New Lionel RF-16 SHARKNOSE arrived damaged Update

I would just fix it myself

the railings have popped out on a few of my loco's - I just test fit them back in their holes before I used a dot of super glue to hold it permanently. The bent rear looks like it will straighten fairly easy.  I 'd rather fix light damages than wait unless its electronic or paint related. my 2 cents.

Unfortunately these are broken off and I have no idea how to fix them and may cause more damage.

just read westinghouse reply. its a very easy fix

From the pictures it looks like you might be able to straighten and re-glue the rails? That would be my preference and what I always try first. If it is worse than it looks and can't be easily repaired, I would call the vendor and go from there.

If it is something I can easily fix, I just fix it and I'm done. I have only had a couple of things with minor damage that I was able to easily fix myself. So far I have not had anything damaged so badly that I had to it send back. Personally, I prefer to fix it myself rather than shipping it again and risking further damage. My Legacy 990 system broke a while back and I had to send it back to Lionel. I was nervous about further damage in shipping the whole time it was gone.

RRaddict2 posted:

Unfortunately these are broken off and I have no idea how to fix them and may cause more damage.

They do not appear to be broken. As the others said, straighten the handrail, put a dab of superglue on the ends, and reinsert into the shell holes. 2 minute job.

I wouldn't consider it damage. Sometimes the handrails are not glued in and they vibrate loose during shipping. I've had similar issues with clear window inserts. Takes two minutes to fix.

Part of being a model railroader is being able to handle these easy tasks.

This happened to me on the front handrail of my GP35. Gently pushed it back in place, a little dab of glue, and I was all set.

RRaddict2 posted:

Unfortunately these are broken off and I have no idea how to fix them and may cause more damage.

It is hard to tell from the photo, but, has the plastic broken away from the hole to where it won't hold the handrail in?

The paint is not scratched according to blowing up your photos. The handrails are either piano wire or brass. The bends should straighten out easily and as stated above, dab the tip.with super glue and reinsert into hole. A two minute gix. From my picture review I do not see the handrail broken off in the whole. Temp changed may have forced the metal grab rails out of their socket.

Looing ar the first photo I can see the rail took some paint and plastic with it when it left the train.

You may want to return it to your vendor,

you could try to glue it but then you are on your own it if the repair goes south

I bought a Williams one time from a dealer in NY.  It was also in the original packaging.  The coal load was broken and there was a note inside the box from a previous buyer from when he returned it damaged.  The seller paid shipping back to his place and ordered a new one drop shipped from Williams to my home.  

Someone at the seller's shop had simply put a return back on the shelf without checking it.  I have had similar things happen at the local Home Depot: buying a new product only to find a used return inside the box.  I always look in the box at HD when I buy something boxed now and I always check out anything I buy online even though it would not be considered "new" on eBay if I decide to sell it.

Macy's for instance does not put returns back on the sales floor even if in new condition and original packaging.  They sell those to a salvage dealer.

I would contact the vendor and tell him of your concerns and give him pictures as you have us. And let him respond to you. Personally that's what you should of done from word go as to give him first chance to correct this I understand you haven't said who but still in my book you should of gone to him first. Then you could of been making a post of how you received and how great he took care of the situation. Yes you still can but from the beginning sounded like you didn't want to do anything just wanted to show how it came in. It happens as they do not have the time nor the staff to check every item before they ship out. ( most of them anyway )  

Personally, I don't see receiving a new engine with this kind of very (with emphasis on VERY) minor damage to be an issue.  I have received new engines and rolling stock with similar issues and, like previous posters, have opted to simply fix what was broken and get it on my layout.

The choice really is yours, however.  These are your engines and, if you are unhappy enough with these dislodged handrails to repackage and return the engines to the dealer, then (to borrow a line from an old John Wayne movie), "a man ought to do what he thinks is best".

Curt

"I don't see receiving a new engine with this kind of very (with emphasis on VERY) minor damage to be an issue."

If the plastic around the hole has been compromised (as it certainly appears and this would explain why the handrails are out to begin with) I would consider it a big issue!
If the handrails had just come out, I would fix it myself.

Again, it's wire. Pull the bent one off the loco and straighten with your fingers. It's a wee hole or two in plastic. Get some CA(Super Glue). Test fit the wire. The "compromised" hole is just a hole. Put a dab of glue on the hole with a toothpick (not on the wire - can get sloppy), press in the wires - this is why you test-fit the wire. No struggle.

Really. It's a model, wire and a hole. Really. Don't give your money to UPS. Learn.

D500 posted:

Really. It's a model, wire and a hole. Really. 

Well, it's complicated. You have to stick a wire into a hole.   

This thread may be a put-on. 

I am a little late getting back to this but he is where it is at.  The wire is broke so in order had new railing I would have had to drill into the shell and that wasn't going to happen.  I did put a single small drop of crazy glue on each railing after straightening it out and it looks acceptable.  The locomotive drivers were also dislodged from their seats so I am thinking this took a fall somewhere down the line.  The vendor wanted to send me new railing but they look good enough.  This is my first set of Legacy engines as I have always purchased MTH but are the smoke units supposed to be anemic compared to my MTH diesels these have super light amount of smoke. You can barely see it.  I know some Lionel smoke units had problems but I am not sure if they effected locomotives made in 2012.  Thanks for the help all here. 

RRaddict2 posted:

I am a little late getting back to this but he is where it is at.  The wire is broke so in order had new railing I would have had to drill into the shell and that wasn't going to happen.  I did put a single small drop of crazy glue on each railing after straightening it out and it looks acceptable.  The locomotive drivers were also dislodged from their seats so I am thinking this took a fall somewhere down the line.  The vendor wanted to send me new railing but they look good enough.  This is my first set of Legacy engines as I have always purchased MTH but are the smoke units supposed to be anemic compared to my MTH diesels these have super light amount of smoke. You can barely see it.  I know some Lionel smoke units had problems but I am not sure if they effected locomotives made in 2012.  Thanks for the help all here. 

The Sharks should put out a good amount of smoke. Make sure your smoke is turned to High on the CAB2 (if that's what you're using). Also, the smoke output will increase if you increase the labor in the SPEED menu. Also goes without saying to make sure you have a sufficient amount of smoke fluid in the units.

I added the recommended 15 drops of fluid but even running on 18 volts it seems a little anemic.  I am running TMCC but I figured it was just defaulted to the highest smoke setting.  One other question concerning these I have the sound set at full blast but the don't make my ears rumble like my GP-9.  I know they have different prime mover sounds but shouldn't the volume be the same?

Well there's always the chopped vs. smooth sine wave issue too. What transformer are you using?

Plus, you have the sound set at full on the remote as well as the volume pot turned all the way up on the locos?

The saga continues, I just got the dummy unit out and it was also damaged, I said that's it these have to go back as I believe they were packed broken.  The outer and all inner packing materials had no sign of damage at all. The great service people at Lionel are going to repair/replace them as a warranty repair.