I was finaly able to remove the glazing from my Athearn N scale F59PHI. I want to thank Roy Haddad and those who replied to my post for their suggestions and to Mark Peterson, aka Spookshow, who allowed me to use his picture of the F59PHI bodyshell.. The process was not easy and took about two hours but was much easier than my unsuccessful attempt to remove the glazing from an undecorated N scale Fox Valley GP60M.
Here are the steps I used:
Remove the body shell and couplers.
Using a pointed round toothpick, gently push in the two clear ditchlights. These are held in place by a light bar that sits in a channel in the light barrier. The light bar is seated so firmly that it only moves a little bit back but not won’t lift up.
Using an Xacto knife with a #11 blade, score down both sides of light bar between it and the sides of the channel in the light barrier (see Arrow #1). This allowed a little more movement but not enough to remove the light bar.
Using the small chisel blade in the Micro-Mark knife handle with surgical blades, remove the two retaining walls on the light barrier near at the end of the light bar. (see Arrow #2). The light bar moved back even further but still wouldn’t lift out.
I found that there are two very small stops at the base of the channel just at the rear of the light bar (Arrow 3). I shaved these flush with the chisel blade. The light bar now moved back enough so that it could be carefully removed. I then was able to lever up and remove the light barrier (Arrow 4)
Now the windows.
With the light bar and barrier removed, I used the eraser at the end of a pencil to gently push in the side windows enough to disengage them.
The front cab windows were still solidly in place. It looks as if there is a gluing point on the roof inside and behind the center windshield window. I scored this several times with a #11 blade. The window assembly finally came free after I gently pushed it from the outside with a round toothpick,
Time consuming, but less so than masking all of the glazing with their compound curves. I’ll still have to mask the headlight, two red forward lights and the rear light. The shell came clean after only about three hours in Scalecoat’s Wash Away.
I was unable to attach the photo of the Athearn shell. I've posted it on two other Forums
