Unscrew it

[AY Mod]

Whilst some manufacturers are making it easier to get inside bodies to carry out basic tasks some seem to be going the other way.

 

Would it be too much for instructions to state the type and size of screwdriver that should be used? When trying to get an unseen screw to move inside a sunken hole can you be absolutely sure you've got the right tool for the job or whether it's been overtightened?

 

The next tool was likely to be the bigommer.

[woodenhead]

Doing something with a Farish 03/04 are we?

 

They are to get inside as they use tiny concealed screws.

 

Farish tender steam engines are not much better.

[AY Mod]

4 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

They are to get inside as they use tiny concealed screws.

 

Add in the increased annoyance of the concealed screw being in a concealed hole below a bogie. 🤬

[Bernard Lamb]

What gets me going is battery compartmet covers, held in place with tiny screws. Usually done up so tight that only a top grade jewllers scredriver will move the beggars, without damage to screw, screwdriver, cover or my fingers.

Bernard

[franciswilliamwebb]

Surely magnets could be used in some instances rather than screws?

[Hroth]

 

At least screws are "easier" to remove than trying to unclip a bodyshell*....

 

* You have to have the fingernails for it!

[AY Mod]

13 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

At least screws are "easier" to remove than trying to unclip a bodyshell*....

 

* You have to have the fingernails for it!

 

I regularly grow a longer thumbnail for this (and operating camera thumbwheels) but I have many plastic razor blades around for feeling where they are. Or if you can get a fine spudger.

[Mike Bellamy]

10 hours ago, AY Mod said:

spudger

 

What a wonderful word. I hadn't heard of that before but as always, Google takes me to a description from Wikipedia . . . . . . 

 

Quote

A spudger (also known as a spludger, non-marring nylon black stick tool) is a tool that has a wide flat-head screwdriver-like end that extends as a wedge, used to separate pressure-fit plastic components without causing damage during separation.

.

 

[franciswilliamwebb]

10 hours ago, AY Mod said:

spudger.

 

I'm sure he was in Grange Hill 🤔

[spamcan61]

10 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

I regularly grow a longer thumbnail for this (and operating camera thumbwheels) but I have many plastic razor blades around for feeling where they are. Or if you can get a fine spudger.

I blew a couple of quid on a selection box of various thickness guitar picks to do this.

[Enterprisingwestern]

12 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Whilst some manufacturers are making it easier to get inside bodies to carry out basic tasks some seem to be going the other way.

 

Would it be too much for instructions to state the type and size of screwdriver that should be used? When trying to get an unseen screw to move inside a sunken hole can you be absolutely sure you've got the right tool for the job or whether it's been overtightened?

 

The next tool was likely to be the bigommer.

 

Of course, the best idea would be standardisation, #0PZ would be perfectly adequate for all body mounting screws.

 

 

12 hours ago, AY Mod said:

 

Add in the increased annoyance of the concealed screw being in a concealed hole below a bogie. 🤬

 

Bachmann have perfected the art of having the body mounting screw/NEM box screw mounted just sufficiently under the axle of a 4 wheeled wagon necessitating removal of the axle, which in some cases also requires the cutting of brake safety loops.

 

Mike.

[AY Mod]

4 minutes ago, Enterprisingwestern said:

the best idea would be standardisation

 

Now you're being ridiculous. 😉 But I completely agree.

[APOLLO]

12 hours ago, AY Mod said:

The next tool was likely to be the bigommer.

 

An often used tool when modelling US O gauge - You forgot the half house brick "Anvil" !!!!!

 

 

Brit15

[Geep7]

Even worse is a model that uses both screws and bodyshell clips. Not really wanted to point fingers, but, Bachmann, i'm looking at you..... Hands up here who has cut the bodyshell retaining clips off the bottom of the drivers door glazing of a Bachmann Class 47?

Edited May 8 by Geep7

[woodenhead]

The worst I've seen so far - Graham Farish class 108.

 

No screws, no clips but the body is so tight to the PCB (I think it's the window plastic that is the issue), that it can literally bend the body and prise the PCB away from it's fittings when taking off the body.

 

I've gotten better at doing it with practice, but I was very worried that I would have banana shaped units at one point.

[AY Mod]

15 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Would it be too much for instructions to state the type and size of screwdriver that should be used?

 

Credit where it's due; I've spoken to the relevant party and they've taken the point on board and will look to improve the instructions.

[Steven B]

2 hours ago, woodenhead said:

The worst I've seen so far - Graham Farish class 108.

 

No screws, no clips but the body is so tight to the PCB (I think it's the window plastic that is the issue), that it can literally bend the body and prise the PCB away from it's fittings when taking off the body.

 

I think the clear plastic for the windows may have the clips that hold the Farish DMU body shell to the chassis - 3 I think. I've cut the middle one away so it no longer functions and then filed back the other two on each side so they're easier to remove.

 

 

Steven B

[woodenhead]

I've been using old loyalty cards to prise them apart plus a nifty extending knife.

 

Luckily I don't have to go in often...

[Phatbob]

16 hours ago, AY Mod said:

The next tool was likely to be the bigommer.

The big 'ommer, otherwise known to those of us not blessed with a west midlands upbringing as a "Birmingham screwdriver" 😉
 

[Enterprisingwestern]

1 hour ago, AY Mod said:

 

Credit where it's due; I've spoken to the relevant party and they've taken the point on board and will look to improve the instructions.

 

With the bigommer presumably?!

 

Mike.

[Welly]

I discovered a brand new OO loco I bought recently had it's body glued to the chassis as well as clipped to it!

[Enterprisingwestern]

22 minutes ago, Welly said:

I discovered a brand new OO loco I bought recently had it's body glued to the chassis as well as clipped to it!

 

As an awkward sod who models in EM and fits 3 link couplings I have to dismantle everything to some extent, and I'm finding, like yourself, more and more models, from various manufacturers, primarily wagons, that are glued into one homogenous lump to a greater or lesser degree.

I'm sure there will be a Chinese year of the superglue soon!

 

Mike.

[Halvarras]

I used to use any old screwdriver to undo screws - a blue-handled flat-bladed screwdriver with a small tip would undo most screws, including crossheads. I still have it, although it's now almost redundant - the multitude of crosshead types found in models produced over the past couple of decades, the tightness of some of these and the awkward locations, forced the purchase of a set of 5 jewellers crosshead screwdrivers, which has definitely proved to be very sensible. Since 'rounding-out' a screw, located at the bottom of a deep hole or not, by using the wrong tool is a big headache, I'm now very careful to select the screwdriver from the set with the best fit into the screw head - even if you can't see the screw, you can tell if it fits properly by feel - no slack.

 

I recently had reason to remove the body from a Dapol Western diesel - I'd read on here that the 4 tiny screws could be problematic but by using the right driver they came out OK - helped by the threaded brass inserts, nice one Dapol. Screws this small can be easily damaged by slippage so slowly with firm pressure was key.

 

Bachmann in particular use self-tapping screws into plastic, so thread stripping is always a concern. When replacing I always turn the screw slowly counter-clockwise until I feel it click when it find the thread in the hole, then screw it in until tightening begins - tug body from chassis to gauge how much slack remains, tighten a little more, repeat until there's no slack.

 

 

[woodenhead]

No-one has mentioned the opposite action - putting the screws back in again.

 

I find a spot of black Tack on the end of a philips is a good starting point to get it in the hole and through one turn, then withdrawn quickly before it grips everything within reach an creates a black vortex.

[Halvarras]

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

No-one has mentioned the opposite action - putting the screws back in again.

 

I find a spot of black Tack on the end of a philips is a good starting point to get it in the hole and through one turn, then withdrawn quickly before it grips everything within reach an creates a black vortex.

 

With Bachmann diesels I usually drop the screw into the hole with a pair of tweezers.......which I discover has somehow become magnetized, refuses to let go of the screw and drops it into the mechanism instead! Grrrr 😡!!