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Post by 12bridge on Jun 3, 2018 12:30:05 GMT -8
So, I was recently giving a trio of Proto GP9's - All three of which are to be built into the same engine, for 3 different people - Mid Michigan Railroad #24. So, its a pretty simple chopnose, and the Atlas cab is a drop in fit for the most part, with some simple work. Now, one supplied an Atlas cab, the others supplied resin knockoffs from a certain company named after a dog. Ill let you be the judge.  Atlas cab on the Right. Note, its not fully seated, just mocked up.  Knockoff cab.  Yeah, they are .056" narrower, and .015-020" shorter. Let that be a lesson if anyone is considering buying any of that stuff. Totally unusable. |
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jun 3, 2018 14:42:03 GMT -8
The resin cabs must have been in a pool.....just ask George Costanza...."Elaine: Why does it shrink? George Costanza: It just does. Elaine: I don't know how you guys walk ... George Costanza: I was in the pool! I WAS IN THE POOL!"
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Post by 12bridge on Jun 3, 2018 14:58:22 GMT -8
Nicely put! I feel bad for the 26 other people that bought these things...  |
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Post by ChessieFan1978 on Jun 3, 2018 15:11:58 GMT -8
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Post by lvrr325 on Jun 3, 2018 21:58:39 GMT -8
Might be a factor of the resin curing. Shrinks a bit.
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Post by sd80mac on Jun 4, 2018 4:52:07 GMT -8
Another reason to never give that crook a cent!
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Post by roadkill on Jun 4, 2018 6:37:31 GMT -8
Maybe someone needs to let Atlas know this clown's coping their cab... just sayin'.
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Post by sd80mac on Jun 4, 2018 7:27:53 GMT -8
For what it's worth, his atrocities are being sold under the name "Putman Locomotive Works" or something similar now.
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Post by 12bridge on Jun 4, 2018 7:29:19 GMT -8
I am sure Atlas knows, as he is copying just about everyone's stuff one way or another.
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Post by markfj on Jun 4, 2018 7:36:28 GMT -8
12bridge,
Have you ever place a P2K GP9 shell on an Athearn Genesis or Kato drive? I’m wondering if it is the same basic procedure as using a Kato drive under the P2K GP30 shell.
Mark
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Post by Judge Doom on Jun 4, 2018 8:31:36 GMT -8
For what it's worth, his atrocities are being sold under the name "Putman Locomotive Works" or something similar now. By a hobby shop no less (the Puttman Locomotive Works brand belongs to CMR Products). It's costing both Atlas themselves for lost sales of parts, and it's costing customers as many are getting poor quality knockoff products like this. (But let's be honest, I'm sure the modelers buying them because they're cheap, who slap these on old Atlas GP7's or Athearn blue-box shells and hand-paint them with thick acrylics for their "Freelance and Westerns" don't really care if a cab isn't a perfect fit  ). |
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Post by James Ashley on Jun 4, 2018 9:12:51 GMT -8
You would think that the manufacturers who are getting ripped off by this would be able to exert a bit of pressure through their distributors.
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Post by 12bridge on Jun 4, 2018 9:33:38 GMT -8
For what it's worth, his atrocities are being sold under the name "Putman Locomotive Works" or something similar now. By a hobby shop no less (the Puttman Locomotive Works brand belongs to CMR Products). It's costing both Atlas themselves for lost sales of parts, and it's costing customers as many are getting poor quality knockoff products like this. (But let's be honest, I'm sure the modelers buying them because they're cheap, who slap these on old Atlas GP7's or Athearn blue-box shells and hand-paint them with thick acrylics for their "Freelance and Westerns" don't really care if a cab isn't a perfect fit ). I agree with everything, except for that you simply can not find most of the parts he is ripping off, such as these cabs, because the manufacturers dont/wont stock parts anymore. Again, not trying to justify these at all, but he is marketing on the things you cant get, and people are jumping. |
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Post by ambluco on Jun 4, 2018 10:22:12 GMT -8
Correct, you can't buy Atlas cabs anywhere that are undersized. Again, not trying to justify these at all, but he is marketing on the things you cant get, and people are jumping. |
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Post by packer on Jun 4, 2018 11:22:14 GMT -8
I haven’t found any of those atlas SD26 cabs anywhere, I have a few SD24 cabs I modified with a Des Plaines hobbies cab window inserts though
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Post by sd80mac on Jun 4, 2018 12:44:59 GMT -8
I haven’t found any of those atlas SD26 cabs anywhere, I have a few SD24 cabs I modified with a Des Plaines hobbies cab window inserts though One of the GP9s in 12bridge's pics is mine  (the one with the Atlas SD26 cab). I've had it squirreled away since the last run of SD26s, which was quite a while ago! |
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jun 4, 2018 14:15:13 GMT -8
I haven’t found any of those atlas SD26 cabs anywhere, I have a few SD24 cabs I modified with a Des Plaines hobbies cab window inserts though The lack of SD26 parts maybe because Atlas has not offered a run of these models since Tom Jefferson was President. |
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Post by packer on Jun 4, 2018 16:26:18 GMT -8
I haven’t found any of those atlas SD26 cabs anywhere, I have a few SD24 cabs I modified with a Des Plaines hobbies cab window inserts though One of the GP9s in 12bridge's pics is mine (the one with the Atlas SD26 cab). I've had it squirreled away since the last run of SD26s, which was quite a while ago! It was before I got really into the hobby sadly. |
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Post by pokemonprime on Jun 4, 2018 19:24:12 GMT -8
For what it's worth, his atrocities are being sold under the name "Putman Locomotive Works" or something similar now. By a hobby shop no less (the Puttman Locomotive Works brand belongs to CMR Products). It's costing both Atlas themselves for lost sales of parts, and it's costing customers as many are getting poor quality knockoff products like this. (But let's be honest, I'm sure the modelers buying them because they're cheap, who slap these on old Atlas GP7's or Athearn blue-box shells and hand-paint them with thick acrylics for their "Freelance and Westerns" don't really care if a cab isn't a perfect fit ). Why so harsh on the modellers working with old BB and old Atlas stuff? Sure, it ain't rivet counter level but it's still fun to work on for many.... thick paint does bug me, though there's nothing wrong with a freelance road name, even if the unimaginative ones do get a bit boring. |
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Post by Great-Northern-Willmar Div on Jun 4, 2018 20:40:07 GMT -8
By a hobby shop no less (the Puttman Locomotive Works brand belongs to CMR Products). It's costing both Atlas themselves for lost sales of parts, and it's costing customers as many are getting poor quality knockoff products like this. (But let's be honest, I'm sure the modelers buying them because they're cheap, who slap these on old Atlas GP7's or Athearn blue-box shells and hand-paint them with thick acrylics for their "Freelance and Westerns" don't really care if a cab isn't a perfect fit ). Why so harsh on the modellers working with old BB and old Atlas stuff? Sure, it ain't rivet counter level but it's still fun to work on for many.... thick paint does bug me, though there's nothing wrong with a freelance road name, even if the unimaginative ones do get a bit boring. The harshness might be simple reasoning. If you are going to spend hours on a project and money, why start with something that will still look like lipstick applied to a pig. The old yellow box Atlas GP7's are at least scale width hood. The old Athearn is fat bodied with horrible tooling. Besides the atrocious tooling on the blue box GP7/9 with inside out door latches, the old BB GP35 is also some of the worst tooling Irv and company ever did on a locomotive. |
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Post by pokemonprime on Jun 4, 2018 23:43:49 GMT -8
I'm not saying the old bb models are perfect, and even I admit I shy away from the older wide hoods. I'm just saying there are many people who enjoy working on em, and turning crap into decent models. To be so harsh on them just seems rude if they aren't hurting anybody.
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Post by Judge Doom on Jun 5, 2018 0:18:28 GMT -8
By a hobby shop no less (the Puttman Locomotive Works brand belongs to CMR Products). It's costing both Atlas themselves for lost sales of parts, and it's costing customers as many are getting poor quality knockoff products like this. (But let's be honest, I'm sure the modelers buying them because they're cheap, who slap these on old Atlas GP7's or Athearn blue-box shells and hand-paint them with thick acrylics for their "Freelance and Westerns" don't really care if a cab isn't a perfect fit ). I agree with everything, except for that you simply can not find most of the parts he is ripping off, such as these cabs, because the manufacturers dont/wont stock parts anymore. Again, not trying to justify these at all, but he is marketing on the things you cant get, and people are jumping. Depends. Some companies (such as Walthers) make it clear they aren't in the parts business. Atlas though is pretty good for parts (and you can find e-tailers selling/reselling them in the usual online places), but usually like many companies (including Bowser and Rapido) they do parts when they do a run of the models. And if it's been a while since something was done (say the SD26), the parts supply out there can dry up until they do another run, whenever that may be. And then you've got small-time companies like Cannon & Co and various Shapeways stores, who Big Dawg buys say one set of parts or one kit from, just to build and use on his own "master" to recast many times over. That happened with the fellow that designed and sold the NS Crescent cabs on Shapeways, who BDO bought one from, modified it, and recast it himself many times over alone and as part of SD60 shells. Same thing happened with the guy who was making selling the rear hood extensions for the rebuilt VIA F40's on Shapeways. And same with cloned Highliners F-unit pilot plows and nose doors that CMR was selling (that Highliners seems to have had eBay take down). I'm not saying the old bb models are perfect, and even I admit I shy away from the older wide hoods. I'm just saying there are many people who enjoy working on em, and turning crap into decent models. To be so harsh on them just seems rude if they aren't hurting anybody. What I'm saying is, a lot of people using those models to start with likely don't really care about accuracy all that much (given what they're using), so a few cheap knockoff parts that are dimensionally inaccurate or cast poorly won't prevent them from buying and using them. |
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Post by roadkill on Jun 5, 2018 3:44:56 GMT -8
12bridge, Have you ever place a P2K GP9 shell on an Athearn Genesis or Kato drive? I’m wondering if it is the same basic procedure as using a Kato drive under the P2K GP30 shell. Mark I've mounted a P2K GP7 shell on a Gennie Geep chassis and it fits just fine with a tiny bit of filing. |
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Post by lvrr325 on Jun 5, 2018 22:54:33 GMT -8
My dad's happy with the wide-body stuff, he's had some of them since before I was born.
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Post by stottman on Jun 6, 2018 23:44:44 GMT -8
I emailed Atlas about replacement ladders for a boxcar, and they had none..And the same ladders are used on at least 5 different boxcars (FMC), one of which was just ran. Hard to argue they are loosing sales when they don't have any to begin with.
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Post by grahamline on Aug 24, 2019 17:46:59 GMT -8
quote, to revive a dead thread: "The harshness might be simple reasoning. If you are going to spend hours on a project and money, why start with something that will still look like lipstick applied to a pig. The old yellow box Atlas GP7's are at least scale width hood. The old Athearn is fat bodied with horrible tooling. Besides the atrocious tooling on the blue box GP7/9 with inside out door latches, the old BB GP35 is also some of the worst tooling Irv and company ever did on a locomotive." Read more: atlasrescueforum.proboards.com/thread/6827/trio-chopped-gp9s-factory-parts#ixzz5xZZEAD1O1. Complaining about the Athearn GP35, with the benefit of hindsight, might be justified but it was a vast improvement over the previous Athearn GP30. Someone may have a picture. 2. My objection to these pirated resin shells is that they are so poorly done. I had my hopes up a while back and bought a GP30B because I was curious, and it was a project I'd had on the back burner for a while. Boy, was I disappointed. The source shell was the Bachmann/Lionel/BevBel shell from the late '70s or early '80s. Didn't even have the sense to copy the P2K GP30. The skyline casings looked OK but the rest of the work on the high nose end and sides was lower quality than I do on my desk top. There were uncorrected gouges and file marks. Pilots were horrible and the excess resin on the interior would have required a lot of grinding to fit a chassis. Maybe the other products are better but there seems to be a lot of other people's work in them. I grew up around professional patternmakers and model builders and none of those guys would have let that piece out of their shops. And all of them knew that a resin copy of something is going to be just that little bit smaller. |
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Post by thunderhawk on Aug 24, 2019 17:53:21 GMT -8
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Post by vincep on Aug 24, 2019 20:34:15 GMT -8
Ordering soon thunderhawk for my GP7R rebuilt to low nose after rolling into the river after hitting a rock slide.
Will post pics when done.
And BDO is now Pacific Northwest resins making an NW5 and dummy p2k milled bare frame.
Still won't buy from either.
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Post by trainguy99 on Aug 27, 2019 3:16:15 GMT -8
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).
(the one with the Atlas SD26 cab). I've had it squirreled away since the last run of SD26s, which was quite a while ago!
