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I recently picked up a postwar 3665 Minuteman Operating Missle Launch car but it won't fire its missle from the control track.  The magnet at the bottom of the car engages the electromagnet of the track and the car buzzes and shakes a little but the ramp doesn't raise and the missle won't fire via remote control.  If I raise the ramp manually after it reaches a certain height the missle will fire.  All of my other operating cars work fine on this control track.  

This car is rather difficult to look into and I can't see what is going on inside.  Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions as to what may be wrong with this thing.  I apologize for bringing up such a mundane issue but the fact is I rather like this car and would like to get it operational.  Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

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Does the launch ramp stay up when you lift it?

Regardless, i believe the body is held on by one screw on one end and tabs / slots on the other.

The ramp is lifted by a spring attached to a metal bar underneath. The spring has a rubber diaphram that acts as a dashpot. 

You could be missing pieces or have a bad spring or a bad dashpot.

Sometimes when people work on this type of mechanism, the make the dashpot too tight, so the mechanism won't move

Thanks CW I will disassemble and see what I can find.   I already looked at the schematic for this car in the Lionel repair manual and I see the parts that you mentioned are listed with their part numbers.  I probably will be in touch with Jeff Kane (The Train Tender) for the parts.  Hope he has them.

OKHIKER posted:

Thanks CW I will disassemble and see what I can find.   I already looked at the schematic for this car in the Lionel repair manual and I see the parts that you mentioned are listed with their part numbers.  I probably will be in touch with Jeff Kane (The Train Tender) for the parts.  Hope he has them.

OKHIKER, did you ever get your 3665 fixed?

 

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