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Post by ambluco on May 15, 2015 4:59:50 GMT -8
The body of this release looks nice but the fuel tank looks wrong. Looking at photos (I was interested in the D&H) the fuel tank is inset under the body sides. The model has the tank all the way, if not flush, with the side panels.
Reminds me of the AHM C-Liner.
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Post by eh49 on May 15, 2015 5:29:07 GMT -8
Isn't that the same issue with the B'man Shark?
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Post by theengineshed on May 15, 2015 7:41:52 GMT -8
Have not seen a BLI Shark in the flesh yet, on the fence as to whether I'll pick any up. Might be the best Shark yet but I'm not pleased with the flushness of the front windscreens and the etched body side grills look like they are recessed more than they should be too. The photos online make it look like the fuel tank is too wide, but they may just be an illusion from angle of the photos I've seen. But the BLI fuel tank is certainly not as awful as the one on the Bachy Shark, that's for sure. Out of the box on the left and after some butchery on the right...  Bachmann NYC Sharks by Pete Piszczek, on Flickr |
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Post by eh49 on May 15, 2015 12:15:31 GMT -8
Picked up my PRR units today. The fuel tank is not even with the body, but is set back under. Looks fine to me.
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Post by ambluco on May 15, 2015 14:31:17 GMT -8
Yes, it just doesn't seem like enough. I wanted the D&H units and it was more noticeable to me.
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Post by eh49 on May 15, 2015 16:17:50 GMT -8
What I do not care for is the "coupler" system they use to couple the A & B set and also on the rear of the Extra A unit I got. Would be nice if they would have installed Kadee couplers. They do supply them to replace their "Coupler" which the best way I can describe it is similar to what was on some Marx trains I had in the 50's. The A unit has a tab that goes into a slot on the B unit. The B unit does have a Kadee installed on the other end as do the A units on the front.
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Post by gmpullman on May 20, 2015 5:57:54 GMT -8
I agree with you eh49! The coupler arrangement is for the birds! It took me over an hour to replace them with the supplied Kadee knock-offs. You have to remove the shells and even then, the screw head is very difficult to access and when you replace the assembly, the wide, pan head screw interferes with the bent arm extending down to the mounting pad. The consumer with less than average mechanical skills will have a challenging time replacing these "drawbars" IMHO. The screw heads face up, against the frame. Even if you swing the wishbone to the side there's barely enough room to get a bite on the screw. Getting the coupler, plastic spacer and screw aligned and started is a real pain!!!
What was BLI thinking??? And if you get an A-B-A set you HAVE to replace the coupler on the extra A unit since the B has one of each on each end. If you happen to like the loop and tab, BLI does not supply one to replace the Kadee knock-off at the back of the B unit to accept the tab of the following A unit.
The rear of the A's and both ends of the B units have a stamped sheet metal "wishbone" affair (Bachmann has used this arrangement on a few of their steam drawbars) which closes up on tangent track and widens on curves. The coupler has no swing but it is rigidly mounted to the tab. The stamping has rough edges and seems to hang up, or at least not swing smoothly. Mine came loaded with heavy oil which seeped onto the carbody.
Overall, they ran fine and I think the fuel tank looks fine but I have not measured it to be certain.
Just my observations so far... Ed
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Post by eh49 on May 20, 2015 6:52:08 GMT -8
I think BLI should just have used knuckle couplers on both ends of the A units and B units. Other than the coupler arrangement I am very happy with my Sharks. And yes, I did buy a A-B set and the extra A to run as a A-B-A. Now, what do the have on the rear of the D&H A units? I hope not a "Tab" drawbar on both!
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Post by theengineshed on May 20, 2015 14:27:23 GMT -8
I got off the fence ordered an A and B, those drawbars are daft. Have to use shelf couplers to keep my 'pedes together, hope these sharks are better behaved.
Generally fit for purpose, they look the part, sound OK, the pair sound great idling together as they go in and out of phase. DCC functions don't match what is in the owners manual, didn't see an errata sheet, no big deal.
My AB set is getting new front windshields, there's a scale six inch gap between the wipers and glass, when I get around to "before and after photos" will be ugly. Not happy with the body side grills either. There are visible rectangles in the corners of each screen, where the screens were glued down to tabs behind the screens. So I thought I'd be clever and drill out the three holes in each rectangle, problem solved, or not. What I assumed was glue clogging each of the three holes in each rectangle are in fact shallow half etched holes that don't go all the way through. Not drilling 288 holes through the etches. So going to try plan B, use a Sharpy or paint to darker the holes and try to hide those rectangles. Plan C is new grills, hope I can live with B. The B&O and D&H units have light colored grills, the rectangles probably are less offensive to the PRR and NYC crowd because the the shallow half etched holes are already a shade of black...
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Post by gmpullman on May 20, 2015 14:45:41 GMT -8
Here's a couple of grab shots showing the fuel tank and the coupler rigging. For what it's worth...  I like the looks of the lighted number boards.  It is hard to judge the inset of the fuel tank here but I would estimate it at about nine scale inches.  Here's the coupler mounting "wishbone" which swings side-to-side and extends as it does. the coupler is rigidly mounted to that plastic spacer and as you see the "Z" shape of the bracket makes it tough to mount the coupler. BLI supplies a wide pan-head screw (which you see the bottom of here) and the head interferes with that "Z" shaped bracket. Still, I believe they are a nice addition to my roster and I'm glad BLI finally brought them to market after a ten-year wait! Ed |
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Post by theengineshed on May 20, 2015 15:04:07 GMT -8
Nice shot, that NYC unit really looks the part. Lighted number boards really make a model, BLI seems to implement this feature quite well, wish Genesis did the same...
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Post by theengineshed on May 20, 2015 15:13:09 GMT -8
There is a very nice photo of 1216 on flickr, worth a look at high resolution. D&H 1216 |
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Post by gmpullman on May 20, 2015 16:19:17 GMT -8
Thanks! Great photo. Note that the engineer's windshield had been replaced and the Avon blue paint had been removed from the gasket. One of the Nickel Plate PAs (190?) had one of the number boards replaced and had a chrome (stainless steel) retainer on one side. Something like the gasket or number board would look very odd if it were modeled.
There seems to be a recess in the cab roof for the rear-facing air horn that I don't believe the model has. Could be a road-specific detail or later modification?
Ed
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Post by canrailfan on May 20, 2015 17:07:57 GMT -8
There is a small 'cup' in the roof to clear the bell of the horn. The horn seems to be mounted at 90 degrees from the normal, placing it closer to the roof. There is also a small bend in the handrail over the window on the engineer's side, to clear the horn bell on that side.
This feature is also on the NYC and Monongahela units in photos on RRPictureArchives, so may have been either as-built or a very early modification to solve a clearance problem.
David
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Post by theengineshed on May 23, 2015 12:27:30 GMT -8
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Post by onequiknova on May 23, 2015 13:53:51 GMT -8
Their E units have the same windshield issue. It can be improved with a bit of trimming of the inside of the shell, or fixed all together by cutting the windshields apart and trimming them so they slide further forward. They will still look like Coke bottles though.
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Post by theengineshed on May 23, 2015 14:12:13 GMT -8
They did a better job on the Centipedes, 'pede windows are flush, and if you can get them out painting helps kill the coke bottle, weathering hides more. Going to try making new ones for Sharky, but we'll see where all this leads...
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Post by Mark R. on May 23, 2015 19:57:18 GMT -8
Are those side grills correct for that road ? The D&H had a screen-like material, not metal with round holes ....
Mark.
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Post by theengineshed on May 24, 2015 8:54:24 GMT -8
Are those side grills correct for that road ? The D&H had a screen-like material, not metal with round holes .... I suspect those grills are BLI's scale interpretation of a finer screen mesh, from looking at photos on-line BLI used this grill etch for all the Sharks in this run regardless of road. Coarseness aside, those 12 half etch holes on each grill throws off the uniformity in the screens you would have seen on the prototype. After looking at the model it appears this was done to strengthen the corners of the etch where the tabs are bent to secure the grills. The BLI grill orifices do appear to be better proportioned than the Bachy shark grills, the Bachy ones appear too tall, but I like Bachy's molded interpretation of the screen better than BLI's etch at this point. |
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Post by eh49 on May 24, 2015 9:06:22 GMT -8
Looks like it may be possible to darken those holes so they look like the others.
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