Steve Taylor Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 (Subtitle: without removing my hair or damaging the loco) I've bought an E-Z command and a couple of chips in order to stick my toe in Lake DCC. My first test bed will be an Ivatt 4 on a length of the dining table main line (runs from breakfast bar parkway to sideboard central). I've looked at my Ivatt4, removed the brake rigging and the screws as indicated in the enclosed paperwork, but cannot get the bodyshell to separate cleanly from the chassis. It appears the reversing gear and injector pipework are attached to both and don't obviously wish to part. Is there a way of doing this without breaking them? Cheers for any suggestions Steve Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Steve, The reverser is not connected to the chassis. It's the four pipes around the injectors under the fireman's side that have to be disengaged. The two from the steam fountain pull out of the top of the injector mouldings, the two feed pipes to the boiler have to be pulled out of the front of the injector mouldings. These four pieces of springy plastic then have to be kept clear of the chassis dropping out of the bottom of the cab. (Use your third hand to facilitate this manoeuvre.) I see you have already removed the brake rodding, for future reference this is rarely necessary on Bachmann; in this case a narrow crosshead screwdriver shaft will go down the two deep holes in the chassis for the fixing screws, without removing the rodding. You may ping one or two locator pegs out, but these are easily restored with tweezers on reassembly. On mine the two boiler feed pipes were glued in, but I am given to understand that on the more recent models all the pipes are push fit only. While you have the chassis out, check the lubrication around the gears, and remove the three capacitors, you may as well get the whole job done in one go. This is definitely one to test run the chassis with the decoder on programme track, and then on main, before replacing the body (always good practise, and never more so than when body removal and replacement is a mite awkward). There is an accomodation slot for the decoder in the boiler, a screw on the boiler underside releases a ballast weight to clear this space. I would recommend lining the resulting slot with insulating tape, if the decoder you use is not supplied with an insulating cover. It is possible to fit in more lead by weight, than the weight lost by removing the ballast block, but leave that for another day perhaps? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Taylor Posted January 13, 2010 Author Share Posted January 13, 2010 Thanks for getting back with answers so quickly. I'll be giving it a go just as soon as I've a screen bigger than a blackberry to refer to. Cheers for that. Steve PSH ran the Ivatt in on DC last night - lovely quiet runner Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
34theletterbetweenB&D Posted January 13, 2010 Share Posted January 13, 2010 I really rate it as a model, just the sort of thing we are short of in RTR, a medium power goods machine. Fingers crossed that Bachmann have more of this class of machine in their future plans. About the only significant improvement that could be made to this model's appearance would be representation of the frame plates. However, that would mean loosing weight from the chassis block on a loco that is already a little on the light side. should you wish to push the weight up, sheet lead installed under the cab roof, and on the cab floor is very effective; and thanks to the tender cab, completely inconspicuous once painted over. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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