Warped roof on Lionel heavyweight passenger car

I can not comment on fixing it other than replacement. Plastic is very hard to reshape,once it has warped or shrunk. It is however a good reason to convert to LED lighting. LEDs put out very little heat. Ready made boards are available and also DYI., I make my own,several circuits are shown here,depending on your needs. The caboose post has the best photos.

http://www.jcstudiosinc.com/Bl...tegoryMain?catId=426

Dale H

Not easy Bob. I think you were on the right track but don't think a hair dryer will get the plastic hot enough. Most heat guns will be too hot unless you hold it some distance away. I would suggest removing the roof and supporting it with a ~1" metal block under the "A" in "Pacific". That appears to be the center of the curve. Clamp one end down and apply the heat at the curve while applying pressure on the opposite end. Lift that pressure every ten seconds or so to check if the roof is getting straighter. Another method might be to make a plaster mold of a good roof, place the bad one in the mold and warm it in an oven, increasing the temperature until it starts to move.

Pete

I have several Lionel 18" heavyweight sets, but I'm not familiar with this particular one. When did it come out? Is it still in warranty? Would they take it back anyway? Those are the questions I'd ask.

When I bought either my SF Chief or SR Crescent Ltd one of the cars was more or less like that. It came out of the mold wrong or too soon. Lionel replaced it.

I don't think it has anything to do with the lighting. Mine don't have LED lights and at full tmcc 18 vac for several years running none have gotten alarmingly hot. I also don't think the car is fixable as a do it yourself project. Anything you do at home on it imo will make it even worse.

Btw, it's I'm sure just the way the photo appears, but the car almost looks on the short side for an 18"er.

These are mere 12" heavyweights. (Yes, I know, not scale. But I've got a small layout.) They're from the Lionel 2006 v2 catalog (6-25164), bought in 2007.

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll just order a new roof, and consider plug-replaceable LEDs for the two roof lights in these cars.
Bob A.

That's the way to deal with it. But, I'd make a run first at asking for a replacement car. Or ask your dealer to do it, maybe they carry some weight. The worst that can happen is, they'll say no.

You didn't mention if your running in command(I assume you are if the bulb got that hot) but FWIW, I run my tmcc/legacy layout with the voltage dialed back to about 15 or 16v. This helps reduce whatever risks that come with higher voltages, be it hot bulbs, shorter bulb life, arcing during derailment etc. All of my command equipment performs just as well at 15v,as it does at 18v.

Bob,

I have the PRR versions of this same car. Even added people like you did. I'm seriously looking into LED replacement lighting for all my passenger cars except Pre-War. I see several vendors in OGR have bulb for bulb replacement LED's.

Jon

I never encounted this,but if i had that problem,i would take a hair dryer to it ,heat it up and bend it back.hope this helps