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Post by bar on Jan 29, 2015 14:40:27 GMT -8
Old tooling or no, I've been quite happy with my Atlas geeps, I'd be hard-pressed to paint this myself: or this: Now, how about a proper buggy, Rob?
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Post by buffalobill on Jan 29, 2015 14:47:44 GMT -8
For me it would be no decision. I would go with the Genesis unit. I have 11 GP-9's, have not had an issue, other than a broken handrail due to packaging. Athearn sent me a replacement quickly. I know you had issues with the RTR SW-1500, and I was stuck with 3 BN's from the same run, spent a lot of time getting them useable. But I have not been bitten by a Genesis unit yet.
I love the Atlas units I have, but was unimpressed by a friends recent run unit, equipped with the clone motor. Glad to see Bowser is looking at different motors to replace the clone in their units. Bill
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Post by Spikre on Jan 29, 2015 14:51:08 GMT -8
Larry, have an Atlas RS-11 body in SCL,do You have a Donor chassis handy ? just wondering ?? this does sort of come down to a Looks vs Performance issues, sort of like that old commercial, Tastes Great, or Less Filling, Runs Great, or Looks Great and may run sort of. will go for the better runner every time. but only have the Kato GP7s here. the Chinese U33/34/36Cs here run great,but only have a couple of later Chinese Atlas locos. note-- EL/NJDOT U34CH. Spikre
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Post by roadkill on Jan 29, 2015 17:56:22 GMT -8
Unless you have a milling machine and some mad skillz, you can't do much if anything with the cast metal frame in terms of kitbashing something with no skirts, skirt cutouts, or different/modified fuel tanks (take it from someone who has tried). In this regard, the Proto and Genesis offerings with plastic body frames and removable fuel tanks are much easier to work with. Tell me about it ! Years ago I built a model of C&O GP& 5772 from the Atlas/Kato model... what a PITA. Had a friend mill down the fuel tank and completely mill off the pilot end plates. Turned out pretty damn sweet, ended up selling it sometime back to a friend tho. Never again !
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Post by alcoc430 on Jan 29, 2015 21:02:46 GMT -8
I picked up a genesis gp9 conrail at a clearance price. That thing is sweet looking but its very delicate, it will eventually look like a blue box after all the detail parts fall off
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Post by Brakie on Jan 30, 2015 3:49:18 GMT -8
Larry, have an Atlas RS-11 body in SCL,do You have a Donor chassis handy ? just wondering ?? this does sort of come down to a Looks vs Performance issues, sort of like that old commercial, Tastes Great, or Less Filling, Runs Great, or Looks Great and may run sort of. will go for the better runner every time. but only have the Kato GP7s here. the Chinese U33/34/36Cs here run great,but only have a couple of later Chinese Atlas locos. note-- EL/NJDOT U34CH. Spikre Bob,I have the 1202..What's the number on your sell? I can buy a donor chassis at the next Train Show. I'm still kicking my behind because I didn't buy a custom painted Atlas S4 lettered for SCL.IMHO it would have been well worth the $70.00..
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wsor
Full Member
The Route of the Ruptured Duck
Posts: 131
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Post by wsor on Feb 6, 2015 23:00:07 GMT -8
GP7 roof. The yellow box GP7 I picked up a while ago runs very nicely. Pretty much my best runner, with a TCS decoder installed. The CNW paint isn't the greatest, almost looks like Zito yellow, which wouldn't be found with Route of the 400s on the side.
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Post by jbilbrey on Feb 7, 2015 5:27:28 GMT -8
More like surgical strikes IMO. With the exception of IC and SAL/SCL, the southern railroads have been largely untapped. There have been no ACL, Central of Georgia,GP7's or GP9's as well.
James Bilbrey LaVergne, TN
Atlas did do a CofG GP7. Here is one that I did 6 or 7 years ago... <snip> I did a lot of filing on the pilots and the hood ends to install separate parts. I also redid all but but the stripes on the hood sides. The rest is paint that I mixed and MicroScale decals. Not that the factory paint was bad, but with the body work that I did, I just ended up repainting the whole thing. Nice job on the CofG GP7. There is something rewarding when one turns an ordinary model into something extraordinary.
Actually, my comment about southeastern roads being ignored was only directed toward Athearn. Atlas has been more than willing to release models of southeastern roads (as your GP7 attests). Atlas has released GP's for L&N and NC&StL as well as Alco's decorated for almost all of the railroads in the same area. It's a far different time than the early 1980's when the same railroads were all but ignored.
James Bilbrey LaVergne, TN
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Post by markfj on Nov 15, 2020 6:29:14 GMT -8
Sorry to resurrect this old post, but I’m wondering when Athearn updated the shell for their GP7/9. I have a Genesis GP7 in PRR from the 2012 release (I think) and it is definitely the dimensionally inaccurate shell that got so much grief.
Anyone have a listing of Genesis GP7/9 road name releases and what date/year did the shell get retooled?
I’m thinking that Athearn Genesis GP7/9 models after 2017 have the retooled shell, but I don’t know for sure.
Thanks, Mark
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Post by edwardsutorik on Nov 15, 2020 7:22:32 GMT -8
Sorry to resurrect this old post, but I’m wondering when Athearn updated the shell for their GP7/9. I have a Genesis GP7 in PRR from the 2012 release (I think) and it is definitely the dimensionally inaccurate shell that got so much grief. Anyone have a listing of Genesis GP7/9 road name releases and what date/year did the shell get retooled? I’m thinking that Athearn Genesis GP7/9 models after 2017 have the retooled shell, but I don’t know for sure. Thanks, Mark I think only the first run had the problem. I have a photo of a UP version from that run. It's dated September 27, 2011. The intake screens on the side of the hood were placed way too low. Ed
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Post by theengineshed on Nov 17, 2020 18:47:07 GMT -8
It was just the first run with the funky shell, problem is some of that first run have been run again with the new shell but with the same first run numbers. The Seaboard Air Line units fall into this category...
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Post by lvrr325 on Nov 18, 2020 11:26:14 GMT -8
You should be able to go on Athearn's website and look up when they were released.
Edit: their archive only goes back to 2014; I have a G62497 GP9, PRR keystone logo, which just predates this. The oldest I can find listed is a G628xx -
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Post by Paul Cutler III on Nov 18, 2020 11:34:14 GMT -8
The first two Athearn Genesis GP9's had the low radiators: the PRR and the B&M (in blue). It didn't matter for either paint scheme as they were (mostly) dip jobs. It was only when Athearn did the UP GP9's that the low radiator issue bit them due to the paint line between the yellow and the gray. Apparently, they caught a lot of grief at a train show when they showed off the UP units as they looked like gray engines with yellow sides vs. yellow engines with a gray roof.
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