Disassembling the Locomotive

Hi Gang

Sorry for the delay, busy at work.

          The first thing to do when disassembling the 44 is to remove the fuel tank, there are 4 screws holding the tank on. Refer to the photos below to identify the locations of the screws. 2 Screws are located between the air tanks and the fuel tank, with the other 2 screws at the opposite end of the fuel tank. Use a fine Phillips head screwdriver to undo the screws. 

          The footplate of the loco has 9 screws to remove before the body can be removed. These are also 2 wring connectors from the footplate to the PC board screwed to the roof of the body, when you remove the body, the red and blue connector will come out (this is the motor supply from the PC Board) the other connector is the supply from the 4 split plunger pickups on the bogies (orange and white). The photos below will show the location of all of the screws and the connectors to the PC Board.

          Once the body is removed, you get a better idea of how the loco is set up. The bogies are attached to the footplate with a sprung plate screwed through the footplate with a hex headed screw, I cut a groove in the top of these screws to allow a screwdriver to be used to secure them. There are angled plates that also screw to the gear tower with brass spacers between the angled plate and the tower.

          The wires from the plunger pickups will need to be cut close to the motor so that the bogie can be removed from the chassis, and rewired later.

           

          Next you will need to remove the original motor and drive shafts, (keep the drive shafts, for use later).

The drive shaft for the gear towers is 3mm and the shaft couplers are held on by 0.89mm Allen keyed grub screws, as per the next photo.

          On my model I found that the bogies we off set to the chassis, both ends being offset by a differing amount. This also meant that the bogies had unequal bogie swing, making navigating a curve different depending on which way the loco was running, so I needed to find the reason for this problem. 

          I removed the bogies from the footplate and found and recited the problem, which I will describe shortly. But next we need to remove the bogies.

          Place the chassis on blocks exposing the bogies. Locate and remove the 4 screws (next photos), turn the bogie and manipulate the tower in the hole and remove it from the footplate.

          The top hat is then unscrewed from the footplate, keeping note of the way that it all comes apart. This top hat section was the reason for my off set bogies. The top hat is an etched brass plate that is bent on fold lines and then has the threaded plate attached to it, but the fold lines still allowed for a weak point to occur, see next photos.

           The solution was fairly simple. Ensure that the top hat is all squared up, and solder a piece of 3mm x 1.5mm brass channel in place, which eliminates the chance of the plate bending. There was also a twist in the plate that the top hat is attached to which required a little manipulation.  Remove this plate from the bogie and sit it on a flat surface and attempt to straighten it. The 3rd photo below shows that the modified top hat does not interfere with the gear tower in any way. 

          I am guessing that at some stage of the packaging process, excess pressure was applied to the bogies and as a result the top hat twisted causing the problem.

          The next post will look at more work on the bogies and and a few other problems that need rectifying, including the chains on the bogies, fitting another motor and and fiber optic modifications.

Regards Keiran Ryan

Introduction

Welcome to a blog that aims to assist modellers in tweaking the newly released KHIAC O Scale NSWGR 44 Class Diesel Locomotive.

I recently purchased 4427 after viewing the Auscision Blog, and having a double take of what was available, and the price of the model, they looked impressive, so I thought what the heck I have to have one. And that was exactly what I did, bought the model. It arrive within a few days and the when the BIG wooden box was opened it really did grab my attention, it looked fantastic.

I grabbed the loco out of the foam packing and started the task of looking all over the loco and viewing photos of 44 class locos to make sure that everything was in the correct place. All looked OK until I noticed that the bogies were of centre, and I thought to myself, what have I bought, this looks terribly wrong.

Upon investigation, the problem was found to be a small pivot plate that is screwed to the bogie with 4 screws and then screwed to the footplate, with a stepped screw that is sprung, allowing the bogie to rock. Now the thought of pulling the loco apart worried me a little, after all I had just spent $1200.00 on this thing and I am now faced with the possibility that it was a bit of a dog.

This blog will break down the process of pulling the loco apart and finding and correct all the faults that may be found, it is not a witch hunt of how good or bad the loco may or may not be, but an instructional blog on repair and or replacement of bits and pieces that will make the loco run better and look good on the track.

I have already heard from modellers who have bought this model, that they have had similar issues that I have had, and with the addition of photos and text, in the next couple of weeks, hope to provide fixes, and upgrade the model to DCC and sound.

Let  us remove the body from the footplate. There are 11 screws holding the body to the footplate. 1 at the front middle of the loco, between the head-stock and the coupler pad, 2 (1 each side, opposite each other) just in front of the Cabin door. 2 between the cab door and the engine compartment door, 2 under the rear of the panel with the side numbers, 2 in front of the cooling pipes, and 2 to the rear of the cooling pipes. The body should come away from the footplate, however there will be 2 plugs that are connected to the PC board screwed to the inner roof of the body. The red and blue wires are supply from the PC Board to the motor and the orange and white wires are pick up wires from the plunger pick ups.

More, including photos in a couple of days.