...wha...?
2 separate things here.
First off (and I know I've asked this before): why do my TMCC steamers smoke better when I use an American Flyer 15B than using an MRC "Dual Power 027"? Speed control is about the same, but the smoke output is greater when using the old AF transformer...seems odd to me, especially since the engines and the MRC are of a similar vintage (1999-2000).
JB Weld: I recently picked a brand new, unopened K-Line 2 bay die cast hopper: I have several others like it, nice models. Upon opening the box, I could see that one of the couplers looked askew, and sure enough, it was completely loose. The truck frame was broken, the entire truck was in pieces and my first thought was "zinc pest". Then I noticed that the silica gel pack had been crammed into that end of the car (very tightly) and I believe it was that "cramming" action that broke the truck. My other K-Line cars have always had the gel packs next to (but outside of) the cars. Since all the parts were there (and it was a couple of clean breaks) I decided to at least attempt a repair.
First I completely dis-assembled the truck (don't loose those springs!) then kinda squared up the side frames with the broken bolster/coupler piece. ACC was first applied (just to hold it all together) then after that set, I applied the JB Weld to those same areas and let it set up for the 24 hour recommended time.
Complete reassembly then took place and so far (it's been a few days now), it has held up to normal usage just fine.
Good stuff, that.
Mark in Oregon