Hello all - and thanks for reading my first post! I hope to someday be able to contribute around here, I’m returning to the hobby after a 12 year hiatus.
My first loco is already giving me great heartache. I purchased the awesome Atlas Silver Series UP Dash 8-40CW, and then bought a decoder for it. Only trouble is - I can’t get the body off of the loco!
I looked at Atlas’s website, and even tried to register for their forum, but it’s not working. I’ve looked at their directions that say very obviously “lift the front, then the back”. I even tried the suggested “wiggle”, but it’s not happening. The cab is now lifting off the body (and doesn’t want to go back on now), and I’ve almost dropped the loco several times trying to hold on to the metal frame behind the fuel tanks. Something is binding up in the nose, I can’t even pry it off with a screwdriver.
For the record, I did follow the directions, and removed the coupler pockets, fuel tank sides and brake chain. However, it simply refuses to come off.
Can anyone offer any tips on how to remove this shell without destroying it?
If I remember correctly, there may be two additional screws underneath the truck assemblies - I haven’t done a install on one of these in a whil so I can’t recall.
THe other thing I was going ot mention wa that you need ot carefully pull’outwardly’ as you’re pulling the shell off…try that and see if it helps.
I have BNSF that I put a decoder into it and it was pain to get off. You just have to wiggle and squeeze the sides a little near the back… It seems like you are about to break it but it it will give.
I feel for you Andrew I’ve tried to post this 4+ times and have had to change browsers. I can’t stay logged in in Safari long enough to post.
I don’t have a dash 8CW but I do have several dash 8BW’s and I believe they are similar and checked the Atlas website and the listing for shell removal at: http://www.atlasrr.com/Support/locoshell.htm#ho840c The way I read it it says to start lifting the shell on the rear end by the radiator not the front, you may want to try gently pushing down on the front to get it as far back down as you can and then start from the rear(radiator) end.
Thanks for the warm welcome and for all the replies! Good news - after about three cups of coffee and an hour of digging, I finally got the shell off the frame. It seems Atlas is placing little metal tabs on the frame that fit into tiny holes inside the shell - way up above the window line. These are what was causing me so much trouble.
The way I finally removed it was to remove the cab assembly. This exposed the large, tall metal framework just behind the cab, where the offending tabs were located. Once I could see them, I used a small flat head screwdriver to pop the frame off of these tabs. Once that was done, the shell finally gave it up and came off.
While I can appreciate Atlas trying to make sure the shells don’t come off in the event of an F-5 tornado, I tend to lift my locos by the fuel tanks anyway. I took a file to the tabs and removed them. I installed an NCE decoder, tested the unit (it took me a while to set it up, it was my first ever decoder install / config), and once it was running I re-assembled the shell.
The performance of the Atlas Silver Series locos is amazing. It is quieter than my Kato AC4400W, and will creep along at a crawl. I set up my first consist, slaving it with my new Athearn Genesis MP15AC (with Tsunami onboard), and was having quite a big of fun running them around the makeshift layout I’ve set up. I need to get into the NCE book and figure out how to match the power settings, as the MP15 was trying to shove the big Dash 8 along… it was running at probably three times the speed of the big loco. Either way, I had a blast - was up until 3am working on it - got a late start this morning - Thank GOD I’m self employed!!
Thanks again for your help, and I’ll keep you all posted (and will hopefully figure out how to upload pics soon!)