BLMA Dry-Fro rolling issues?

[wcfn100]

I finally got my Dry-Flo hoppers on the test track and there's an issue with flange clearance.  Out of the box you can see the flange is close to hitting the frame and that when turning the truck it's easy to hit the bracing.  On the track, when going into a curve (15" rad), I'm getting two results depending which way the car is facing.  With the brake wheel forward turning right, the car leans to the outside but still rolls pretty good.  With the brake wheel forward going left, the car just stops.

Was BLMA the one that changed their flange depth (and now it doesn't fit)?

Anyone else have this problem or is it just my two cars?

Jason

[up1950s]

Have you looked for flash between the bolster and the bolster pin boss on the body ?

A wheel axle not in the sideframe cup ?

[soo]

     Jason,
 Right after reading your post, I went out to check the ones I have. No defects found. I gave them a shove down my longest yard track,, they rolled great,, I say about 6-7 feet long.

  Sorry that you are having issues, hope you find out what is going on.

Wyatt

[wcfn100]

Thanks Wyatt but it sounds like you used a straight track.  Mine roll fine straight, I'm having issues on the curves.


Jason

[soo]

Jason,

  You are right, I did the curve test on a 20" 2.15% helix. Brake wheel to the left car goes about a 1/2 turn, right side, car goes about 1 1/2 turns.

  What gives? Honestly,, I really don't feel like messing with it right now. When I come across a car that does not play well with other, I make a note in excel and then place said offending car in a dark rubbermaid container. I'll teach that stinkin' car a lesson!!! lol

 I well getroundtoit, when I have a wild hair. If you find out what is going on, please post your comments.

Wyatt

[jcox3751]

Jason and Wyatt,

My car did the same. I did find a wheel clearance issue. The wheels were hitting the diagonal brace. The person that assembled the cars did not have the corner glued in deep enough and the wheel hit the brace. I hit the corner with some Tenax to loosen the glue, pushed the corner fully in place and my problem was solved.

See circled area on picture. Also I found the issue on both ends of my car.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60068950@N05/12290032464/

Joe Cox
Austin, TX

[wcfn100]

Hi Joe thanks for the info, but I'm a little confused.  I just looked at mine and the corners aren't glued to the body.  In fact the body shells aren't glued at all to the under frame stuff so before we go in...

THANK YOU BLMA for designing something that doesn't require glue for everything! 

Anyways, I took mine apart and found the problem(s).  First the bottom bolster plate on one side wasn't glued on.  Each side is supposed to have a pin for locating and gluing but one side had the pin missing and the glue didn't hold without it.  Second, the bulkhead isn't glued on straight or square meaning it leans to one side and also leans towards the end of the car.

edit:  And all of this was causing the truck to tilt and thus hitting the cross brace on one side when turning.

It looks like I can fix this one, I haven't look at the other one yet.

Sure glad N scalers insist on having other people assemble my models.

If anyone wants pictures, say something fast and I'll get out the macro lens.  Otherwise, I'm going to try and fix it later tonight.

Jason

[wcfn100]

If you wanted pictures, too late. 

I was able to break the bond between the bulk head and the inside slope piece and it rolls great now.  The other end is a little off too but not enough to effect anything as far as I can tell.

Hopefully this can be something that gets looked for in subsequent releases.  It's nice to have the car roll as good as it looks.


Jason

[Craig Martyn]

Thanks for the heads-up guys.  I apologize about the situation, but will note this with our next production run when that happens.

For now, thanks for the support.  We're definitely proud of how these models turned out.

[wcfn100]

Okay, so my second car that was exhibiting the same issue is different.  Everything seems to be seated right and glued square, but all four corners were being pushed down.  I popped out the top of the supports that go from the corners to the top of the car and at one end both jumped out of their holes showing that they needed more room (distance).  Once that happened, that end seemed to be okay.  At the other end, the supports didn't move much but were still a problem.  I had to physically bend the corners back up to get clearance.

Once I confirm that the wheels are clear, I'll glue the supports back to the top of the bulk head. I think I'll still need to shave a bit off one of the 45deg bracings as that one corner doesn't want to stay where I bend it.

No ones said much, maybe (hopefully) this is fairly isolated.

Jason

[haasmarc]

All 5 of my cars had this rubbing issue with the diagonal brace.  The first car I took apart and tried shortening the braces that go up to the top of the bulkhead so they would hold the diagonal brace high enough to not rub on the wheel.  While this worked, it was a pain.  On the second car, all I did was turn the truck back and forth until the wheels left a mark on the diagonal braces where they were touching.  Then I used an x-acto to remove just the inside flange of the diagonal brace at the marks.  This eliminated the rubbing and is virtually un-noticable.  I did the same on the remaining 3 cars and all is well.