very well.   With some notable exceptions the models are also very impressive.   This Post summarises various issues (and fixes) that I have come across with these models.  
Read more