Latest Bachmann GWR Collet Goods “fail”

Another case of what should be a joyful thing for a owner turning into frustration on 2 counts Bachmann poor design and the Hattons DCC installer doing a bodge.


This model a brand new Bachmann Collet Goods ie the latest version just released, was received from Hattons by one of our local guys when ordered from Hattons he also paid the extra to have it fitted with a decoder.

From the box the model would barely move and when it did it had a clicking noise plus looked like it ran down hill as the body didn’t sit right, being up at the cab end, it was also noted to be going in the wrong direction as it tried to move, so paying for decoder fitment was a wast of time.

If it wasn’t so expensive to send back to UK I think it should have been but he wants the model so a fix is needed.

What was the reason it doesn’t sit right and why was it bound up.

Well no clearance for the pick up wires they come up under the cab through the cast Chassis under the cab floor which is also cast it has a slight area for the wires but then nothing it also has a screw that tightens it together at this point see photos of the cab parts the little circles areas on the cab floor cut into the wires, the wires were crimped with insulation compromised and the DCC installer in trying to get it back together then fed the wires behind the wheels instead of the intended location of between the cab and motor mount well there is no room in both locations, in putting behind the wheels it created the bind as there is little clearance.

The clicking was one of the pickup wipers dislodged by one of the wires clicking in the spokes


To fix I will mill a set of clearance paths in the cab casting to take the wires, put in new wires to replace the ones with exposed insulation.

Install A different decoder that actually fits as The Hattons one used was the reason it ran backwards as the 8 pin plug couldn’t go in the right way due to the lack of space and the force required to push it into the model had pulled the wires and they came away from the decoder as the model was disassembled. Very shoddy install is all I can say.


Insulation cut through


Die Cast cab floor and the circles for clearance the two that don’t go through are what is the clearance for the wires
And the next one that goes through is the retaining plate screw hole



The cab back this needs to sit up against the motor retainer for correct fitment but the wires are also required to fit in the gap with no slots this forces the cab out of position.




The wires between the parts creates a space that hasn’t been allowed for when the body is fitted

 

Hi Ron
I’m going to mill 2 paths one on each face of the cab casting for the wires in the cab casting so they have plenty of clearance and no risk of getting crimped again
Fit new wires to replace the exposed insulation ones I will fit a hard wire Lais DCC decoder as well, as the Hattons fitted one has had the wires pulled I’ll fix this and the owner can fit in another model with more space.

 

Yes Gary the owner sent one and I sent them one, with the details of the way the model was supplied with the wire damage and decoder install

There’s only so much squeezing you can do to get a decoder in if it’s a little too big with all it’s wires etc and the pickup wires where just a short waiting to happen at some stage

 

The collet is now fixed and running nicely with the cab section milled out with space to accept the wires from the pickups that exit the chassis and run up the back of the motor
A new smaller decoder is now fitted and the one supplied that was too tight a fit has had the wires repaired and can be used for another loco

 

Thanks Ian
Yes for any one else that has this issue it’s a fix that isn’t to difficult to achieve (As Paul noted on my workbench topic) with a poor mans Mill the humble file may just take a little while.

Can I add on the section shown, milled from the cab at the angle I rounded this with a file before fitting to the model so as not to have an edge to damage the wire insulation forgot to take a photo of that. Once I start on a project I seem to forget to take photos at every step apologies

 

No Paul I loved the description “poor mans Mill”
I’m a poor man too and a file or Dremel is often the weapon of choice.
However a friend has a Very Nice machine shop and offered that I could pop round and use the machines whenever there is no jobs for them an offer too good to say no too.
It’s nice to play with the big boy toys occasionally, for the big machines the toy train parts are like a hot knife through butter

 

All good Paul
I remember a very similar exercise with filing the steal during my apprenticeship and someone thinking it would be funny to run a file on edge across the job just after it was finished and put up for marking the teacher said I would have to do it again and represent, that was before he found out what had been done.
Let’s just say after all the work, I wasn’t impressed and he got sorted in the nices possible way, without a tail shaft his car didn’t go too far that afternoon , I still rember the Teacher standing at the car park exit holding that tail shaft
Now I may or may not have handed the teacher the tail shaft but I can say definitely didn’t hand over the bolts.
Now that little never stepped out of line again and nothing was ever said again about it.

 

Hi Paul
As said originally it’s Partly down to Bachmann poor design.
The rest is down to Hattons installer who had left one wire wedged behind the driving wheel basically it was so tight the motor struggled to turn the wheels and with everything being so tight and the body forced on was cutting the wire, it had also pulled the decoder plug wires, one was only on by a single strand of the wire The body was bent like a banana
Should never have been released from the work shop.

The owner of this loco has had 4 locos sent damaged from Hattons in the last month, one with a lot of the parts broken off the model non repairable was obvious that had been broken then put in the box, and dumped to a O/S customer it cost 1/2 the models value to return, another of his Hattons DCC installed models received was the New Andrew Barkley buffers broken off and placed in the box plus it was defective in that hadn’t been manufactured correctly the slide bar bracket wasn’t finished and wouldn’t fit in the side of the chassis causing the rods to catch as it ran very obvious but the DCC installer sent it out, I removed the slide bar and cut the moulding flash off so it could be installed correctly if in the UK you would have return it to the shop.
Hattons know that the cost of Aust to UK post is extremely expensive and often is more than the models price they admitted this with me but only offered to reimburse to the value they pay for postage to AU of £3
This Bachmann Collet Goods loco’s repair with new decoder was 1/2 the price of the return postage and the owner now has a spare Hattons 8 pin harnessed decoder to go in another model