Kato 485 Motor Re-assembly

[KenS]

I've got a bit of a problem, and the answer is probably staring me in the face, but I can't figure it out.  Hopefully, someone else has tried to put one of these things back together.

My Kato/Roundhouse Nikko/Kinugawa 485 arrived today, but with a slight problem. It had apparently received a shock in transit (despite the usual good box/bubblewrap HS packing) and one of the trucks had come off the motor car.  It's also possible it was assembled badly, as one of the pieces doesn't look quite right.

The other truck seemed to be okay, but I wasn't sure of it, so I ended up removing it.  Now I can't get either back in.

Snapping the truck back in is easy, but the driveshaft is the problem.  It's the same kind I'm familiar with from disassembling E231 models, that slips into the end of the motor shaft.  But the motor and flywheel is well-concealed, and I can't figure out how to get the cover off.  Before I try sliding it in blind (which may be the only sensible way to do it) I wanted to ask if anyone knows how to take that plastic bit off and reveal the motor.  It doesn't seem to be simply snapped in, or if it is, it's much more firmly done than usual for these things.

I tried looking at the upper side (the blue section with molded seats), but while the ends snap off, the center seems to be held in place from below quite firmly, with no visible attachment clips.

And secondly, I wanted to get opinions on the third photo.  The blue deck fits  onto the metal frame, and where it should be flat in the center, there's a bit of a hump, like it's not quite seated properly.  If it weren't for the truck problem, I'd simply assume it was a normal imperfection (if there can be such a thing on a Kato model), but I'm wondering now if it might indicate the motor itself is out of position.  That seems unlikely, and I'm probably worrying too much.  But I wanted some other perspectives.

The motor itself seems to run fine, as I could hear it spin, and the car moved a bit with only one truck working. It just doesn't run well with only one truck (or none, now). 

Photo 1: side view of motor assembly
Photo 2: end view of motor assembly
Photo 3: side view of motor assembly, upright

[inobu]

Ken,

From my experience everything should fit perfectly. The margin of error starts is in the .015" range. So the slight bump can compound problem.

It looks like the same chassis used in the JR 500.
 
The bump should not be there. The question is what is causing it not to seat properly. There are two tabs that snaps into the motor .    

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The drive shaft looks like this when connected.  

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This is what it looks like when the seats panel are snapped in around the motor (the white tab just behind the black shaft cup) and the ball joint is seated in the drive shaft cup.

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I got a feeling this is an old design. I think the newer cups have slits.   
Inobu

[CaptOblivious]

Oh yes, these. I love these. So many ways they can break. Here's the deal:

Remove the white tab holding the motor tabs to the brass rails (you knew that part).

Remove the trucks.

Remove the undercarriage detail. It'll stick a bit at first, but it attaches to the frame with a small tab at each corner. Just squeeze the ends a bit, and pull it out. It'll bugger you for a few moments, and then it'll begin to move and you'll see how it works.

Unsnap the ends of the blue plastic seat. The seat will be stuck in the middle, but that's OK for now.

Now, the fun part. Grab something long, narrow, and stiff, but not too point. I use one blade of some flat-ended tweezers. Toothpicks are the right shape, but break. Look from underneath at the motor, under a bright light. You will see two sets of two tabs from the blue plastic seats wedged into the metal frame on either end of the motor. You need to squeeze the tabs together—I can't get my tweezers fully in there, so I just push on one tab at a time—and push inwards. Hard. But not so hard that you break the tab. These tabs are what's hold the seats to the metal frame, and they hold pretty good and tight.

BE VERY CAREFUL putting the seats back in. Insert them at a slightly off angle or with too much force, and the tabs will break off. Ugh!

Anyway, you'll find that you don't have to remove the seats to get the trucks back on, only the undercarriage detail. The bump sometimes happens when the stiff tabs don't seat all the way: You should be able to press the seat down with your fingers, and it should snap in place. If it doesn't, then you will need to remove the seats, as per the instructions above, and see if there's an obstruction.

[KenS]

Thanks to both of you, it's now happily running.

I don't know if the motor was out of position (it certainly was after the blue top came off, but that may have been a side effect), but I took it all apart, then put it back together cleanly.  The blue still didn't quite seat properly (one set of clips doesn't seem like they want to go in, even with quite a bit of pressure).  But it seems to be holding together solidly.

Here are photos of the motor coupling, the whole thing taken apart, then put back together, and of it on the layout.

It sure looks like it's an older design mechanism, although the motor appears to be a five-pole one (I am not, however, an expert in such things).  Considering that the manual specifically calls out that it's only compatible with the older incandescent car lighting, and not the newer LED lighting, that seems likely.

It's doing it's break-in run now, and looks to be running quite smoothly considering there's no flywheel.

[inobu]

You may have it on backward although it looks the same the tabs may align different. The images I put up are from the first release JR 500, the second release is a little different in the mechanism.

Anyway its good to see you got it up and running.

Inobu

[KenS]

No, it can't go on backwards because the metal base has a couple of upright tabs at one end that stick up though holes in the blue piece.

I did have some trouble getting the undercarriage detail back on until I realized it was reversed.  It does use different-sized tabs so it only seats properly one way.

Update: looking at the photo above, perhaps the blue piece needs to shift to the right about a millimeter.  Maybe I'll take it apart and try that.

[CaptOblivious]

Yeah, that bulge is a bit worrisome…hrm. Perhaps there is an imperfection in the metal casting?

[Lawrence]

Just to shoot off on a tangent, Ken where did you get that fantastic cityscape backdrop?  please tell 

[KenS]

Capt. O: I don't think it's a problem in the casting, but I'll look for that when I take it apart.

Lawrence: It's this panoramic photo of the view from Himiji Castle I found on Flickr.  Not really appropriate for a Tokyo scene, but it fit my "village" area like a glove.

I printed it out on a color laser printer (using PosteRazor to chop it up into pages) on heavyweight presentation paper, trimmed the edges with a paper cutter, and glued it to the backdrop with archival spray glue. Unfortunately, I didn't do as good a job, and one corner is peeling up.

I'm also not thrilled about the seams, which are a bit too obvious.  I may take the image to a print shop and have a 4-foot print made (not cheap, but I'm beginning to think it will be worth it).

I'd thought I'd posted something about it before, but looking back on the project thread, I only mentioned the test version, and not the final copy.