Hi
I've always weathered my locos and stock, and am now helping Steve and Martyn weather all of the locos that run on "James Street". We have just bought a couple of new Dapol 9Fs to replace the older versions, and one has now been weathered by me. This has mainly consisted of an overall light coat of Precision Matt Dirty Black, to be later added to with powders and other things. The valve gear has had a coat of Railmatch Oily steel. Getting an overall effect first is important as there are 50+ locos to sort......
My issue is that now that I have painted the loco is the warranty invalidated? I've not done anything mechanical at all, the only exception being pulling out the Rapido coupling on the tender and inserting a tweaked B&B. I have another one to weather that has only just been run in and it did make me think. If it was weathered would a dealer take it back? Should I wait until it's two years old?
What do members think?
Dave
Probably best to ask Farish, Dapol, Revolution etc directly!
I'm sure I've seen Bachman/Farish state that weathered/modified stock would still be covered as long as the changes weren't the cause of the problem.
i.e. if you've renumbered a loco and the motor fails then you'd be OK. Dunk the loco in a tin of paint as part of your weathering process which gums up the mechanism then you'll be left with the bill.
Steven B.
I've literally just emailed Dapol as I can't see anything in the warranty that would infer any non-mechanical changes are an issue! Martyn tells me he doesn't weather until the warranty has expired. Most of my stuff is bought secondhand where this is not an issue, but I hadn't considered the implications on new stuff before.
I agree with your points, and my painting is always done very carefully, particularly on wheels and valve gear. I also make sure the loco runs well before I buy it wherever possible, then run it in as detailed in the instructions. I don't oil anything!
I just wonder what a dealer might say if you turn up with a dud that's not pristine.
If I get a reply from Dapol I'll post it here
Dave
Even with all possible care taken I suppose there's always the chance that weathering powders or sprayed paint etc. could get into the mechanism, axle bearings etc. I would imagine if there were any evidence of that sort of contamination then it would adversely affect the warranty.
I once bought a very cheap Hornby factory weathered 2-8-0 loco as an unused non-runner, and found it was basically seized up due to the weathering that had been applied :( A good strip down sorted it out nicely :)
That's why I only carefully hand paint and don't use sprays. If I use powder I'd screen the sensitive parts with masking tape first.
Dave
Locos have to be weathered if they are going to look right on a layout. All mine get weathered as soon as they have been run in and have had a visual inspection to check all is fine. I weathered my new 9F within days of receiving it because I just couldn't stand seeing it in its "out of the box" condition. I think that if the valve gear gives a problem it will be my problem otherwise everything else should still be covered. Likewise my new Hymek which arrived Saturday. It has been run in and is now back in its box awaiting the next weathering session; it won't get to work the layout until it looks like it works for a living. Most of my weathering is subtle (ie I don't think many folk notice) but I really think it makes all the difference to a layout.
I can't remember what the fault was, but when I sent my Farish D215 in for repair i had turned it into 40122 with full yellow ends. They sorted it under warranty no problem.
Whilst I can't imagine it would ever get that far, there was a clause introduced to home insurance policies a few years ago about "conditions precedent" that meant insurers could no longer refuse to pay a fire claim because your windows didn't have the right locks, or refuse to pay for a burglary claim on your garage because your house lighting wasn't signed off. I suspect if pressed in court a manufacturer would have the same issue here. Unless they could prove the damage was as a result (directly other otherwise) of the modification it should be irrelevant.
Bachmann's policy was outlined in the June 2018 Railway Modeller - weathering won't affect the warranty if it's confined to parts not affecting the mechanism or operation, but mechanical issues attributable to painting the latter areas aren't covered.
More generally a loco fault not related to weathering should be covered by consumer law above and beyond but that could be difficult to prove.