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Post by atsfan on Jan 5, 2015 18:29:16 GMT -8
I had a brass F40ph once. It was awesome. But I sold it off and still miss it. I bet this new Rapido version will be its equal.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2015 19:32:48 GMT -8
I had a brass F40ph once. It was awesome. But I sold it off and still miss it. I bet this new Rapido version will be its equal. Plastic as good as brass?
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Post by kentuckysouthernrwy on Jan 5, 2015 19:49:04 GMT -8
I don’t see a massive “dump” of Kato (or even Walther’s) models on eBay in favor of the Rapido model following its release. Maybe I’m wrong, but I see many retaining their Kato’s based solely on the reliability and smooth performance of their drives. The “good enough” maxim may keep those undecided modelers from committing to a purchase. We'll see. Thanks, Mark
I'd imagine that many, I'd include myself in that equation, would gladly use the original version of Walthers' engine in passenger train operation and 'close enough' at the head end of a train speeding by on the layout is good enough. But then I have a whole bunch of blue box cars on my layout, too. If I was a collector with a shiny display case of pretty stuff, the Rapido would be on my list. That said I sure do like the look of the Rapido product. I'd rather have that than a rehashed $50 Walthers with the big price boost. Looking in a different direction, has anyone have or have heard of the operating qualities of the Rapido FP units over a period of time? One local layout tour I was on, the whole layout had enough CP Red to look like a fire house, the layout owner was grumbling that while the Rapido FP looked great but it was less than stellar in his experience with it, I wasn't paying much attention to that conversation, just heard it in passing so can't define the issues he had.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2015 0:07:26 GMT -8
Seeing as I just preordered a Rapido one, I hope there's no longevity issues!
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Post by riogrande on Jan 6, 2015 3:22:03 GMT -8
In some cases plastic can look better than brass, depending on the brass. I'll wager the new Genesis GP40-2 looks better than many brass versions of that loco.
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Post by lvrr325 on Jan 6, 2015 3:35:14 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 Not only that but they may not swap if you had them. A friend picked up a PRR sound unit intending to put on his existing shell and found it couldn't be swapped due to some minor internal changes with the weight versus the opening doors on the old shell. There are a lot of brass diesels out there that look pretty terrible up close. Especially the older you go.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2015 9:50:02 GMT -8
In some cases plastic can look better than brass, depending on the brass. I'll wager the new Genesis GP40-2 looks better than many brass versions of that loco. I, Og, and J. Pinkerton were being sarcastic. I'd say 95% of recent plastic models look and run better than brass versions. Does anyone think that Rapido's F40PH won't look better than ANY brass F40PH?
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Post by riogrande on Jan 6, 2015 10:52:45 GMT -8
I, Og, and J. Pinkerton were being sarcastic. Try as I might, I still can't read minds! Of course this is why emoticons were invented - for the non-mind readers in the crowd! Yes, I saw your clip but it didn't look like a sarcasm emoticon. Please feed me with a spoon! From my limited exposure to brass, it seems it depends a lot on when it was made. In most past years, any good brass usually looked better and more detailed than plastic of the same time. But then again, most brass has always been out of my ability to afford, so I only looked at it casually. You may be right about brass vs. plastic of the last few years. When was the last F40PH offered in brass? That probably has some bearing on how Rapido would fair in comparison. Either way, it looks like the Rapido F40PH will look excellent and surely cost a lot less than a contemporary brass F40PH!
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Post by atsfan on Jan 6, 2015 11:35:30 GMT -8
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Jan 7, 2015 11:05:27 GMT -8
There were two manufactures of Brass F40's: PFM and several years later, Overland. PFM had a spectacular chassis, (albeit without flywheels) and a marginal body. The windshields were too small and the commuter variants all had dynamic brakes and recessed Q-fans (in the real world, they did not.
Overland had windshield openings that were far too large and the dimensions were a bit off of the rest of the body.
As an aside, GHB only made Am II's and the AEM-7. Soho made the original Am I and it shared identical dimensions to the American GK/Walthers models -waaay off.
This F40 is the most accurate you can get. It exceeds the brass models that have been produced on almost every front.
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Post by rapidotrains on Jan 7, 2015 18:01:18 GMT -8
Seeing as I just preordered a Rapido one, I hope there's no longevity issues! There won't be. The first few shipments of FP9A locomotives had stainless steel wheels. This was a mistake. The stainless reacts with some production runs of nickel silver track and causes the wheels to become dirt magnets. I think we switched midway through The Canadian, which means that the problem affects the VIA (ex-CN) units as well as several of the CP units. It's hit and miss as to whether or not you will have an issue on your track. Not many people have, but enough that we had some traditional wheelset replacements made. The F40PH will come with traditional nickel silver plated wheels. We have had no complaints about the later FP9As or the GMD-1s. -Jason
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Post by rockisland652 on Jan 8, 2015 14:34:00 GMT -8
I had a brass F40ph once. It was awesome. But I sold it off and still miss it. I bet this new Rapido version will be its equal. Plastic as good as brass? Jason's FP9 beats any brass one out there. I bet the F40 is the same caliber.
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Post by atsfan on Jan 8, 2015 15:55:12 GMT -8
There were two manufactures of Brass F40's: PFM and several years later, Overland. PFM had a spectacular chassis, (albeit without flywheels) and a marginal body. The windshields were too small and the commuter variants all had dynamic brakes and recessed Q-fans (in the real world, they did not. Overland had windshield openings that were far too large and the dimensions were a bit off of the rest of the body. As an aside, GHB only made Am II's and the AEM-7. Soho made the original Am I and it shared identical dimensions to the American GK/Walthers models -waaay off. This F40 is the most accurate you can get. It exceeds the brass models that have been produced on almost every front. It was Overland then. I know it was not PFM. I remember the GHB cars were nice, except they came with the windows not installed. It was some sort of nightmare to install the decals and the windows and gaskets. I gave up and sold them. The shells and under carriage and metal look were awesome.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 9, 2015 9:10:55 GMT -8
Jason, That's interesting to know, but considering your reputation alone, I never had any doubts.
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Post by Spikre on Jan 10, 2015 10:07:44 GMT -8
don't have time to go back thru all 6 pages,so if this has been answered already,am still going to add this . Wathers Trainline F40 came out late 97,or early 98. Mainline Scuttlebutt column Feb 98 MM,page 85. so this unit is already a middle aged unit today. Spikre
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Post by riogrande on Jan 10, 2015 10:25:22 GMT -8
Wathers Trainline F40 came out late 97,or early 98. Mainline Scuttlebutt column Feb 98 MM,page 85. so this unit is already a middle aged unit today. Spikre That sounds about right. It would have been around 1997 or so I found the Walthers Trainline F40PH to be a significantly better alternative to the Spectrum F40PH. I basically traded out my Spectrum for the Trainline at that point.
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