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Post by TBird1958 on Aug 31, 2014 10:48:54 GMT -8
FWIW I have 6 of the older Red box Atlas GP-40's that I like quite a lot, tho they were a fair bit of work to bring up to what I felt was an acceptable model. I imagine the "fair bit of work" you are referring to has to do with the nose signal light adding on - which isn't easy to add and have it look good/right. I've seen so many over the years in magazines that didn't look good that so far I have held off on doing my 6 of the old red box small herald Rio Grande GP40's. Seeing your work, I imagine yours come out looking spot on - but I don't have your skills unfortunately but can recognize a good thing when I see it! The KC Orange ex-Conrail never had the nose light so those are off the hook!
Hey Jim,
The Mars light is a bit of work, I recently rebuilt a Kato GP35 and as part of the project re-did that part. My best advice is to work slow with a good set tools, test fitting often. I felt the underframe and fuel tank to be bigger issues and spent a lot of time trying to add some details like filters and conduit with idea of disguising the tank's shape. My Redbox GP40s were about $70 ea so I figure they were going to need some work at that price. The Mid America Car Kansas City ex-CR repaints are cool but a little too new for my timeline.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 11:01:51 GMT -8
My best advice is to work slow with a good set tools, test fitting often. Sound advice when doing detail work. Measure twice, three times or more and cut once. Work slowly and cautiously and be prepared to spend some time on the installation. Taking big swings at any detail work even for the more advanced modelers doesn't always work out very well.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 11:06:48 GMT -8
The new Genesis GP40-2s are currently available, so maybe someone who already has one can post some pictures. From what we’ve seen and read about the quality of Athearn’s new geeps, my money will be going to Genesis locomotives. The Atlas release of previous road numbers could simply be a “knee jerk” marketing reaction to Athearn’s new GP40-2s. There are still those buyers who want good locomotives, but don’t need or want to pay for Genesis quality. If/when Athearn does another run with their phase 1s in Reading paint , I think my NIB Atlas gold units are going to hit eBay. Looks like someone else had the same idea! EBay auction for Atlas Gold GP40-2 in ReadingWith 12 watchers, I would say there is still interest in the Atlas Geeps. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this auction. Thank, Mark Watchers doesn't mean bidders. Trust me as a sometime seller, I know all to well that you can have a pile of watchers and come the end of the auction may get no bids or just one or two. A lot of people that watch an item have the same item and are considering selling it and want to see what the other guy is going to get. Others track price on models. A few might be interested in bidding and forget about bidding. Others are just curious. One or two might actually bid....if they remember.....
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Post by curtmc on Aug 31, 2014 12:05:35 GMT -8
So true on the auction watchers... I was watching an auction last month - an item at 50% MSRP at that - with over 25 watchers and the auction ended with no bidders.
Once upon a time only sellers could see how many were viewing or had placed watches on their auctions... But then the eBay listings and bid numbers went down and ebay started showing the watcher numbers visible on the auctions - probably in the hope to entice more bids from those who incorrectly think that every watcher may want the item too. (Note: 80% of the items I now place watches on are items I already have and want to see how much they sell for, or items I have and may want to sell)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 31, 2014 15:42:22 GMT -8
Pic of ex conrail kc?? Wanna see The former Conrail units were D&RGW numbers 3131 to 3153. A Rio Grande....smurf.....ex-Conrail 3155 to D&RGW 3155, later D&RGW 3143 Ex-Conrail 3169 formerly Penn Central 3169. To D&RGW 3169 later D&RGW 3153 Still in PC black in 1984! Look at the fan on the dynamic and the middle radiator!
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Post by grabbem88 on Aug 31, 2014 16:13:55 GMT -8
Thank!
I'd take both or build both... But the smurf would be more ideal for me..
I know most might not care but look up the esu 645e3 file and that is what will be used on the Atlas gp40's
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Post by atsfan on Aug 31, 2014 18:03:22 GMT -8
So true on the auction watchers... I was watching an auction last month - an item at 50% MSRP at that - with over 25 watchers and the auction ended with no bidders. Once upon a time only sellers could see how many were viewing or had placed watches on their auctions... But then the eBay listings and bid numbers went down and ebay started showing the watcher numbers visible on the auctions - probably in the hope to entice more bids from those who incorrectly think that every watcher may want the item too. (Note: 80% of the items I now place watches on are items I already have and want to see how much they sell for, or items I have and may want to sell) If watchers equalled sales we could all be rich!
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Post by TBird1958 on Aug 31, 2014 18:03:47 GMT -8
Pic of ex conrail kc?? Wanna see The former Conrail units were D&RGW numbers 3131 to 3153. A Rio Grande....smurf.....ex-Conrail 3155 to D&RGW 3155, later D&RGW 3143 Ex-Conrail 3169 formerly Penn Central 3169. To D&RGW 3169 later D&RGW 3153 Still in PC black in 1984! Look at the fan on the dynamic and the middle radiator! The fans on this unit were likely replaced by the D&RGW's Burnham shop, there are pics in several books of various units with fans like this including SD 45s and older F3 high fans on F7s. Those ex CR GP40 were the only used diesel locomotives Rio Grande ever bought, they were power short after being granted trackage rights on the MoPac after the merger. Great pic Jim, thanks for posting it!
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Post by bluedash2 on Sept 1, 2014 5:42:16 GMT -8
The Conrail ones have the same numbers and paint jobs as the run before. Per looking at the pictures. I Emailed Atlas about the CR numbers and they have been changed now. What will the new numbers be?
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Post by riogrande on Sept 1, 2014 5:52:47 GMT -8
Thanks for the photo's of the Ex-Conrail unit. I've a few photo's in some of my books of them but more is better.
While I do cover both the 70's and 80's for modeling purposes, I have minimal newer loco's such as the KC Orange GP40's (2 only) and SD50's (3 only) so I'm giving myself the option of modeling both 70's and 80's - I like the look of the 70's more but actually saw the D&RGW more in the 80's so that personal connection so....
The SD50's and KC Orange GP40's have a semi foreign look to me also - the SD50's have the SP style plow and the GP40's no nose signal light. Same for the GP60's. So I guess you could say I prefer most of my engine fleet to be "universal" in that it will cover both the 70's and the 80's. Most of the GP30's, GP35's, GP40's, SD45's and SD40T-2's ran in both decades, give or take.
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Post by sd80macs on Sept 1, 2014 10:38:40 GMT -8
I Emailed Atlas about the CR numbers and they have been changed now. What will the new numbers be? 10 001 846 Conrail (Blue/White) 3358 10 001 847 Conrail (Blue/White) 3378 10 001 848 Conrail (Blue/White) 3382
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Post by fr8kar on Sept 1, 2014 13:05:07 GMT -8
The Conrail ones have the same numbers and paint jobs as the run before. Per looking at the pictures. I Emailed Atlas about the CR numbers and they have been changed now. Thanks for your part in getting this fixed!
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Post by riogrande on Sept 1, 2014 15:47:44 GMT -8
I have four Genesis Rio Grande units on order with my LHS The Mid America Car Kansas City ex-CR repaints are cool but a little too new for my timeline. . If you are ordering all four Genesis D&RGW GP40-2's, be aware that two of the numbers were delivered about the same time as the KC orange GP40's, 1983. So if the KC orange repaints are too new for your timeline, the GP40-2's #3129 and 3130 will be too new also.
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Post by TBird1958 on Sept 1, 2014 17:24:32 GMT -8
I know they are Jim, I'll fudge on them because they're the newer version (which I really like) The '80s are a can of worms I don't want to open!
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Post by riogrande on Sept 2, 2014 5:53:56 GMT -8
I know they are Jim, I'll fudge on them because they're the newer version (which I really like) The '80s are a can of worms I don't want to open! When those 1983 GP40-2's arrive, you will hear the "hiss" of that can of worms opening up, heh heh! I gave into the Schwarz a long time ago and decided the 80's were part of my modeling scope - in fact I had a hard time resisting anything D&RGW during my lifetime but eventually decided to create some hard cut-off dates at 1965 (early side) and 1991), late side - just to limit things a bit. That has allowed me to sell off any TTX speed letter cars, Atlas Pines 45's trailers, a few wide cab diesels, and still have some Golden West stuff to divest. I chose 1965 as the earliest date when bought my ABBA set of Genesis single stripe F3's - like you I couldn't resist a set of "out of scope" diesels. Looking at Mike's nice 60's era photo's - I'm reminded of how colorful and interesting the 1960's were. If you don't have a copy of it, the book Colorful Colorado: Railroading in the 1960's published by the Colorado RR Museum is a very nice color book which includes a lot of nice colorful photo's of the CB&Q, MP, D&RGW, Rock Island, ATSF and UP. As far as 1980's loco's go, I've kept it pretty minimal - only 3 SD50's, 2 KC Orange GP40's and 1 GP60. I've weighted my roster so the majority of my loco's will work for the 1970's and also the 80's so I can have the freedom to model both era's. Since my funds are limited, I'm initially planning on getting one of the 1983 GP40-2's to and two of the 70's versions; if I can swing it, I may get the other number later. Personally I wish Athearn was offering at least three of the GP40-2's in numbers below #3128 rather than half of the run for 1983+, putting those two squarely in the mid-1980's along with 45' TOFC trailers and Amtrak Superliners. Slippery slope indeed! But heck, we like what we like and the hobby often involves compromises.
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Post by grabbem88 on Sept 2, 2014 7:59:46 GMT -8
Ok I never understood atlas and there products so ill ask on this topic.
If a product is announced aug 27 2014 what/when will they ever show up at hobby stores etc??
I know the h15/16-44's has been released/announced in April and have yet seen one..
Just wondered is all
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Post by riogrande on Sept 2, 2014 8:45:29 GMT -8
Ok I never understood atlas and there products so ill ask on this topic. If a product is announced aug 27 2014 what/when will they ever show up at hobby stores etc?? I know the h15/16-44's has been released/announced in April and have yet seen one.. Just wondered is all I don't think any one knows but since the disruptions in China at the factories, things seem to be less predictable than before say, 2009ish. Atlas used to, and maybe still does have the schedule info on their website (I stopped checking it during the past couple years), but as for reliably predicting delivery, I don't know if that is possible. That seems to be true for many model manufacturers who are offering estimated delivery dates. Those who announce product when it is on the way can offer a better estimate at the cost of waiting a lot later in the process. The difference between announced and released would be shown on the shipping schedule page. But there may be no way of knowing until that page is updated with "shipped" or "at dealers" type of message. Athearn and IMR have their "expected delivery" dates which as most know get updated, usually with dates pushed back or in IMR's case, changed from a date to TBA when they don't have enough orders to go forward. They even had a deliver date of July 2014 for some freight cars I was interested in, and in July it changed to TBA. I wondered how they could have gotten those to market in July if they were still waiting on sufficient pre-orders to justify a run, unless in IMR can push them out the door from order to shipping in a matter of weeks rather than months. That would surprise me but who knows.
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Post by TBird1958 on Sept 2, 2014 9:40:58 GMT -8
Jim, I probably won't weather the two '83 built units - or at least very lightly so they'll always be the newest units on the roster. I have a few units that push the low end my time frame too, the old scheme SD-7s and Four stripe F's are all '60s locos. My thoughts are to slightly shift both rolling stock and units to slide the timeline around - the early years mean no SD40T-2s or GP40-2s and I can have the F's out running around. As it comes forward in time the F's and early scheme units go away, the pace of change for everything in the Utah desert is much slower so I won't have structures to worry about. Since the GP40-2 doesn't have a long list of owners I have the feeling Athearn will do another run in Rio Grande at some future point and I may consider adding a couple more early production units. I'd be surprised about a re-run of those two late production ones tho.......Love that modern "slide" blower duct! WRP's "Heart of the Rockies" has some great pics of the wreck involving GP30 #3028 and GP40 #3056, the two units 3129 and 3130 replaced. One fine GP40-2!
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Post by riogrande on Sept 2, 2014 12:09:13 GMT -8
Sliding the time frame around makes for some fun and interest although it is a challenge and expense to have rolling stock to run multiple era's. I have a mix of diesels to represent mid-1960's action right through to 1990. The 4-stripe F7's, single stripe F3's, CB&Q GP30/35 pool power, bumble bee SD7's etc. and a 4-stripe PA for the last gasp of the Yampa Valley Mail all provide for mid-1960's power - I couldn't resist! As you roll on into 1967, the 4-stripe F paint is gone save #5571 that held on in 4-stripe into that year. There is a cool photo in Zephyrs' thru the Rockies with 5571 in 4-stripe leading single stripe F's on the CZ. I'm not sure if any other F's survived past 1966 in 4-stripe. Really the mid-1960's thru the mid-1970's is a great D&RGW "transition era" to model with the changing of the guard from the last of the F7's and PA's, to the introduction of the GP40-2 in 1972 and the SD40T-2 in 1974.
Back on topic, hopefully you are right about Athearn running more GP40-2 D&RGW numbers in the future, although if the 1983 version sells well, they would likely re-run them too since economics figures into it.
Crest of the Continent and Heart of the Rockies are about the only two major books I still need to get - I don't need to be convinced of how good they are, just need to scare up the funds, they aren't cheap!
BTW, that photo looks the same as the one on page 92 of Rio Grande Diesels vol 2. The caption there mentions GP30 #3025 rather than 3028 as one of the wrecked diesels.
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Post by markfj on Sept 2, 2014 12:20:42 GMT -8
That paint looks so fresh you can practically smell it!
Just out of curiosity, how does Athearn’s rendering of Rio Grande’s unique font hold up against the prototype?
I remember someone on another board did a good side-by-side comparison of models by various manufacturers to illustrate the difference in the side lettering. I can't recall if it was Athearn or Atlas, but one was better than the other. Mark
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Post by riogrande on Sept 2, 2014 14:15:34 GMT -8
That paint looks so fresh you can practically smell it! Just out of curiosity, how does Athearn’s rendering of Rio Grande’s unique font hold up against the prototype? I remember someone on another board did a good side-by-side comparison of models by various manufacturers to illustrate the difference in the side lettering. I can't recall if it was Athearn or Atlas, but one was better than the other. Mark Both Athearn and Atlas font always looked very close to me - close enough that I've never been compelled to scratch my head over them and I've looked at them both for years. To this day I've never read any reference complaints against either until your post. Color is another story in some cases. Now Bachman's large font looks a weird to me in HO on many of their diesels, and in N Atlas's large Rio Grande herald has looked "off" to me. The Proto 2000 large herald on the GP30 has the Rio nearly touching the leading tail coming off of the Grande, which clearly looks like there should be a large gap there.
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Post by markfj on Sept 2, 2014 16:34:25 GMT -8
Hmm, maybe I was mistaken that it was Athearn or Atlas, I’ll have to see if I can find that post. Still, it’s such a distinctive font that you would almost expect some noticeable variations in color, shape, position, etc. I glad to hear that Athearn got it right; they seem to be ahead of the other manufacturers in terms of detail accuracy these days.
Thanks, Mark
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Post by atsfan on Sept 2, 2014 16:45:15 GMT -8
Ok I never understood atlas and there products so ill ask on this topic. If a product is announced aug 27 2014 what/when will they ever show up at hobby stores etc?? I know the h15/16-44's has been released/announced in April and have yet seen one.. Just wondered is all Figure 10 months out, if there are no delays. Both Athearn and Atlas have crazy long lead times. Delays make those even longer.
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Post by TBird1958 on Sept 2, 2014 19:25:52 GMT -8
Jim,
I had a pretty good look at some pics of 3002 in the large letters and compared them to the LLP2K model, and just as you say, the lettering is just slightly too bold which results in it's being pushed together. It's not so bad that I'd sell the model tho.......The Genesis GP-9 in large herald is likely the correct size, by comparison it looks about perfect - kudos Athearn! The older Atlas Redbox GP-40s in small speed letters are not quite correct either, Kato's GP-35 also has poorly shaped cab numbers, but those are easily fixed.
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Post by WP 257 on Sept 2, 2014 19:51:32 GMT -8
Hey, if any of the Athearn fans is looking to get rid of an Atlas Reading Silver Series GP40-2, I have some nice freight cars I could barter...Exactrail, also the Athearn Genesis as delivered Solid Cold 47' Mechanical reefers...short on cash at moment due to just buying some NdeM diesels. PM me if interested.
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randyb
Junior Member
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Post by randyb on Sept 2, 2014 22:21:49 GMT -8
The Chessie System Historical Society will be selling unnumbered GP40-2's (along with the numbered ones) in both Phase IIa and Phase IIc.
chessiestore at gmail dotcom
Randy
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Post by riogrande on Sept 3, 2014 3:15:22 GMT -8
Number 3002 is the only large herald GP30 from P2K that I have, and like you, the lettering issue isn't enough to make me get rid of it. As you noted there seem to be more imperfections in the small lettering than the large herald, but I can live with them. I noticed the KATO GP35 lettering didn't look the best either - I only have 2 D&RGW GP35's and 2 CB&Q GP35's. The worst I've seen in HO are the large herald by the Bachmann and in N, Atlas's large herald were off too.
Hopefully the delivery date of the D&RGW GP40-2's won't get pushed back any further.
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Post by markfj on Sept 9, 2014 12:39:32 GMT -8
Looks like someone else had the same idea! EBay auction for Atlas Gold GP40-2 in ReadingWith 12 watchers, I would say there is still interest in the Atlas Geeps. It will be interesting to see the outcome of this auction. Thank, Mark Interesting. I have a Atlas Gold GP-38 I need to dump. I was waiting for model railroading season to start, but it seems demand is stronger than I thought. -Dave Well, don’t get your hopes up for a high closing bid price. The auction I was watching only reached $137.50, which is almost $40.00 less than what I paid for mine. Granted that $9 bucks of that was for S/H, but still the difference is enough that I’m going to keep it. Just saw another auction that is starting at $94.99 for a used GP40-2, no bids and no watchers. Mark
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