I thought it was just me. I'm just a newbie to Model Railroading, a kid who has been running trains since my first Marx set 55 years ago. I goof alot. Chalk up alot to operator error. So when an AZL GP38-2 frame crumbled in my hands, I just figured it was me again. When I read of others who have lost their Geeps to the crumbling chassis, didn't feel so bad. Then I figured out a solution. I really didn't want to be under the hood on an AZL, but the Loc was DOA from my dealer. My dealer has been fantastic, he replaces (if he has one) refunds if he doesn't, and sends me a mailing label to send the DOA back. Funny, he is not ordering as many AZL's as he used to, and he didn't have a replacement for this one, and I REALLY wanted that shell. So I decided to forgo the return option; went to the AZL website, downloaded the encyclopedia of do-it-yourself-getting-a-DOA-Loc-to-run, and tried it. But no matter how many times I set and reset and thought about applying the heel of my shoe to the offending pcb board, it wouldn't fire the motor when the juice was applied, just a bright led light in the wilderness. Sadly, while i was patiently popping in and out the PCB board, all of a sudden a chunk of the chassis just broke in my hand...a chassis breaking? The chassis was bulging like a compressed piece of plastic, and I was trying to push it in to straighten it while fitting the board, hoping it would improve contact. Then a totally new and separate piece of chassis got created, by me. Piece felt like it was made by a 3d printer, crumbly and impossible to find a solder-able piece of metal on it. So here I was with a permanent DOA; replacement parts available? ROTFLMAO. Fortunately i started in this hobby before printed circuit boards did. Dredging up old memories: wire from wheels to motor, I tried that solution. Viola, the motor fired! Wire and solder and Bob's your uncle. But I detest soldering, so I thought about it a bit more. Contact the copper strips running along the bottom of the frame to the motor tabs. And there was an old pair of brushes from a Marklin Br89 just lying around, nice long strips of thin copper with crimps in the right places. So I snipped the worn brush off each strip, crimped another tab to slip it under the bottom frame copper strips and threaded it under the frame on one side (carefully!) to hit the motor power tabs. Where the broken mount used to be to hold the Marklin copper strip in place, the crimp in the Marklin copper strip is pushed up against the motor tab when you fit the shell. Zoom Zoom! So thanks to Marklin's old school insistence for using real metal, the motor runs and the Loco runs, and I solemnly promise that my dealer will get all future DOA's, untouched.
Nice work Bob. I guess In z scale, we have the mentality that we can get anything to work , when the smart thing is to send it back to the dealer. My suggestion to anybody is to contact the manufacturer before doing any work on the loco.
I am sorry about the broken chassis. Please contact me offline. I am providing replacement parts as they become available. AZL is producing a new run of 38s with a new manufacturer and we will not see this issue with the new run. We are having extra chassis produced with the new run so we can provide parts to those who have had issues. My email address is: rob@ztrack.com Rob
Very resourceful, Bob. Zamacitis (also called zinc pest) is always a possibility with Zamac castings. Care MUST be taken in the metal formulation and manufacture. See my web site (click on link below) for a discussion and efforts to repair this malady. Kudos to Rob for addressing this. Doug
Those of you with the bulk 10 packs that won't be using all the chassis should also step up here too. Another option: solder a wire to the motor tab (or one strand of a stranded bundle, say common 22 gauge and wrap it thru the hole a few times, tightly), then wrap the wire around the post notch. Unfortunately, his already broke off.
Wow! Zinc casting breaking?.... My GP 38's run OK (not nearly as good as any of my other MTL and one other AZL loco).... For the price and the detail on the body I really felt I had nothing to complain about.... But a casting breaking in your hands in some pretty beefy areas.... That's not good at all.....
The problem isn't unique to the GP38 or model trains. Checkout: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_pest
