I just bought a nice Genesis car but it seems that the weight inside is loose. I sent a mail to Athearn and this is the answer:
“Please note that the roof is removable so you can get inside and re-glue the weight.”
But how do I remove the roof without breaking anything?
The car is Athearn Genesis G4003, HO 60’ High Cube OB Waffle Plug Door Box, NW.
Didnt it come with an exploded parts diagram? Also, it would help if you let us know which car it is, they are all put together differently.
Daivid B
I’ve got a bunch of Athearn Genesis undecorated kits and the roof just gets glued on. I would try to gently pry or pull the sides of the car to break the glue loose. Its going to be tuff though I bet if at all possible. You may have to try removing the floor instead???
As I wrote in my question, Athearn Genesis G4003, HO 60’ High Cube OB Waffle Plug Door Box, NW.
If the roof piece is GLUED on for an undecorated car (which Athearn should expect to be disassembled for finishing), that’s just plain silly.
Actually this brings to my mind something that (may be) quite irritating, but for some reason I forget to check when I’m in the hobby store…
Good ol’ Athearn molded and painted some nice housecars (boxcars, reefers), except in the middle of the roof was a big old casting stub remain (usually an uneven half stub, half sink), painted over - fine when housecars had roofwalks, as it was hidden, but on the post-1966 housecars which went ‘roof-bare’, this looked, well, dang crappy, and (to my eyes) stuck out like a neon sign. Practically impossible to sand down, fill w/ putty, and prime and paint just that small area to hide this mess cleanly.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, idlly looking at my discount local hobby shop (10% sale that day!), saw some Athearn containers (RTR…not much difference between a RTR container and a Kit container, just the floor inserted) and also saw…the stupid casting stub remains! Say What?!?, paying 5-10-15 more for a RTR, why the heck isn’t that stub remain GONE! So I ask, on the newer Athearn RTR stuff (I haven’t checked for some reason), is that cast stub remain finally gone (perhaps by mold injection from the roof edge, which cleans up better)? And why is it still there on the older kits - if you’re charging 5 buck more for RTR, then you can afford to pay somebody in East Asia a buck an hour to sand down that crappy casting stub before painting?
Um…then don’t buy Athearn. Its not like there are no other MFGs out there…
David B
It would be silly if they glued it on. The car comes disassembled and all the parts are in the car itself. You pop off the roof and there they are. You glue the roof on yourself, I guess I wasn’t making myself clear enough when I discribed how they roof gets installed.