Rapido Trains FL9 Manuallines - Removing The Shell
6
reattach it is with a drop of white glue. You can’t ruin the paint finish with white glue. If
you don’t like to touch your model trains, you are welcome to send the engine back for
us to glue that doodad back on with white glue. But if you do send it back to us for us
to put that one part back on and other stuff falls off when we send it back to you, then
tough tooties. We’re not fixing it again.
We try to make our models courier- and mail-proof, but there really is no way to protect
a model from damage when it is used in a game of football at the UPS or FedEx distri-
bution center. Model trains generally don’t survive well after being “spiked” because
Bobby scored a touchdown near the warehouse receiving doors.
Our FL9 uses Rapido’s unique “No-Warp Grill” technology for the Farr grilles on the
body sides. Each metal grille is a stamped C-channel inserted into slots in the shell. This
prevents the grille from warping or falling off your locomotive. If your model was tossed
about a lot in shipping, the grille may become unseated in one corner. It can usually be
reseated using an X-Acto knife to push the corner of the channel back into the slot. You
would be amazed at how many people send back their models to us for a 12-second
repair. Don’t be afraid to touch your model… it won’t explode on contact!
More information about our limited lifetime warranty can be found towards the end of
this manual.
REMOVING THE SHELL
If you need to open up your FL9 it is actually quite easy to do. Just be sure to remember
these important points:
• We have a transporter lock on the molecular pattern of your locomotive. If some-
thing pops off while you are removing the shell, our starship’s transporters will
automatically lock on to the little part and beam it directly into the heart of the sun.
Don’t bother looking for it. It’s gone. You might hear the transporter effect as the
part is beamed away. I know it would have been more useful for us to beam the
part back onto your workbench but someone’s been fiddling with our transporters
and we haven’t been able to fix them. Sorry.
• To that end, please make every effort to ensure nothing flies away. Work on a
clean, white surface. In fact, paint all the walls, the floor and the ceiling white,
wear white coveralls, and remove everything else from within a three-mile radius
of your workbench, especially (but not limited to) vegetation, people and wind.
• Turn the locomotive upside down in a foam cradle (painted white, of course)
and remove the coupler screws. Pull the coupler boxes out of the ends and turn
the loco right-way up. Now spread the skirts and wiggle the shell off. Carefully.
Remember the transporter lock.
• That’s it, really.