While working on the final assy of some BB locos, I really thought I was loosing it. I’ve probably worked on hundreds of these over the past 25 years and don’t ever remember having any trouble w/ fitting the clear plastic No. boards on them. Of coarse haven’t touched one for about 10 years. I found a GP38-2 and SD40-2 during spring cleaning of the buried basement treasure. Figured since these poor old things were just laying around, NIB and actually don’t remember when I even got them, I would finish them off for a friend’s son. I can’t seem to get the number boards fit in place no matter which way they face or are turned. Don’t ever remember having to “jam” them in or sand to fit. What gives, have I lost something here? These are probably about 8-10 years old (newer style motor, trucks). The clear sprue looked to be right as I can recall. hesdlights installed OK, then moved on to those number boards to no avail. Could they have changed them or posssibly wrong part? They look as if they should fit and are close to no. board replacements I have done on other EMDs.
I too still enjoy the BB locos/cars plus decorating. You may have already done this, but sometimes the paint can be thick and/or there is excessive flashing around those openings. So scraping/cleaning those openings helps, usually not much to remove. Even rarer sometimes the clear plastic can have excessive flashing.
Richard
The board lense just seems too long, the height is OK, but I’ll just have to size to fit. Amazing that after all of these I’ve installed. I don’t remember the orientation of the beveled part. If try to install w/ lond angle out to headlights it jams and don’t want to force it. Did that before and damaged the cab.
Just never remember sanding/ filing these to fit. Got to be a bad mold.
If I remember correctly, the beveled edge faces into the opening and goes towards the center of the cab. A slight scraping of the paint layer in the opening will certainly help. Also, a slight filing on the top and bottom of the lens will allow it to slip into the opening. These are made to fit very close, like the laser cut window kits. If you’re going to paint the lens, do that first. Make’s a much neater job and a heck of a lot easier.
Good point on painting first. I use Microscale decals made especially for number boards.
Richard