Personally, I fix stuff like this all the time. I don't even think about returning something for trivial issues like a delaminated glue joint. However, I don't have an LHS in the equation. The nearest one is well over 100 miles away, so I buy everything from Internet dealers, the OGR board, train shows, eBay, etc. If your LHS has a repair facility, they certainly should be willing to fix it for you, and any competent train repair tech will have plenty of experience at fixing something like that so it won't show. It should't have to go back to MTH for the repair. I wouldn't dream of spending 30 bucks on shipping to fix something that minor.
Same situation for me. I learned pretty quickly that shipping costs add up quickly when you return stuff. Best to become comfortable with getting your hands dirty from time to time. There are two kinds of engines in my collection: ones I've worked on and ones I'm gonna work on.
