Weathering & Painting vs Warantee question

[MarkInLA]

Hi, if one weathers or paints a bachmann loco does this deem it no longer under warantee ? I wish to weather my mogul while at the same time teeter tottering on returning it to Bachmann for either repair or a 2nd replacement..The right side crosshead is not perfectly vertical ( further out at its bottom ) where left side is perfect..I've made some adjustments to the motor CVs and made sure it is in128 speed step mode but it still jutters a tad whilst rolling. I keep thinking it's that tweaked crosshead getting jambing up a tad..Or, do all of the HO 2-6-0s behave a tad like that (not roll pefectly smooth all the time ) and the crossheads are completely cosmetic and have no bearing on the performance ? Most guys seem to say their's run great which makes me constantly wonder...

[rogertra]

The problem with weathered and detailed locomotives is not if it voids the warranty, which is will not but whether you get the same locomotive you sent to Bachmann to be repaired, back from Bachmann.

In some cases, it's easier and cheaper for them to just send you a replacement locomotive, not the one you sent to them.  Making repairs takes time and thus costs money, sending you a replacement may be cheaper.

I understand you can enclose a letter asking for your locomotive back or for your locomotive's body to be placed on a replacement chassis but I wouldn't trust this to happen.  Not much you can do once you're nicely weathered and detailed locomotive gets tossed into the parts bin, is there?

In all cases of warranty work, you're best off to take care of it yourself.  After all, we are supposed to modellers, are we not?