Model Railroading > Removing Shell... MTH SD70ACE

Has anyone attempted to remove the shell on the new MTH HO SD70ACE's? There are no instructions provided in the box. I am considering stripping and repainting a couple and would like to know if anyone has had success.

Thanks,

Peter J

It's basically a pain in the rear end. The walkway (skirt) will not come off with the body. You have to take the body off separate and while the front will come off easily, the rear will not. There are tabs just like other brands but these seem to be extremely tight. Taking just the body off also involves removing the handrail stanchions which is also not easy. I was able to remove the ones that plug in vertically but not the ones that plug in horizontally. You can also unsnap the stanchions from the handrail wire but they don't like to snap back on and stay snapped on. In order to get the skirt off you have to remove the weight inside or a combination of multiple weights. I didn't go this far.

Take it slow and be patient is all I can suggest but it's really unfriendly to opening up.

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

Can you answer one question. Are the LED's for the ditch lights in the ditch light boxes or are the LED's inside and they use light tubes to bring the light out? Thanks.

Bruce


RioGrandeFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It's basically a pain in the rear end. The walkway
> (skirt) will not come off with the body. You have
> to take the body off separate and while the front
> will come off easily, the rear will not. There are
> tabs just like other brands but these seem to be
> extremely tight. Taking just the body off also
> involves removing the handrail stanchions which is
> also not easy. I was able to remove the ones that
> plug in vertically but not the ones that plug in
> horizontally. You can also unsnap the stanchions
> from the handrail wire but they don't like to snap
> back on and stay snapped on. In order to get the
> skirt off you have to remove the weight inside or
> a combination of multiple weights. I didn't go
> this far.
>
> Take it slow and be patient is all I can suggest
> but it's really unfriendly to opening up.
>
> Rio Grande Fan
> Denver, CO

The ditch light LED's are surface mount LEDs right behind the nose of the shell at the walkway level in a small black surround. There are clear light pipes that run from them up into the ditch lights, the light pipes are less than 2" long. The light pipes are a very Katoish looking design and its really odd that MTH had to make the ditch light housings so large. I've had a ditch light housing off and the light pipe is very small inside as it comes up from the walkway. The ditch light housings could likely be changed out with Details West ones or others. Biggest issue is that the MTH ditch light housing is molded to the front stanchions which would require a precision cut to separate the housing.

If you operate the models in the dark you can see light from the ditch light LEDs shine through the nose. That is one way I knew of their location. When I had the shell off I saw how they were mounted.

I'll see if I can get some pictures of the ditch light housing and light pipe up close. I'll have to remove the shell on my Rio Grande unit so I can get the trucks off and eventually the side frames off so they can be painted silver. I'll see about taking some pictures of the inside as well.

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

So it sounds like you could remove the light tubes and old ditch light boxes and go inside and extend the wiring of the LED's by adding extra wire and bring them into new ditch light casings on the front.

Love to see those pictures.

Thanks,

Bruce


RioGrandeFan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The ditch light LED's are surface mount LEDs right
> behind the nose of the shell at the walkway level
> in a small black surround. There are clear light
> pipes that run from them up into the ditch lights,
> the light pipes are less than 2" long. The light
> pipes are a very Katoish looking design and its
> really odd that MTH had to make the ditch light
> housings so large. I've had a ditch light housing
> off and the light pipe is very small inside as it
> comes up from the walkway. The ditch light
> housings could likely be changed out with Details
> West ones or others. Biggest issue is that the MTH
> ditch light housing is molded to the front
> stanchions which would require a precision cut to
> separate the housing.
>
> If you operate the models in the dark you can see
> light from the ditch light LEDs shine through the
> nose. That is one way I knew of their location.
> When I had the shell off I saw how they were
> mounted.
>
> I'll see if I can get some pictures of the ditch
> light housing and light pipe up close. I'll have
> to remove the shell on my Rio Grande unit so I can
> get the trucks off and eventually the side frames
> off so they can be painted silver. I'll see about
> taking some pictures of the inside as well.
>
> Rio Grande Fan
> Denver, CO

Yeah Bruce you could, and actually I just might. The existing surface mount LEDs are soldered directly to a circuit board but if you're good with unsoldering small components then you could use the existing LEDs. I actually have some round surface mount LEDs that are brighter and more white than the MTH ones that I'd use if I ever did this. I also know that the square surface mount LEDs from Richmond Controls will work well.

I'm trying to acquire some of the Athearn square ditch lights because they are plastic and will not cause a short when installing an exposed LED inside like the metal Details West ditch lights can but they seem hard to find. I might have to try again with the plastic Details Associates ones. I tried these a while back but the look didn't seem right.

Anyway, I think it'd be very easy to improve the look of the ditch lights on the MTH SD70ACe. Despite the Athearn announcement I'm sticking with my MTH units. 7 in hand and 5 more to go!

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO

Hello All. My first post here
Actually the Shell is easy to remove. I found out the hard way. There are 4 tabs, one under each truck. You push them towards the outside of the frame to unlatch. before doing this you unhook the handrail from the poles on the cab and also unhook the handrails from the front of the CAB. I recently converted one to DCC and posted on this forum including pics. Different pics are throughout the thread:
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/166270.aspx

Here's a pic with the ditch light pipes, light board, and housing.

---

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll17/hamltnblue/MTH%20SD70Ace%20Conversion/DitchLightBoard.jpg

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll17/hamltnblue/MTH%20SD70Ace%20Conversion/DitchLightPipe_edited-1.jpg