I just took on another paint job, this time doing a pair of Dash-9's for a customer. I attempted everythign in my bag of tricks to disassemble this thing, and NOTHING got it apart! What the?!? I thought SD90MACs were tough to disassemble until I tried these beasts. I had to look up the Kato site to find an IPB, to see how the shell came apart! Ridiculous! I spent an hour trying to get the first one, before I figured out that the cab slides forward and snaps out of place rather than the way all early Kato diesel shells come apart. I absolutely LOATHE this design. I normally don't post this sort of frustration, but this shell must be a bear to assemble in the factory, much less by a regular-joe modeler! GRRRR!!!! I dunno how this is easier to assemble by machines, it's pretty complex the way everthing goes in place.
Well I think this is a good design, this seems to survive a fall to the ground from a 50" layout at least. Sounds accident proof tough.:tb-err:
Heim - I think you need to share how you _really_ feel. I look forward to the day I hire you to do a few Pink Fox locos.
Hemi, I feel your pain. My frustration started when the first AC4400CW's came out. They are built the exact same way. Why they ever changed the simple design is beyond me. New manufacturing plant maybe?? I thought the glass on the SD80/90's were a pain. Looking back, those are a breeze compared to these monsters. I still have three of the "new and improved" C44's waiting for the paint shop. If they are as hard as the AC44's, they will stay in the primer grey for a long time.... Brian
I here ya Bro! Those are a pain to disassemble! Now I have to figure out how to adapt a Kaslo shops Canadian cab on to 2 of them...... Time to get out the jewlers saw!:tb-sad:
Illustrated Parts Breakdown. The IPB didn't help much. http://www.katousa.com/cgi-bin/dl/dl.pl?dl.mif,N-parts-c449w.pdf MRL, sounds like you torture-tested one--and it passed! They are tough! As much prying and twisting, and pulling as I did I just couldn't get it apart, and to my surprise, didn't break anything!
Thanks for sharing Hemi, threads like this are important and sharing is the only way to spread the news/knowledge. You made it that much easier for countless others
Do you loathe the design because it took you over an hour to figure out how to disassemble it, or do you loathe it because of some engineering design flaw?
I dislike the design because it is so complex to disassemble. The early Dash-9's were the old style to disassemble, and looked just as good. The only difference is the ditch lites on this new version. Still, I dunno why the shell has to be so complex to disassemble. Call me crazy. To quote Mr. Ed, "No sir, I didn't like it."
Thanks, I've been looking for those. Where is the link on Kato's website? I can't seem to find it. Edit: never mind, I found them linked to the "maintenance" section under some of the specific models
My biggest problem with my AC4400 was figuring out how to get the ditch lights out without breaking them. The rest was pretty easy. RICK
I share your pain The first time I tried to disassemble a AC4400 shell, it took me 3 DAYS to get it apart :tb-embarrassed: I didn't want to break anything because it wasn't as easy as my SD80MACs Now I'm an old hand at it - only takes me a minute. A friend asked me to paint the lights and handrails on his new SP Dash-9; I took it apart as if it were an AC4400 and again it only took me a minute. If you think taking it apart was bad enough; just wait until you try to put it back together! I've found it is easier to put it all back together without the cab; that goes on last.
