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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2012 17:05:40 GMT -8
First photo is a 3/4 view of the model.  A rear 3/4 view.  Truck detail. You can see a little glob of grease that has worked its way out.  Rear pilot. Its nearly completely smooth. Maybe I'm incorrect, but the U.S. built 40-2's had parts bolted on and not smooth and flat like the IMRC model.  Roof top fans. They are actually pretty well done.  Now onto the grease problem. In this photo you can see the globs of grease oozing out of the gear box. I had actually cleaned up much of the excess grease on the gear boxes a few weeks ago. But after a couple of trips around my massive 5'x9' more came slithering out. What is hard to see in the photo is the bottom of the gear box is dripping in oil.   Now onto the stuff under the hood. ;D A general photo of the drive.  Intermountain has the worms not on the front of the trucks but the back. The shaft between the flywheels and the truck worms is short. The flywheels are "normal" sized, but the motor seems small. Athearn Genesis motors are much longer. I believe Atlas and Kato's motors are also longer.  This is the rear of the model with its stout wire tie holding the wiring together. In order to drop the trucks you have to cut the wire tie. I will assume you then need to find a way to gather up the excess wire from fouling the drive shafts. There is an LED on the back of the drive for the rear headlight. When the unit is backing and the LED is operating, it lights up the track and roadbed like an old Tyco F-unit.  The front electrical with the LED leads for the headlight, number boards and ditch lights. The Soundtraxx Tsunami board has a connection which the circuit board which powers the front LED's. To me at least it seems, that Intermountain could have had Soundtraxx build the LED lighting into the decoder. The secondary board for the lights floats over the board. For me the front wiring is messy when compared to other manufacturers offerings.  |
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Post by Judge Doom on Sept 24, 2012 19:18:26 GMT -8
When in doubt, check the prototype. Looks kinda smooth here, albeit not the best angle (also of note are the low clearance winterization hatch and rad fans): www.railpictures.ca/?attachment_id=5180The reverse truck towers are probably done so the drive could clear the Canadian safety cab, which sits a bit further back than the noses of the usual spartan-cab SD40's. The motor however, looks like the dinky thing that Bowser used in their C630M's - somewhat lacking in balls.  |
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Post by carrman on Sept 24, 2012 19:39:00 GMT -8
That's because it's the same mechanism.... Same cheesy Mabuchi motor. Just love the lack of traction motor detail at the rear of the trucks.
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Post by diburning on Sept 24, 2012 23:15:06 GMT -8
The ditch lights look like someone's custom install (with surface mount LEDs and magnet wire).
The speaker setup looks like a Bowser setup. I'd rather have the speaker firing up out of the fans than down at the truck, but as long as I can still hear it, I guess it's ok.
As far as the rear headlight.... I think it's just lazy how they didn't go with a surface mount LED like the rest of the lights. It could just be mounted to a board that's glued to the speaker enclosure.
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Post by drolsen on Sept 25, 2012 2:23:17 GMT -8
The speaker setup looks like a Bowser setup. I'd rather have the speaker firing up out of the fans than down at the truck, but as long as I can still hear it, I guess it's ok. Are the fans see-through? I can't tell from the photos. That could be part of the reason for the setup. Dave |
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Post by sd80macs on Sept 25, 2012 4:24:46 GMT -8
Just put a little heat shrink tubing on the rear LED to cover it up and it will help out. Dave here is a pic of the fans. They are not see through but have etched grills that go on top of the fan housing.   You can see more pics of the first run of the locos here. mgwsy.smugmug.com/ModelTrains-2/Intermountain-SD40-2W |
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Post by atsfan on Sept 25, 2012 4:44:16 GMT -8
It is sad that the HO hobby STILL does not have a state of the art excellent SD40-2 model.
Athearn's is 30 years old. Kato's is OK but started life with a the dumb wires and also does not have great detailing. Broadway's is so so. And IM's is a HUGE disappointment.
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Post by DaYooper on Sept 25, 2012 8:10:48 GMT -8
 What a disaster! Ryan
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Post by onequiknova on Sept 25, 2012 16:40:35 GMT -8
Are the wheel sets off set to one side, or is that an illusion? |
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Post by diburning on Sept 25, 2012 21:54:25 GMT -8
Those fans appear to be see-thru, but like most other manufacturers, they put a strip of plastic under them so that the light doesn't leak out, and so that there is a seal for sound purposes.
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Post by sd80macs on Sept 26, 2012 6:23:07 GMT -8
Those fans appear to be see-thru, but like most other manufacturers, they put a strip of plastic under them so that the light doesn't leak out, and so that there is a seal for sound purposes. They are not see thru, if you scroll up to the post showing the loco with the body off you can see the shell above it. Its solid. |
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Post by el3637 on Sept 26, 2012 8:13:27 GMT -8
I would call them "see into" not "see thru". You shouldn't be able to see red and yellow wires below the fans, that's why they have a blank sheet below the fans. I do this even for Cannon fans. Unless you want to build a prototypical radiator core... and unprototypically illuminate it so you can even tell its there - there's really no point in being able to see anything below the motor mounts.
This is also the case with EMD radiators. When you have an open grill and multiple layers, as on the late 40 series, SD45s, etc. you have a limited "see into" effect. If you can see out the radiator openings on the other side, it ain't right. Unless of course it's a tunnel motor.... or a U25B, or U50 etc.
Andy
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Post by atsfan on Sept 26, 2012 15:48:42 GMT -8
What a disaster! Ryan Is that the engine exhaust outlet that is obviously solid plastic?? |
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Post by sd80macs on Sept 26, 2012 15:53:04 GMT -8
Yes it is.
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Post by antoniofp45 on Sept 27, 2012 1:45:47 GMT -8
Jim,
Thank you for posting photos of your unit. I do see the oil on the bottom of the truck as well as the excessive grease. Wow! If this were an Athearn unit, I'd disassemble the trucks, clean out with alcohol or CRC, and relube with the appropriate Labelle products.
I do wonder about the motor and hope that it has enough torque to smoothly pull 15 freight cars at 40 scale mph on level track in a DCC setup. It would annoy me to spend $100+ on a plastic locomotive that needs remotoring.
The body does not look bad. Seems to be at a level similar to the LL P2K, HO EMD hood units of the late 90s-early 2000s.
I'm not a DCC expert, but for sound it looks to me like the only decent area to install a baffled speaker to "fire down" to the track would be the cab area. Perhaps the "Infinite Baffle" concept may work using the shell as the baffled enclosure since the fan openings are blocked off, I don't know. For me, that would be a question for the owner of DCC Geek, Tampa Bay's dcc/sound guru.
I don't want the Tsunami, but prefer either Loksound (hard to beat the motor control) or QSI's new Titan.
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Post by sd80macs on Sept 27, 2012 3:15:53 GMT -8
Jim,
Thank you for posting photos of your unit. I do see the oil on the bottom of the truck as well as the excessive grease. Wow! If this were an Athearn unit, I'd disassemble the trucks, clean out with alcohol or CRC, and relube with the appropriate Labelle products.
I do wonder about the motor and hope that it has enough torque to smoothly pull 15 freight cars at 40 scale mph on level track in a DCC setup. It would annoy me to spend $100+ on a plastic locomotive that needs remotoring.
The body does not look bad. Seems to be at a level similar to the LL P2K, HO EMD hood units of the late 90s-early 2000s.
I'm not a DCC expert, but for sound it looks to me like the only decent area to install a baffled speaker to "fire down" to the track would be the cab area. Perhaps the "Infinite Baffle" concept may work using the shell as the baffled enclosure since the fan openings are blocked off, I don't know. For me, that would be a question for the owner of DCC Geek, Tampa Bay's dcc/sound guru.
I don't want the Tsunami, but prefer either Loksound (hard to beat the motor control) or QSI's new Titan.
If you look at the picture that shows the rear LED the gray box behind it is the speaker baffle with speaker. |
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Post by antoniofp45 on Sept 30, 2012 14:40:35 GMT -8
Thank you Mark,
Just looking at the enclosure, I wonder if there is space for a slightly longer and wider enclosure. I'm particularly interested in QSI's "Hi-Bass" speakers. I've been reading positive feedback on several forums from modelers that have them in their HO units.
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