Triangular screw heads. What the heck is going on here? Are Klingon's assembling these things?
Of course, I don't have a triangular screwdriver, and nothing else could be forced in to do the job, I thought I could just cut through them with some snips. This wasn't a good idea.
Oh well, I needed a new pair anyway. And yes, I would have used bigger cutters, but I couldn't get them in under the tractor.
In the end, I cut the plastic plinth up with a saw and eventually reduced the hold-down so a pair of small pliers could grasp the screw head to turn it. A few minutes later the tractor was free. Although I've ruined it's collectability as that base is never going to be fixable...
All this is in sharp contrast to the Corgi bus.
Underneath the model is a pair of plastic clips that fit into the back of the hollow wheels and hold it in place on the cardboard box liner. Far easier to undo and put back. Things haven't improved much in the 20 years that separate the model have they?
I'm suprised that you didn't attack an old cheap screwdriver with a file!
ReplyDeleteOne has to wonder why they used such odd hardware (which looks to be 'tamper-proof'), and just how many have actually been removed from their bases.
Interesting suggestion about the cheap screwdriver.
ReplyDeleteA number of years back, I did something very similar using an odd (and originally very cheap) hex key - quality tools and all that …. It did the job (very well, as it happens).
More recently, I had to open up some further diecasts (for interior painting) but couldn't find the re-engineered hex key. What I could find were some wooden skewers - one of which got chopped up into shorter lengths, followed by the file treatment (actually to slightly different sizes, for different models / bases).
This also worked - and worked out even cheaper, making the old hex key seem somewhat over specified.