In the 1980ies, Märklin presented several completely new engineered models for the less expensive Primex programe for the first time. One of these models was an electric locomotive of the class E32.

The base for this engine, which was first offered als model #3192 in 1985, was the chassis of the old model #3030, a "Da" class of the Swedish State Railways (SJ). 

Using the old chassis, Märklin had sucsessfully created a good looking model. Especially the finely detailed Sommerfeldt pantographs were a real sucsess, in a time where Märklin equiped many electric engines of their standart programe sill with wrong DB standart pantographs of the DBS 54 type, allthough the prototypes had other pantographs.

Unluckily, the old Da chassis was taken over without any cnages. Completely wrong were the blind wheels as well as the much too large wheels of the leading trucks.

However, Märklin would have had the fitting parts....also this wouldn't have been exactly true to prototype, but it would have been looking far better. So, what about doing these changes yourself?

This report describes the exchange of the wrong wheels and blind wheels, i.e. it shows a way how to improve the model with only a few steps of procedure.

For one loco, we need the following Märklin spare parts:

4x 223970 - wheel

2x 216530 - blind wheel

From what locos are these parts taken? The wheel for the leading truck is used for the leading truck of several steam engines, like mode #3003 (BR24), #3084 (BR50) and many others. The blind wheel is normally part of older versions of the V60, like model #3065 or #3141.

For the conversion, we need a special "wheel press" for an exact mounting of the new wheels, so that they are running without any staggering later on. The old wheels can also be removed by using two screwdrivers, but it's more professional to use the right tool also in this case.

A comparision between "old" (in the foreground) and "new" in the background. Like one can see, even the smaller wheels of the leading truck let the whole engine looking far better an more prototypically!

Another view.

The chassis after the exchange of the blind wheels.

Unlickily, on the other side of the enginge the gears are visible. However they can be masked a little bit if they are bronzed.

Der kleine Umbau hat sich gelohnt und läßt sich weiter fortsetzen, z.B. durch eine vorbildgerechtere Lackierung der Pufferbohlen oder durch den Einbau von Maschinenraum-Attrappen.

Hinweis in eigener Sache: sämtliche hier gezeigten Schritte stellen die von mir gewählte Vorgehensweise dar. Für Schäden, die durch Nachbauten entstehen, kann und werde ich keine Haftung übernehmen!