Faulty MicroAce 4010 E231 Sobu line Headlight

[JR 500系]

It can be 90% new, only 10% is just missing. In the past there were similar half finished cars in the junk bin at the Maerklin factory, usually missing roofs or windows. In this case only the front assembly is missing, so the spare parts only went so far. It should be visible on the photos, that not only the lights, but the clear plastic light inserts are missing, which is a bigger problem, since you can't put anything different there. Without the lenses, any working lights will look rather strange. (even most newer unmotorised Tomytec sets have the lenses made out of clear plastic) I would say this train is certainly a bag of spare parts case. Maybe you can try to get a non running set with working headlights and try to make a good set out of the two.

 

This is one of the reasons why one should not buy from shady sources, since there are no spares and this set can't even be sent back to MA for a repair without getting charged/sued. (in the best case they'll just deny fixing it)

 

Indeed... This was one of the worst I've gotten so far so... Sending back to MA is a sure No-No so I guess I need to start looking for compatible light assemblies that can be purchased and made to fit into the train...

 

 

60$? Wow its too expensive for a broken model.. Well, at least its still running..

 

Well... It isn't if it's fully functional which I thought it was... But then... Well yeh luckily it is still running or I would have spent US$60 to get 8 car shells with bogies as spares...

 

Standing at a success rate of over 90% or more (after buying around 36 models with only this model without light assemblies and one model with some problem with the motor which should be able to repair) for these shady sources, I think they're still alright.. But the rosters getting filled up pretty fast and there doesn't seem to have more models from these sources so a temporary halt is in place I hope.

[katoftw]

It makes me wonder how much waste is going on in the MA Chinese factories.

 

If it was only missing a few parts, you'd think they'd just reassemble it correct and get it onto the shelves to sell.

 

I'm sure MA wouldn't be happy to know they are being charged to have products built then fail QA and just disappear.  These losses get pasted onto the customer in the end.

[kvp]

Maerklin had a parts bin at the local shop in its the german factory, that had all kinds of parts in them. Usually you could assemble whole cars or even sets from them, except a few parts were missing, like the clear window inserts. I would assume this set was built from spares that MA kept for fixing retail sets. The reason is that each injection moulding form is used make a certain number of parts, then switched to another form. The total amount of parts made is not exactly the same, so the factory usually runs out of externally sourced electronic components before running out of plastic parts. This means that with a certain amount of common parts (like metal wheels, motors, rapido couplers) it's possible to build a few dozen half finished sets. The company could stockpile them to have spare parts for repair or sell them cheaply to 3rd party repair shops, depending on company policies. 

 

ps: Once i built a whole maerklin locomotive that was not manufactured for years and has a high 2nd hand price by ordering all the parts (including the full metal shell) and taking the motor, the baseboard and headlight circuits from a different type used locomotive, since they were a shared component. I also bought an empty box for my type, that was made for a differently painted version. So it's possible to scrapheap a full set legally, if a company is willing to sell parts and has a large enough stockpile. Any out of stock parts that keep them from completing and selling the spares can usually be bought used. Unless one is unlucky...

[Welshbloke]

It used to be possible to do the same thing with Hornby models, at least until production moved to China. They used to offer the leftover parts to dealers for repairs, and there were two or more specialists who'd buy hundreds of components at a time. I managed to build a complete three car Class 110 DMU in white with blue stripe, years after they'd stopped making that colour,

 

You can also do well from buying a cheap model with paint damage, a brand new shell from a spares supplier, and combining the two.