everytime I open a box containing freight passenger or locos from their original boxes I find broken or missing parts? the boxes are well stored does anyone else have this problem or do i have gremlins and the cat can’t get at them. rambo1…
Do you have a lot of boxes stacked on top of each other? Do you have the contents cushioned with a paper towel so that they don’t move around?
Tom
their in their own rapping and very little weight on top.rambo1…
Are these original boxes from a supplier you just bought?
Are they that way after you have yourself stored them? {you mention them as “well stored”,what does that mean exactly?}
Are they in a container molded to their shape or just in a generic box in which they can “rattle around”?
If the first, send back for a new model.
if the second, perhaps they are disturbed while stored? {animals,shifting weight, children messing with, etc}}
if the third in a generic box, be sure to pack well with paper towels and then bubble wrap {do not let the bubble wrap touch the items directly}
If none apply, perhaps you do have gremlins!
[8-|]
the boxes from supplier and their stored in cubbords
can winter temps also do it?
Certainly Heat / Cold / Humidity can impact anything in storage so if your stuff can experience extremes that could be a factor…
[C):-)]
How certain are you that the parts were not broken or missing when you stored the cars?
But, to quote Sherlock Holmes, “When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
I would take a closer look at the cat.
checked them all some are proto 2000 kits and i used tenax glue
Quite a good number of the newer highly detailed RTR, Proto esspecially are rather fragile. I find myself breaking some of the plastic grabs from time to time. I also modify the packing from the origional to make removal and replcement easier and less susceptable to breakage. Walther’s passenger cars really need to placed in the “exact” box they came in as the underbody detail can be broken when it will not nesstle down in the blister pacing made for the specific car as well as the proper orientation of the right car for it’s box. Other locos are stored w/ cut pieces of foam to dampen any movement and help to apsorb some small shock if bumped or dropped. I use cab shades on almost all of my EMD locos and really need to take precausions in the packing to not break them off. I have enough trouble w/ keeping them on just on the club layout. The Proto Power storage boxes work quite well also, Some extra foam is needed there as well. Some storage boxes will have the cardboard dividers cut high enough to snap off any cab shade that you place near it
If you find that certain type or specific grabs or details are constantly breaking, do as drwayne, others and myself will do and replace the part w/ brass or steel wire or use a cast detail part. You won’t be breaking those items again.
A lot of the newer cars and locomotives are fragile and with some brands the tiny parts will fall off a the slightest touch.
I suspect some of the tiny parts was “pushed in” instead of glued in place…
This past winter I put together a number of kits that I had bought earlier and kept safely on a shelf.
There were 13 total, 8 of them laser, 5 of them plastic - all Cornerstone.
The laser kits were all in perfect shape - which was a bit surprising due to their very nature.
The Cornerstone kits ALL had broken parts! I managed to work around all the problems (thanks to some really good scrap boxes) and all ended up OK. I did contact Walther’s about replacement parts for the Modern Coaling Tower and Betsy’s Diner, but that was a waste of my time.
Hmm.
I wonder if these plastic parts are made of cheaper non-petroleum plastic that deteriorates.
Some of the “natural” or “cellulose derivitive” plastics deteriorate quickly, sometimes quicker than one would like.
I think maybe the thinner, the finer the part, the easier it is to break and break down?
Just an idea?
[8-|]
Hmmm, HO scale gremlins…now there is a market that hasn’t been tapped yet.
thankyou all for the great responces. rambo1…
Sure it has: Motormax Fresh Cherries 1974 AMC Gremlin HO Scale
I built an 1;87 scale jail for them…but the gremlins must have been N scale, there still on the looose [banghead]