Uneven paint stripe - CN SD70M

I have both cab #s of that engine...I will check mine after work.  Of course, I never noticed the rear pilots steps did not line up on my ICG gp-30s till someone pointed them out!

Is the frame warped or is the stripe not painted straight?

It's hard to tell from the photo, but it looks like the frame is warped. Maybe there is a wire pinched between the shell and the frame? I had this happen on my SD70ACe. After I loosened the shell, carefully tucked the wires in, and tightened it down, it looked like was supposed to.

^. I would loosen the frame screw near there if it is the frame, cant really tell from the photo.

The stripe isn't painted straight. The frame is fine. There's some black on the bottom of the frame showing below the yellow stripe where the stripe curves up. The stripe on the rest of the engine is down even with the bottom of the frame, with no black showing.

The stripe is fine on the other side of the engine.

Well, even the big boys screw up once in a while...

And parked outside the factory during a gala event to boot!!!

Rusty

icfan - Any luck checking your two engines for the stripe problem? Anyone else? Thanks.

What is that small black area between the bottom of the orange cab and the top of the yellow line?  Is it black painted plastic or is it a gap?

Stu

breezinup,

I suggest you call the dealer from whom you purchased this diesel. Explain to the dealer your problem. Have the dealer check their inventory to see if all engines are painted incorrectly. If not, ask your dealer for a exchange.

It's a gap - I probably can push the cab assembly down a bit to reduce it. Just trying to get a handle on the stripe problem before messing with anything else.

Already did that, Jim. Unfortunately, I bought his last one. He suggested I call Lionel, which I did. The dealer said he'd take it back and give a refund, although that's certainly not his first choice. Lionel also said they'd take it back and give a refund, but the woman there said that would take 4-6 weeks. I don't want to wait that long before buying another (they're in short supply now).

I don't want the dealer to get stuck, but after asking Lionel about it, they said they could refund the dealer, too, so I'd probably return it to the dealer. If anyone on the Forum indicates their engines have the same issue, though, I probably won't return it. 

Sorry to hear that you have to deal with this poor quality control.  I recently ran into a similar problem when purchasing Lionel's Canadian Pacific scale F3 AA units from a big dealer who happens to be very local.  It was their last set, as this was catlg'd in 2010 and delivered in early/mid-2011.  Not easy to come by, and I had to grab the powered B unit from another dealer on the west coast.  And that was their last unit too!

Anyway, the letters "Canadian Pacific" were noticeably slanting DOWN on one side of the dummy A unit.  Enough so that it was driving me nuts each time I looked at it.  Should never have made it out of the factory like that, but that's another topic for another day.

Dealer would have gladly exchanged it, but it was their last set.  So I had to ship (at my expense) the dummy A to Lionel Ohio for a replacement shell.  When the unit came back, the replaced shell was that of the POWERED A-unit.    Correct paint scheme, but the wrong road-number!  So I had to ship it back to Lionel again (this time at their expense) for another replacement shell.

Bottom line... It took two attempts to get it right.  And aside from the frustration involved, I finally have what I should have gotten the night I purchased the AA set locally.  I'm just glad that Lionel Ohio had replacement shells in stock!

Best of luck with your situation.

David

I has an American Flyer Erie Lackawanna U33C that was missing the yellow stripes on the left side. 

My LHS sent it back to Lionel for replacement and it did take about a month to be returned with a new shell.  We also discussed the possibility of a refund or exchange with a different roadname.  But, the U33C came back, fully striped, to my satifaction.

From what I've read here on the forum, you could get faster turnaround dealing directly with Lionel.

Rusty

Sorry for the delay...my stripes are straight...although there is a slight gap between the orange of the cab and the yellow.  On mine the gap is so small that from 2' or more away it is not noticeable.  From your picture it looks more like the larger gap between the cab and the frame is more what your problem is.  I hope you get your issues resolved...these are really nice engines.  I did have a small problem with a rubbing noise with one in curves...turned out to be part of the lift off exhaust fan unit rubbing on a flywheel in turns...easily fixed with some dremel work hidden inside.

Yes... I should have mentioned that each time I sent the F3 dummy A unit back for the proper shell replacement, the return-trip lasted only 1 week (i.e., shipment from PA to OH (2 days), time at Lionel OH (2-3 days), shipment from OH back to PA (2 days)).

Can't ask for better turn-around... just inconvenient when we're paying big $$$ for this stuff. 

It would seem that Lionel Ohio is getting lots of well-deserved accolades for jobs-well-done.  But I can't help but wonder WHY they've needed to become such a critical part of customer satisfaction for brand-spankin-new products.  At some point, if the QA doesn't improve on the manufacturing end, the folks in Ohio customer service are gonna find themselves equally pressured to get stuff out the door.  In my case, the wrong shell (power instead of dummy) was installed the first time I sent the product back.  Certainly, worse things could have happened... And although the box and inner foam packaging have now seen better days from being shipped twice, I'm glad the Ohio team was there to make things right.  I only hope they don't get worn down in the process of making up where QA manufacturing deficiencies are sometimes making for a less than stellar first-impression when products arrive stateside.

David

Would you mind posting a picture or two... of the whole locomotive. I like those 70's and I haven`t seen Lionel`s version.

BTW, something just went weird with my computer keyboard. Question marks and apostrophes won`t appear.

Rick

I appreciate the input. Unfortunately, in this case, Lionel told me that the engine couldn't be fixed. They have parts available for this engine, but obviously replacing the frame - which is the only fix - would require a complete disassembly of the engine and then reassembly. So there's nothing to turn around here - the only option is to return the engine for a refund. While Lionel will give a refund, getting it from the dealer will be quicker.

Dave, that's quite a story on the Canadian Pacific F-3s. I've had somewhat similar experiences, and can relate. It's a pain having to go through corrections and replacement, but all you can do is get it done. It's like car insurance. You have an accident that's not your fault, and the insurance company will pay for the repairs. But noone compensates you for the personal time you expend and the hassle in making all the necessary arrangements, and doing everything necessary to get the car back in good condition. We would like to always have problem-free train engines at the price we pay, and we should expect it, but the reality is that it doesn't always happen, and we are stuck dealing with it. And asking "why did I have to get this particular engine?"

On trainworldonline.com they show the CN sd70 with cab #8020 in stock.