Trying to dismantle a passenger car - hit a brick wall.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hey all,

First, sorry if this belongs in a different forum. If it does please kindly direct me there as I am new.

I am trying to prepare a sentimental Christmas gift, my father and I had a small HO scale railroad for our “guy time” together. As we live near Boston, we always wanted the MBTA model but it was always out of budget. I decided, now that I am older, that I would try my hand at constructing a set. I boldy ventured out and bought a mostly unmarked Bachmann double decker train car, seen below.

http://web4.hobbylinc.com/gr/bac/bac13248.jpg

As those who have seen the MBTA trains can tell you, the red and blue stripe needs to go, so I started to dismantle the body so I can remove the shell/windows and strip the paint. I will then repaint the car for the set. However, after removing the trucks I am not sure where to proceed and was hoping someone could point some guidance. I am not sure how fragile the cars are, so I did not want to put elbow grease into it and risk breaking it.

2

Are you sure it can be dismatled? Many things in this hobby cannot be dismantled including some that are not soposed to be glued but in construction somehow they were at the factory.

3

Give the Bachmann forum a try, although someone asked the question in 2012 and never got an answer.

http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/board,2.0.html

4

[#welcome]

The only Bachman passenger cars I have are the full dome 85 footers and they come apart. Their construction is a bit different than others as the bottom has pins and latches on all four sides. The trick is to pull the sides out and pull the bottom down from the middle of the car. The bottom is flexible and the ends will pop free and your in.

Mel

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

Bakersfield, California

5

Thanks for the advice guys, it seems rrebell is correct as the car was assembled then glued or heated together. It seems that a careful job is on hand.

6

Sounds a lot like the old Concor cars. These had shell tabs that were glued into the chassis. You could reach in and pop the joint loose at each tab with a knife blade or small flat blade screwdriver (a bit safer). Then pry or twist to break the tab loose. Usually those came out pretty cleanly, so with luck this will happen with your Bachmann car.

7

I have a couple of those commuter cars. I started to take one apart to access the interior. I popped off the heater/AC cupalos on each end, and was able to gently remove the top. I noticed there are 4 little pins that hold the cupalos on, and they broke immediately, so they will have to be glued back on. If you look in through the windows, you can see the tabs that hold the roof to the sides. The project was set aside, and I never did try to take it apart any further. In the Bachmann forum, your suppose to be able to gently coax the bottom off, after removing the trucks. I didn’t get that far. The seams in the roof are tight, and are not readily visable, until you get them apart.

Mike.

8

An alternate plan is to get two cars. And destroy the bottom of one to get to and save the top of the other. And destroy the top of the second car to have a leftover bottom.

That’s rather crudely put, but it might be an option.

Ed

9

7573,
I have actually done this car (made it MBTA), but years ago now. I’m trying to remember what I did, but I don’t recall there being a big struggle to get the car apart. Hmm…

I distinctly remember popping out the windows with a pair of needlenose pliers. Now it’s not what you think. I used pliers that had soft rubber grips, and especically at the end of the grips. I held one handle grip, and then tapped each window from the outside with the other handle end until the window popped. The rubber on the end of the grip cushioned the blow and prevented damage to the window glass, but still provided enough umph to pop the windows out.

I did not strip the model. I just washed the shell and painted it silver. Yeah, you can see the old stripes when you hold it up to the light, but after it’s painted and decaled you won’t notice it.

Let’s see; I also pulled off the end diaphragms. After the model was complete, I Gooed on the Walthers rubbber diaphragms as they better match the T’s.

The interior was already purple on mine, so that was a win.

Oh, and I got rid of those awful coupler mounts. I cut them off and glued some styrene pieces in to get the coupler mount to a normal body mount arrangment.

For decals, there’s a train show vendor that actually makes these cars. His name is Frank, and he’s “The Railroad Depot”. While you probably don’t want to pay for his custom made cars, he does sell the decals. So contact him if you want to get the correct lightning stripes and logos.

http://www.therailroaddepot.com/order%20info.htm

The only problem are the numbers. His decals are made for his kits, and his cars have number plates that are glued on the car. As such, they aren’t on the decal sheet. So then you have to get the Mi

10

When I saw the title of this thread (Trying to dismantle a passenger car - hit a brick wall), the thought that came to mind was, “Yep, that’ll do it.” :slight_smile:

11

If your passenger car hit a brick wall, shouldn’t you be trying to put it back together again?

ROAR