Can't get Fox Valley Models Hiawatha locomotive shell on.

[Vaderta]

Don't know what I am doing wrong. This thing has been fighting me for two days.  Bought this locomotive and it didn't want to run. Took the body shell off to discover some of the issues. Fix the wiring and go to put the shell on and I can't get it to fit correctly. First problem is the front light pipe keeps falling off when I try to put the shell on. Decide to just leave that off until I can figure out how to get the body positioned correctly and I still can't get it on properly.  It keeps ending up to close to the tender. I know that because when I go to put it in its plastic holder for the jewel case it doesn't fit. I need to slide the shell forward except it doesn't want to slide forward.  Anyone have a procedure they use for putting the shell on one of these. Does the headlight end go in first or the cab end? Thanks for any tips

[peteski]

Well, that circuit board needs to be attached to the metal chassis with 2 screws.  Maybe being loose it is interfering with the shell?  I don't recall any issues when I completely took mine apart for the article I wrote.

I'll have to take mine apart again to recall how the shell goes on.

[peteski]

I just took one of mine apart.  The shell (as you know) is held by a single screw under the (steam?) dome.  The shell then lifts straight up. When placing it back on the chassis, it goes straight down.

As I mentioned, maybe the circuit board or the topside wiring is interfering?  Here are few of photos, similar to the ones I used in the N-Scale Magazine article.




Bottom image is unmodified  chassis as it came from the factory. Notice that the white wire's insulation was pinched at the screw area (the red is also slightly pinched), and more pinching is evident immediately to the right of the electrical tape (the front of the brown motor cradle extends too far up). I cut of the very top of the motor cradle to make room for the wires.

The top image is after I cleaned wiring and seated the wires in the channel molded in the chassis. But the channel is not wide enough to hold all 4 wires (when the extra 2 wires are routed to the top. I had to widen the channel slightly to accept all 4 wires.



The rear circuit board.
On the right is unmodified board installed at the factory.
The right photo shows it after I cleaned it up.  I replaced and re-routed the wires goinig tot he tender, and cleaned up the wiring on the top.



Also make sure that the valve gear is not interfering with the shell.

[Vaderta]

Thanks Pete for the photos. Much appreciated.  I had a heck of a time with this. For whatever reason I couldn't set the shell straight over the top. At the cab there are two ladders which were preventing it from fitting over the chassis. To complicate things the light pipe was not a snug fit and was constantly falling off. Had to put a little canopy glue on it to try to hold it in place. Then to really cause some grief one of the drive gear pins near the pistons fell out and got lost. After an hour of searching for a pin the size of a flea I was able to find and reattach the pin. What I ultimatley had to do was slide the chassis on an angle cab side first and get that into position. Then I had to lower the front end of the chassis into the shell. But it was not seating all the way down. With some fiddling around I was able to get a pair of tweezers and maneuver the light pipe in such a way that it fit into the slot on the frame which then allowed the shell to seat all the way down and I was able to get the top screw in.

When I got this thing I thought it would never run
 It ran a few inches and stopped. Thankfully Lyle at Des Plaines hobby is a very experienced installer there and helped me out bug time with this locomotive. He adjusted the pickups and tweaked a couple other things to get it to where it moved and would just stall out sporadically. He told me to take it home and run the thing as much as I could. He said running it would help burn the crap that had accumulated on the commutator and also help wear in the pickups.  So I did just that and after about two hours I had a good running locomotive that doesn't stall out. I guess the lesson is if you buy a old locomotive that hasn't been run in years it will probably need a good cleaning and running before it runs smoothly.  I suppose I should run some of my steam locomotives that I have as spares as they don't get better with sitting not being run occasionally.  Anyhow, it appears that I will be able to give this to my son for Christmas and Santa is going to get all the credit 😄

[Vaderta]

Pete, I see your ladders are attached to your frame. Mine are attached to my body shell. I am guessing that they must have altered that in between runs. If my ladders were on the frame like yours I would have been able to set the shell straight down. Apparently they decided I needed a challenge lol

[peteski]

Those metal ladders are supposed to be glued to the chassis (not the shell).  If they are glued to the shell, you will not be able to remove the cab off the shell.  That reminds me about the problem with the 2nd Hiawatha loco I have.  That was several years ago and I forgot about the problem.

On the first model I bought the ladders were properly super-glued to the chassis, and I was able to easily pull the shell off (after the screw on the top was removed).  On the 2nd model I was unable to remove the shell. It seemed to be stuck at the rear of the cab.  When I started to examine under the rear of the cab I realized that those ladders were glued to  the sides of the cab along with more glue also attaching them to the chassis.  I had to resort to using a SERB (Single Edge Razor Blade) wedged between the inner wall of the cab and the steps to pry them off the cab. They were attached very well (way too much CA was used at the factory).  I was worried that I would damage the cab, but the ladders finally separated from the shell.  I then scraped the hardened glue off the inner cab walls, and also cleaned the glue off the ladders and their attachment points on the chassis.  Then I glued the steps to the chassis.  Make a note that each ladder is different on the left and right side, and they also have front and back sides.  When glued to the chassis they have to be flush with its rear end.

[Vaderta]

Wow, thanks for that information Pete. Now I know why I was having such issues with it. You are correct, getting the shell off was difficult and getting it on was 10× as difficult.  Now I know why. I thought I was losing it, couldn't figure out why I was having such a hard time. I almost didn't post the question as I didn't want to sound like an idiot.  But I am glad I did as you cleared up why I was having issues.  My problem is Iooking at the ladders, I don't think I will be able to separate them from the cab without causing some serious damage. I think that is part of the reason I knocked a pin out is because I had to maneuver the body in such a way I probably put pressure on the drive rods. Guess I will leave it be for now and hope I don't need to remove the shell anytime soon as I may be forced to cut the ladders off and file them smooth. Obviously that is not what I want to do.

When these models were sold were the ladders put on by the factory or the end users? It was before I was in the hobby again and can't find much info on these.

Thanks again Pete.

[Vaderta]

Ignore my last comment Pete. I read your response again and see you said factory.

[peteski]

You're welcome Vaderta.
Reviewing the photos I  posted earlier, I believe that both ladders are identical (as I mentioned, I dealt with this several years ago).  Not left and right. There is a tab on the ladders and a notch in the edge of the chassis floor where the tab goes in.  You can see that in the photo I posted earlier.

[Vaderta]

Thanks Pete. I see it and now it all makes sense. I don't know how many people got locomotives with the ladders glued in the wrong spot. But those that did likely have no idea why their locomotive is such a bear to work on. Just happy with your postd I was able to connect the dots. Obviously at this point there is not much I can do. But at least I know what I am up against.