Ever buy a broken rail car, needed to clean, or wanted to change out that bogie system? This is a step by step guide to take apart the passenger railcars of this style such as 4120/ 4100/ 4117/ 4118/ 7511 or found in sets 3985/ 4000/ 4001/ 4002/ 4003/ 4005/ 4007/ 4017/ 4019/ 4021. I will do a guide for each type of railcar. Note that there are many ways to work on these cars and orders that they can be done in. This is the method that I use and in the order I do it in. This has worked on over 59 railcars of these types.
As a side note passenger cars for these sets use the same part designs only different colors (some do have different roof designs but they will all fit eachothers body. All parts are interchangeable between them should you wish to make customs. Note that all railcars with the exception of 4119 4124 & 6342 use the same undercarriage.
Passenger car from set 3958 Sears Exclusive
Passenger car from set 4120
First thing we do is remove the roof. This is just gravity and compression fit with no pins or clips so placing our hand in the middle we can left straight up and off it will come.
We note that this rail car is damaged but there are a lot of good parts that can be salvaged and used on other incomplete rail cars so lets take it apart.
We are now going to take out the luggage racks, again these just pull out without clips. Be careful to only pull up as there are back pegs that can snap off. These not only keep the luggage rack from staying on the wall but aid in keeping the roof on as well. (side note there should be two polls, one per side, these are missing in this rail car but would have been held in place by the luggage rack. You would remove these at the same time)
Next we are going to remove the seats. These are compression fit with pegs but unlike other parts of playmobil there is no lip on the pin that must be compressed to allow the pin to release. So again we are just going to pull straight up. (Side note there are two seat types (handle on left or right side))
Once we have removed the roof and the contents of the passenger car we are going to flip it over and so that we can remove the weight kit. The undercarriage should now be facing up. There are four clips that need to be compressed to release. Start by pushing on the undercarriage bar that holds the weight kit away and then it will release and out the weight kit will come. Do not try and bend the clips.
Then the weight just falls out of the weight housing if you turn it upside down
Now the weight kit is gone we can remove the body. There are 4 clips that need to be compressed to release the body. However if you do one side of the long side of the rail car then once those are free of the undercarriage you can gently pull the body in the direction of the clips that are free and the other two will release.
This is the body of the passenger car free of all other parts. We can now set this aside and work on the undercarriage. (NB. You do not need to remove the body from the carriage to remove the bogies, you will however need to remove the body to remove the platforms on either end. (This body though trashed will be kept in case I wish to use it in a diorama after I remove the hand rails)
Next we are going to remove the platforms at either end (NB. you must remove the body to do this as it makes it so much easier since the body holds down this end and you would need to try and push back the clips otherwise)
The side of the platform near the bumper has two clips, leave these alone
With the body off and the undercarriage facing width side infront of you with the platform you wish to remove facing opposite you all you have to do is push slightly on the guardrail away from you and the platform end closest to you will lift up (pic 1), once that happens pull the platform towards you and the clips will just release (Pic 2).
Now with the platforms off we will remove the just for cosmetic manual break by gently pulling it off at the bottom and then the top
Once the bottom clip is off slide the manual break up and unclip the top bracket by the bottom. This prevents you from putting stress on the joint where the klicky would hold on to and is a point where these items usually snap off.
Next we are going to detach the detachable hand rails. These can be a pain and require you to pinch both ends towards each other while pulling it away from the platform as the clip part is facing upwards on the top of the rail and downwards on the bottom (Note you can rotate the piece when putting it back as it is the same on either end). This is the same method used to remove from the body of the passenger car. Now lets do the other side and we are done.
We are left with a rolling chassis (undercarriage with bodies, wheels and couplings)
Time to get those bogies off so lets start by removing the couplings (There are two types of couplings spring and weighted) This tutorial shows the weighted, however the spring type just requires you to remove the back compression fit peg (no clip on this) first prior to removing the coupling. Now we place our thumbs on either side of the coupling length wise by the pin so that one thumb is on each side and we push up and away from us. It may be a bit tough but DO NOT PULL UP, you must push up from the bottom and away otherwise you will break the clip off the bogie.
We are not out of the woods yet as we still have to get the coupling clear of the bogie and the release toggle is inside that coupling quick release loop. Once the middle pin is clear we need to push down on the coupling hook so the weight and hole are clear of the peg.
We now need to turn the coupling 90 degrees
Once this is done then the push release will be clear of the loop and we can just left up and remove the coupling. (installation should be done in the same manner (Reversed of course))
Next it is time to take the wheels off. We do this by placing our thumb at the top sidewall on the wheel closest to us and pushing the wheel up and away from us well placing our fingers on the bogie wall closest to us and pulling it towards us all the while lefting up the wheel up and then the peg closest to us comes out.
Then we pull forward to remove the peg that is opposite us all the while keeping the bogie wall pulled towards us.
Now with the wheel removed we can focus on the task at hand which was to remove the bogie. This will require a heat gun or hair dryer with the setting on the lowest. We do not wish to melt the plastic just warm it up enough so it can flex a little. There are four clips that hold the bogie to the undercarriage and they will snap if you do not follow this set. If they break you have just wrecked the whole undercarriage.
Once the plastic is heated we are going to place the undercarriage infront of us upside down so that the narrow end side is facing us and we will have the bogie we are working on at the side furthest from us. We are then going to place our thumbs on the two clips on the side of the bogie that does not have the quick release coupler guard and push the clips in.
At the same time you want your index and middle figers pushing up on the top of the bogies face through the undercariage
Then up and off it comes.
The bumper pads (red or black are removed the same way and are interchangeable) They require that we use tweezers, a pair of needle nose pliers or surgical clamps (with pads so as to not damage the plastic).
First we rotate the bumper so that the void between the clips is in the middle of our view
Then we place our clamps on either side of the clips and slowly push the clips together inside while pulling on the bumper pad outside to remove.
Then out the bumper comes. Note that because of the soft pads used on the ridges (grips/ teeth) of the clamps there was no scratching on the bumper clips.
And there you have it, a completly disassembled passenger rail car ready for cleaning or to be used for parts.
Sincerely,
TMH
