MTH Locomotive | F7 | Electrical

MTH

Locomotive

F7

Electrical

Access to Board Settings

It is difficult to get the A-unit's shell off. Rich Gajnak stated that three of the four screws stayed with the frame on his. Several times he spun the screws just to make sure they were out of the posts on the body. The photo that Rich provided shows that there is a lot of frame material to which the shell is exposed for friction. There is very little wiggle room between the shell and frame. He spread the sides from the frame and stuck index cards to minimize anything hanging up along the sides. He had to pull the frame up by the trucks. The front comes up easier, but the whole assembly has to come out straight. Once it started to come up, he used a small screwdriver to leverage the frame out a little at a time, working one side against the other. The index cards also helped prevent any damage to the body while leveraging out the frame.

Rich recalled that it was slow work, spending about an hour just getting the A-unit's body off. Plus, the interior's dashboard broke away from the base (the glue failed), but it actually helped in getting the frame out. It was no problem gluing the dash back on once the interior was exposed. Once he had the body off, he was able to poke the rear door off. But, it took more pressure than he expected.

Rich states that it goes back together much easier than it comes apart. Before he put the rear doors back on, he scraped the paint off the inside edge of the doors so they would be easier to get off again, if needed. They were still a tight fit, but better.

As for the coupler bracket screws, he left his off, but they could be ground down a hair with a motor tool, if you want to have them seated fully.