03-17-2022, 01:43 AM
Nicely done, Tom, but I don't think I've ever had an Athearn clip-on cover fall off.
Most of them ship with the open portion spread just a little too much - the cover will sorta clip into place, but if subjected to a little rough handling, either in a train or in the box, it can easily drop off.
Once I realised that the sides of the clip-ons were not at right-angles to the cover, I used small smooth-jawed pliers to adjust them properly. Once they're squared-up like that, the cover needs to be pushed onto the coupler pocket straight down (not one side , then the other) as that often re-spreads the sides of the clip-ons.
There were similar problems with the early Accurail cars, too. The cover for the couplers was a flat piece of black plastic with a pin (part of the plastic cover) that was supposed to fit into a hole in a nub in the coupler pocket. It often wouldn't seat properly, leaving a gap between the cover and the coupler pocket, and with the car either in a train or in its box, it didn't take too long for the lid to drop off. After a couple of incidents like that, the cover often simply dropped out, as every time it was inserted or removed, the hole simply got looser and looser.
To fix it, I cut off the mounting pin, then drilled a hole where it had been located. I used the same drill to enlarge the hole in the nub inside the coupler pocket, then tapped it to accept a 2-56 flathead screw.
Later, I began using a larger drill bit (usually the same size or a little larger than the diameter of the screw's head) so that the screw's head was mostly countersunk into the coverplate, making it a lot less noticeable.
Wayne
Most of them ship with the open portion spread just a little too much - the cover will sorta clip into place, but if subjected to a little rough handling, either in a train or in the box, it can easily drop off.
Once I realised that the sides of the clip-ons were not at right-angles to the cover, I used small smooth-jawed pliers to adjust them properly. Once they're squared-up like that, the cover needs to be pushed onto the coupler pocket straight down (not one side , then the other) as that often re-spreads the sides of the clip-ons.
There were similar problems with the early Accurail cars, too. The cover for the couplers was a flat piece of black plastic with a pin (part of the plastic cover) that was supposed to fit into a hole in a nub in the coupler pocket. It often wouldn't seat properly, leaving a gap between the cover and the coupler pocket, and with the car either in a train or in its box, it didn't take too long for the lid to drop off. After a couple of incidents like that, the cover often simply dropped out, as every time it was inserted or removed, the hole simply got looser and looser.
To fix it, I cut off the mounting pin, then drilled a hole where it had been located. I used the same drill to enlarge the hole in the nub inside the coupler pocket, then tapped it to accept a 2-56 flathead screw.
Later, I began using a larger drill bit (usually the same size or a little larger than the diameter of the screw's head) so that the screw's head was mostly countersunk into the coverplate, making it a lot less noticeable.
Wayne