Can anyone help me with disassembling a Kato EMD NW2 Phase One model. It is HO gauge, product # 37-10D. Not a new model. Not sure how old, but mine’s pretty dusty. I can not figure out how to get the shell off of this thing. I have taken off the couplers and the cab body, but the shell and trucks are a mystery.
The problem it has is that sometimes (rarely) the engine seems to have excellent power. Then it suddenly goes into slow motion. I was thinking to clean all of the contact surfaces, but it may be more than that.
Any ideas on disassembly without destruction and what the power problem might be?
You must first remove the couplers. I have installed DCC decoders into 3 of these models, and seem to recall that there are some screws holding the shell on, but I don’t remember for sure because it’s been a couple of years since I did it and I’m not at the club to look at them.
After you remove the couplers, try pulling up on the shells and see if they slide off. You may need to pry the shell apart near the center to clear some tabs. If the shell doesn’t slide off, then start looking for hidden phillips head screws near the corners.
Before you go to this extreme, however, clean the wheels, including their inside edges and see if performance doesn’t improve. The symptoms you describe are nearly always indicative of dirty wheels.
Put some liquid track cleaner on a small rag, hold it in position stretched across the track, turn your throttle full on, and let the locomotive wheels spin on the rag to clean them.
The shell on this engine is so tight they posted a procedure on the Kato website. Basically there are four dimples on the side of the frame that go into four mating holes in the shell. They are right above each truck. Unfortunately they have about .000000000000000000001" clearance and I defy godzilla to, “grasp the carbody and pull up gently” according to the website. i had to pry mine off with a screwdriver carefully so I didn’t mar it. Before I put it back on I filed the dimples off so I wouldn’t have that problem in the future.
After removing the fuel tank be careful with the flat bronze pickups. these need to be removed before attempting to remove/ pry off the shell as ndbprr recommends.
Bob K.
Alright!!! Thanks guys. The website tip did help, although a little indirectly. The best part was just finding out how the blasted thing was secured. Here’s what worked for me.
I couldn’t budge the “front” end. So I removed the cab. Not too hard. Then I worked on the cab end of the engine with my thumb on the metal frame. I found that a very small diameter screwdriver between the frame and shell next to the metal tab at that end of the frame helped. That loosened the front. Still could budge the back. But by using a small jewelers screwdriver (1.8 mm, I think) again at the metal tab on the nose end, I was able to get the pin out of the dimple on one side. I repeated on the other, and then was able to “rock” the shell off of the frame.
I’ll check the contacts, and try the wheel cleaning idea next.