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Post by unittrain on Dec 10, 2023 8:34:36 GMT -8
Broadway limited has photos on their Facebook page of the new GP30s I might go for a B&O sunburst scheme or a Chessie I do however really like the ST 30s. Their GP35s our out I think I'll pass on those though as I have several Katos. Just want to see some expert opinions on the BLI GP30s before I buy. www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100063753435985 |
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Post by wp8thsub on Dec 10, 2023 9:31:28 GMT -8
They have the same terrible draft gear and sideframes as other recent BLI models. It's up to you if you can overlook those issues and the other ways these products don't quite equal what Scale Trains offers.
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Post by cera2254 on Dec 10, 2023 11:29:10 GMT -8
Really is probably comes down to what road name you are looking for. If ST doesn’t offer what you want then BLI is obviously the choice. But it they both offer them and the price isn’t significantly different go for the ST version.
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Post by wagnersteve on Dec 10, 2023 12:14:28 GMT -8
12/ 10/23, about 3:10 p.m., EDT
If there is a new run of HO GP30s coming from BLI, I wish the firm would post the announcement somewhere else besides Facebook, which I'm not on. The only HO GP30s on BLI's website as of a few minutes ago are Paragon4 models -- no "Stealth" ones are shown -- in a run that had an ETA of July 2023 and are shown as sold out. That include two in B&O's original livery for that type, with the "sunburst" on the nose and Roman initials on the long hood's' sides, which I remember very well when they were quite new in 1963. I'd be tempted to buy one of them and one in the Reading's original livery -- those were the very first bought by a railroad -- but not with sound, which I can't use at home.
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Post by sd80mac on Dec 10, 2023 14:28:41 GMT -8
Really is probably comes down to what road name you are looking for. If ST doesn’t offer what you want then BLI is obviously the choice. But it they both offer them and the price isn’t significantly different go for the ST version. The Proto GP30 exists and will likely still be far better than whatever BLI pushes out. |
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Post by unittrain on Dec 10, 2023 16:39:04 GMT -8
Yeah the protos are pretty good I purchased two of the Scaletrains Pennsy GP30s and my proto units visually fit right in they're excellent models.
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Post by cemr5396 on Dec 10, 2023 19:48:09 GMT -8
Really is probably comes down to what road name you are looking for. If ST doesn’t offer what you want then BLI is obviously the choice. But it they both offer them and the price isn’t significantly different go for the ST version. The Proto GP30 exists and will likely still be far better than whatever BLI pushes out. Walthers just needs to remember that model actually exists and re-release it. And preferrably they will remember that the ditch light era exists when they do it. I could use a BN rebuild - green, patched BNSF, or full orange would work. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Dec 10, 2023 23:45:15 GMT -8
Walthers did a run of those GP30s not too long ago. They sold poorly, somebody ended up dumping theirs on eBay for some cheap start price no reserve.
The BLI one is absurdly high priced, IIRC they're pushing $300 for non-sound ones.
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Post by ChessieFan1978 on Dec 11, 2023 8:13:52 GMT -8
BLI should stick to Steam Locomotives !!!
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Post by gevohogger on Dec 11, 2023 8:36:04 GMT -8
Walthers did a run of those GP30s not too long ago. They sold poorly, somebody ended up dumping theirs on eBay for some cheap start price no reserve. There's probably still a supply of original Protos available for $50 each..... Not all road names of course. |
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Post by drolsen on Dec 11, 2023 16:52:01 GMT -8
They have the same terrible draft gear and sideframes as other recent BLI models. That’s weird, the draft gear buffers look exactly like the old Kato GP and SD models. Not a design I would have copied, personally. Dave |
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Post by 12bridge on Dec 11, 2023 17:38:16 GMT -8
They have the same terrible draft gear and sideframes as other recent BLI models. That’s weird, the draft gear buffers look exactly like the old Kato GP and SD models. Not a design I would have copied, personally. Dave It sure seems to me like they are just copying other designs. The GP20 has quite a few Proto looking parts to it.. |
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Post by Colin 't Hart on Dec 12, 2023 2:58:59 GMT -8
They have the same terrible draft gear and sideframes as other recent BLI models. That’s weird, the draft gear buffers look exactly like the old Kato GP and SD models. Not a design I would have copied, personally. Dave BLI have a history of copying existing designs. Their SD40-2 which was had such "soft" details? Copied from a brass model they sent to their manufacturer and told them "we want this". |
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Post by lvrr325 on Dec 12, 2023 4:40:21 GMT -8
Walthers did a run of those GP30s not too long ago. They sold poorly, somebody ended up dumping theirs on eBay for some cheap start price no reserve. There's probably still a supply of original Protos available for $50 each..... Not all road names of course. I see guys trying to get $150 for some of the harder to find roadnames. There's probably 100 on ebay right now. I have quite a few stashed away, including some I bought cheap that I didn't even need but were too cheap to pass up. |
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Post by prr 4467 on Dec 12, 2023 12:59:37 GMT -8
I have tried several recent BLI diesels including the GP20's and SD45's (and even SD40-2's) and while initially I was somewhat impressed (hey the handrails are pretty good), the simple honest truth is that the details on the models fall a little bit short of what Athearn Genesis, Bowser Executive, Walthers Proto and/or especially ScaleTrains would do. They just do. The Kato-esque pilots that look like something from 30 years ago kinda detract from newly tooled locos during 2023, and I'm not able to un-see that.
On most of the details the new BLI diesels would fall into the "good enough" department, but there's those few omissions that just kinda kill it for me.
The biggest issue is the Paragon 4 sound is better than previous BLI editions, but still falls far short of the other manufacturers, even short of the latest Tsunami which not everyone likes either. The BLI lighting is pretty good; they do a nice job on class lights.
I think BLI should stick to steam locos; they generally do steam, especially the hybrids, well.
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Post by cemr5396 on Dec 12, 2023 13:57:16 GMT -8
The BLI lighting is pretty good; they do a nice job on class lights. I don't think that is true either. BLI recently put out some sort of promotional thing about the either the GP30s or 35s. I don't remember which at the moment, but this issue is likely present in both. Two of the examples were the UP and BNSF models. The UP one had class lights, obviously - the BNSF one did not. However, it does have ditch lights. Not only did the UP model have the typical problem models have of the class lights being just as bright as the headlights (which is complete crap), but they were at LEAST twice as bright as the ditch lights on the BNSF model. I was considering getting a BNSF GP30 or 35 but I would likely have to redo all of the lighting in order to acheive something satisfactory. When that is combined with all of the other issues they have, my desire to get one has been steadily decreasing. |
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Post by cera2254 on Dec 12, 2023 16:57:37 GMT -8
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Post by wp8thsub on Dec 12, 2023 17:34:35 GMT -8
BLI have a history of copying existing designs. Their SD40-2 which was had such "soft" details? Copied from a brass model they sent to their manufacturer and told them "we want this". Their SD40-2 copied a lot from Kato. Pretty much every idiosyncrasy of the old Kato shell was reproduced, including stuff on the inside where it made no difference. Plenty of similarities in the frame design too. |
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