C56 with backwards axle bearing

[bill937ca]

7 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

Dont forget due to the new Emperor the golden week is happening soon and will be particularly long, so they may not be in to reply to emails till after the new calendar starts.

 Hobby Search is closed April 28, 29  May 2, 3, 4 5, 6

[GiantRoboJustin]

On 4/24/2019 at 9:06 PM, katoftw said:

I use the email that my account is attached to.  I sent them an email on Monday about an order that has been 8 weeks since shipment date.  They replied Wednesday.

 

On 4/25/2019 at 12:56 AM, Kiha66 said:

Dont forget due to the new Emperor the golden week is happening soon and will be particularly long, so they may not be in to reply to emails till after the new calendar starts.

 

Thanks, I'm using the email attached to my HS account as well. Still no reply, but as also mentioned, could be due to golden week. Maybe Kato is down for golden week as well

 

Come to think of it though, I actually emailed them before, like a year or two ago, I think for an issue with a Tomix motor, and didn't get a reply then either, which makes me really wonder if it's even reaching them in the first place, or if my email is blocking them for some reason...

[bill937ca]

 The Hobby Search email  address is:     hs-support@1999.co.jp

[GiantRoboJustin]

On 4/25/2019 at 1:43 AM, Martijn Meerts said:

 

Hobby Search tends to only have 1 person working on their customer service that speaks English, and from what I've heard in the past, that's usually an intern and only there a couple of days in the week. It might have improved recently though.

 

As for Kato's steamers, I mainly hear issues with their American steamers, but it also seems very hit and miss. Some claim the GS4 is the worst steam locomotive they have, while others say it runs just fine. Same goes with the FEF-3, some say it's fine, others say it derails everywhere. My personal experience with the GS4 isn't great, but I do hope to fix it to an acceptable state at least, just a bit annoying that from the total of 8 (2 sets) replacement wheels I've ordered, it seems 5 aren't really up to decent quality standards. I'm probably going to try to mix and match wheels from the 2 sets and see if I can get it running acceptably at least.

 

Tomix steam locos run great, but here also I've had issues. I had one that had a cracked coupler between loco and tender, which luckily was easy to to fix with a little bit of epoxy.

 

All in all, steam locomotives in N-scale can still be tricky, I have great running locomotives from various brands (Kato, Tomix, MicroAce, Minitrix, Fleischmann, Arnold, etc.), but I also have a couple that are so bad, that even sending it back to the factory (twice) didn't get them fixed.

 

 Yeah, I suppose it's mostly up to luck just like any other model. I guess at least I've had better luck with Kato's steam locos than I've had with their DE10's, lol

 

But Wow, 1 person for English O_O... Maybe I should send it in Japanese? I actually thought about it initially, but thought I might butcher something since I haven't studied in a while...

 

[GiantRoboJustin]

4 minutes ago, bill937ca said:

 The Hobby Search email  address is:     hs-support@1999.co.jp

 

Thanks, luckily that's the one I've been using, I even copied and pasted it to my last email just to make sure I wasn't typing it wrong or in some different font or format that might screw something up

[katoftw]

I am surprised they haven't returned your email.  I have never not had them return an email.  And all emails are responded to in 48 hours maximum.  I even got a 8820 yen refund without trying.  But I noted the model fault straight away and contacted them. So within 4 weeks of them sending the item to me.

 

I would highly doubt that golden week has anything to do with it.  You contacted them long before this current week.

 

I'd be more inclined to think they don't wanna deal with it.  As you have had the model for a while and you contacting them fits outside their policy structure regards faults.  But still would be nice for them to respond and say so.  So then you can explore other avenues to fix the issue.

 

Kato USA by all accounts should be near useless in this issue.  AS they normally don't like dealing with Japanese models too much, and specially Japanese model purchase overseas.

 

I'd be attempting to find someone that is confident enough to pull it apart and rebuild it.  As I think all other avenues above will lead to roadblocks.

[Kiha66]

I would give Kato USA a phone call.  Since the issue would be in removing the wheel and flipping the bearing around, they might be able to do the repair despite not stocking the model.  I find the model companies are often much more helpful when talking over the phone.

[cteno4]

16 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

I find the model companies are often much more helpful when talking over the phone

 

I concur

 

jeff

[GiantRoboJustin]

Update: Thanks for all the replies! Still no word from Hobbysearch. I thought I might try calling Kato USA, but I'm not too hopeful they can help, at least not under warranty or anything. They told me once that they might not even be able to warranty Kato USA models if bought in Japan. So I decided to have a go at it myself. So far I've removed the offending wheel set, which was surprisingly easy, but I think I need a press to remove the wheel from the axle, so I'm thinking of either taking it to a local model train shop to see if they have one, or making one myself. It looks like the axle is hex shaped, so I'm hoping quartering won't be an issue

Edited May 14, 2019 by GiantRoboJustin

[chadbag]

@GiantRoboJustin  A little birdie told me you might want to hold up on this self-repair.

 

[GiantRoboJustin]

indeed, I just got the email notification from Hobbysearch this morning before work, thank you for letting them know! It also solves the mystery of where my emails to them have been going :3 

 

I actually spent yesterday shopping around for a pinion gear puller, but found all the ones small enough were sold out everywhere, so it was quite a relief to see the email this morning after going to bed in a mild state of defeat, lol

 

[GiantRoboJustin]

Alright, got it all back together, now the hard part...finding my local post office and sending it to Japan, as I haven't mailed anything out in years, lol

[Ochanomizu]

Hello,

 

Just scan and email ...

 

[GiantRoboJustin]

lol, package is sent and so far everything's going smoothly so far. 

[katoftw]

Where are you sendin it? What is the plan?

[GiantRoboJustin]

Hobbysearch had me send it back to them so they can forward it to Kato for the repair. So far, they let me know the customs forms looked good and refunded my shipping costs. They said it may take a while for Kato to get to the repair once they send it off, but I don't mind as I have plenty of other enjoyable (...and some not so enjoyable, lol) projects to keep me busy in the mean time.

[Kiha66]

Glad to hear they covered the repair, it should be a quick fix once it gets to kato as they still are selling the model so probably have the parts in stock.

[GiantRoboJustin]

Got the model back with repairs, and all seems to be well. It appears they went ahead and replaced the whole wheel set rather than disassembling the existing one to flip the bearing. Anyways it all went a LOT faster than I thought. I actually got the model back about 2 weeks ago, just didn't have much time to get to it until now (and still technically don't have time as I have a deck to work on and a leak to fix, lol)

 

Thanks again for all the helpful replies. I probably still wouldn't have it fixed yet if not for all of you!

[Kiha66]

Hooray!  Glad it all worked out in the end.