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Post by rails4dmv on Dec 12, 2014 11:48:42 GMT -8
Walthers Dec. Announcements are online. What caught my eye is their TIMELY announcement of more Trainline F40PH's ......but now w/Soundtraxx Sound & DCC factory installed. Amtrak Phase III, Phase IV, Alaska Railroad, VIA, METRA, CALtrain Also new, is finally an updated Walthers Proto Amtrak E8A, now w/HEP details. And more Pullman Bi-Level cars. (Amtrak, RTA, RTA/METRA, Alaska Railroad) www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-15503www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/910-19454www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/920-41372UPDATE: JUST announced KATO HO Passenger Starter Set with....wait for it.....F40PH (Amtrak Phase I, II, III, IV, IVb & METRA) Curious as to what is included in the "Passenger Starter Set" www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/381-301005Which F40PH will you buy? Rapido, Walthers or Kato?....Loaded question!! |
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Post by mlehman on Dec 12, 2014 12:34:03 GMT -8
F40 = "new F-unit"
Like bellybuttons, everybody has one.
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Post by scl1234 on Dec 12, 2014 12:49:45 GMT -8
FWIW, I think you'd be hard pressed to find any prototype F40PH's in Phase II let alone Phase I. I've only seen them painted in Phase III (as the earliest F40PH's were delivered in 1975).
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Post by rails4dmv on Dec 12, 2014 13:06:46 GMT -8
F40 = "new F-unit" Like bellybuttons, everybody has one. Absolutely right! We just need Bachmann to announce a retooled F40PH w/DCC Sound Value and I think we'll have every HO F40PH manufacturer covered. |
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Post by bar on Dec 12, 2014 13:36:15 GMT -8
F40 = "new F-unit" Like bellybuttons, everybody has one. ...but not everyone wants to see yours.  |
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Post by grabbem88 on Dec 12, 2014 13:48:33 GMT -8
Since I don't have one lol yep... I take it everybody feels rapido is the best of the bunch?
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Post by keystonefarm on Dec 12, 2014 14:07:46 GMT -8
I wonder if anyone at Walthers realizes that they could also do the two Conrail executive E's with that body style ? PC rebuilt 5 E's for Amtrak at Juniata with HEP. All ex PRR and only one was scrapped after Amtrak. Two went to the Blue Mountain Reading and Northern who repainted them back to their 5 stripe scheme and two went to Conrail. Bennett Levin now owns those two units. --- Ken
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Post by rails4dmv on Dec 12, 2014 14:32:52 GMT -8
I wonder if anyone at Walthers realizes that they could also do the two Conrail executive E's with that body style ? PC rebuilt 5 E's for Amtrak at Juniata with HEP. All ex PRR and only one was scrapped after Amtrak. Two went to the Blue Mountain Reading and Northern who repainted them back to their 5 stripe scheme and two went to Conrail. Bennett Levin now owns those two units. --- Ken Patiently waiting for Penn Central E8's to get made. I'm interested to here the sound of the Proto Amtrak E8's with HEP. |
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Post by sd80mac on Dec 12, 2014 15:18:24 GMT -8
FWIW, I think you'd be hard pressed to find any prototype F40PH's in Phase II let alone Phase I. I've only seen them painted in Phase III (as the earliest F40PH's were delivered in 1975).  The first batch was delivered in Phase II. |
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Post by bigblow69 on Dec 12, 2014 15:51:44 GMT -8
Did anyone make superliner cars that matched the phase of Rapido's?
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Post by Donnell Wells on Dec 12, 2014 15:56:12 GMT -8
$199.99 for Trainline with sound? Maybe if it was detailed and included etched grilles. I like the Walters F40s very much, so much that I have at least 10 or 12 of them. I purchased ALL of them for under $50 each. If I'm getting an F40 with factory sound, it's going to be a Rapido unit!
Donnell
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Post by slowfreight on Dec 12, 2014 16:05:20 GMT -8
The lettering on the RTA bilevels is still wrong. By definition, the stainless steel ownership plate didn't start reading "Metra" until well after the "Metra" brand was created in 1985.
But I digress, expecting attention to detail at $80/car.
Wonder if Walthers ever fixed the wavy, bubbly side problem on those cars.
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Dec 12, 2014 16:10:17 GMT -8
The lettering on the RTA bilevels is still wrong. By definition, the stainless steel ownership plate didn't start reading "Metra" until well after the "Metra" brand was created in 1985. But I digress, expecting attention to detail at $80/car. Wonder if Walthers ever fixed the wavy, bubbly side problem on those cars. Did Kato get the RTA bilevels correct? |
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Post by slowfreight on Dec 12, 2014 18:40:02 GMT -8
The lettering on the RTA bilevels is still wrong. By definition, the stainless steel ownership plate didn't start reading "Metra" until well after the "Metra" brand was created in 1985. But I digress, expecting attention to detail at $80/car. Wonder if Walthers ever fixed the wavy, bubbly side problem on those cars. Did Kato get the RTA bilevels correct? Nope. Same dumb mistake. But Kato also completely blew the end striping on the CNW cab cars. I have to mask and repaint each one. |
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Post by atsfan on Dec 12, 2014 18:47:18 GMT -8
Kinda me too act by Walters.
Rapido will make the best one by far.
Sadly I have never purchased a Walthers engine nor a Proto engine since Walthers bought them.
Either they look odd or are overpriced.
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Post by milgentrains on Dec 12, 2014 19:34:58 GMT -8
Walthers must think HO stands for Highly Overpriced.
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Post by bigb6flyer on Dec 12, 2014 20:50:51 GMT -8
Man and I thought we had too many GEVO productions...
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Dec 13, 2014 7:10:17 GMT -8
Walthers must think HO stands for Highly Overpriced. $199 for a sound equipped Walthers Train Line F40PH? Mercy. First this model is a step above a Bachmann and a step behind the Kato and a couple of miles behind the Rapido. These have been in production since the early 2000's. The tooling is fair but surely not up to Rapido level. A Rapido F40PH with sound is in the neighborhood of a $300. Save your pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and buy the Rapido. |
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Dec 13, 2014 7:27:39 GMT -8
The lettering on the RTA bilevels is still wrong. By definition, the stainless steel ownership plate didn't start reading "Metra" until well after the "Metra" brand was created in 1985. But I digress, expecting attention to detail at $80/car. Wonder if Walthers ever fixed the wavy, bubbly side problem on those cars. Here is a paint scheme that hasn't been done on the bilevels by either Walthers or Kato.  Some of the RTA scheme painted cars never got Metra blue and silver with an orange stripe scheme. A good number had "Regional Transportation Authority" removed in the brown band, replaced by the "Metra" logo. |
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Post by Spikre on Dec 13, 2014 7:39:32 GMT -8
 does MTH and BLI make F40PHs ? if not,until they do we wont have a packed House of them. Spikre 
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Dec 13, 2014 8:03:16 GMT -8
Here is a paint scheme that hasn't been done on the bilevels by either Walthers or Kato. I think they'd have a hard time matching the rust streaks correctly.  |
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Post by kcjones on Dec 13, 2014 8:03:20 GMT -8
This my friends, is a perfect example to what I had mentioned I the SD40-2 thead. 2 to 3 hundred dollars for a nearly perfect engine in this day and time to me is not that bad. Paying that much for a train set engine just because they put sound in it is ridiculous. If Walther's can pull this one off, then I'll grab a bunch of LL 38s (the 10 dollar kind), throw in a cheap sound decoder and sell them on eBay for 199.95 and get rich!!
JL
Vancouver WA
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Dec 13, 2014 8:53:24 GMT -8
This my friends, is a perfect example to what I had mentioned I the SD40-2 thead. 2 to 3 hundred dollars for a nearly perfect engine in this day and time to me is not that bad. Paying that much for a train set engine just because they put sound in it is ridiculous. If Walther's can pull this one off, then I'll grab a bunch of LL 38s (the 10 dollar kind), throw in a cheap sound decoder and sell them on eBay for 199.95 and get rich!! JL Vancouver WA Unless Walthers has done a heap of work on their Train Line F40PH, the $200 price does seem a bit much. Currently on evil-Bay the Walthers model sells for about $50 give or take. |
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Post by bar on Dec 13, 2014 9:12:08 GMT -8
These are precisely the competitive dangers a smaller outfit such as Rapido faces -- Jason had to figure this would happen from the get-go. Not the same market niche, but will cost them sales anyway.
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Post by slowfreight on Dec 13, 2014 10:22:17 GMT -8
Some of the RTA scheme painted cars never got Metra blue and silver with an orange stripe scheme. A good number had "Regional Transportation Authority" removed in the brown band, replaced by the "Metra" logo. ALL of the brown/orange cars received this paint scheme. The silver with blue didn't appear until 1996 when a stack of cars were refurbished for the start of North Central service, around the time the MK bilevels and wheelchair cab cars started showing up. To my knowledge, every cab car that was repainted into the silver/blue was turned into a trailer (even if windows weren't blanked) because by that time every train had to have a wheelchair car which meant every train would have a new MK cab car on it. I rode the first day of NCS, and the train was all refurbished cab cars and one wheelchair cab car in the lead. So unfortunately for Walthers and Kato, if you're running a train of silver/blue Metra bilevels with no new-generation cab car, you're wrong. |
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Post by markfj on Dec 13, 2014 15:05:17 GMT -8
Does Walthers offer decorated shells for sale like Atlas does? I’m looking to up grate some old Proto E8 models with new shells.
Thanks, Mark
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Dec 13, 2014 15:38:11 GMT -8
Does Walthers offer decorated shells for sale like Atlas does? I’m looking to up grate some old Proto E8 models with new shells. Thanks, Mark Walthers offers no parts or shells. |
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Post by catt on Dec 13, 2014 15:52:02 GMT -8
Funny how you guys always diss on a locomotive drawing.I prefer to wait and see it in plastic. |
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Post by Donnell Wells on Dec 13, 2014 16:40:44 GMT -8
Walthers must think HO stands for Highly Overpriced. $199 for a sound equipped Walthers Train Line F40PH? Mercy. First this model is a step above a Bachmann and a step behind the Kato and a couple of miles behind the Rapido. These have been in production since the early 2000's. The tooling is fair but surely not up to Rapido level. A Rapido F40PH with sound is in the neighborhood of a $300. Save your pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and buy the Rapido.
I would say that the Walthers are miles ahead of Bachmann, slightly behind Kato, and a quite a few lengths behind Rapido. However, we are dealing with all different phases of the F40 offered by manufacturers, so body details and location may vary. As you mentioned, the tooling is fair and dimensionally accurate, and could stand to have more crisp or sharp tooling lines. Beside the improvement in the tooling, the chassis needs to be shifted back about a scale foot or so for things to line up correctly. So yes, the Walthers unit may not be "the ultimate F40", but it is definitely a noteworthy offering, at least for me.
Donnell |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2014 16:47:03 GMT -8
Is the Walthers one a complete retooling? I'm curious about the kato set though, that sounds like it might be nice.
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