BLI F3's/F7's Shipping

[wcfn100]

Thanks Mark.  How do they compare height-wise to the Kato units (body and overall)?  Could you take a picture back-to-back?

I may still be in for an F7 but probably can't get an undec anymore.

Jason

[Point353]

Is the sideframe for the front axle of the rear truck bent downward or somehow misassembled?
Little of the wheel is visible below it and the brake caliper appears to be close to touching the rail.

[unittrain]

I just picked up a Pennsy F7A for my early PC trains.

[wcfn100]

Is the sideframe for the front axle of the rear truck bent downward or somehow misassembled?
Little of the wheel is visible below it and the brake caliper appears to be close to touching the rail.

Probably just not snapped in all the way.

Jason

[w neal]

I think for me the question concerns paint matching. Of course none of it will. 'Tis the way of N Scale. But some body's gotta ask, how does the MILW paint compare to that of Kato's Olympian? How funky is the green on the NP units... ETC.

[wazzou]

That nose seam (mold parting line) does look a little worse than some others.

[Cajonpassfan]

Well damn, that's just ridiculous, they have the upper side backwards Wouldn't somebody look at a photo of a prototype before authorizing a production run? These are not cheap toys!
The incorrect location and shape of the carbody openings may not be as obvious on an all dark paint scheme like the Pennsy, but will be very obvious on a silver or other light color body. I thought I could "fix" the inverted solid/open shape toward the center by painting the "openings" charcoal color like I did on my Katos, see below, but can't because the whole A unit grill is backwards and the "openings" are in wrong locations. I am really bummed over this. I can and do forgive a lot of imperfections in our models, but this is just plain sloppiness on BLI's part, no excuse.
Otto K.

[Point353]

Well damn, that's just ridiculous, they have the upper side backwards Wouldn't somebody look at a photo of a prototype before authorizing a production run? These are not cheap toys!

Someone at BLI might want to spend more time verifying the accuracy of their new tooling and less time trying be a star in "official promo" videos on youtube.

[Mark5]

That nose seam (mold parting line) does look a little worse than some others.

About on par with Kato, though the new Kato FP7 did away with it pretty much (A+ on that unit!). Still sad to see, as IM seemed to so much better in this dept.

Mark

[haasmarc]

Here are some more comparison shots.  It's hard to get good pics of dark locos.

Left to right: Kato, Intermountain, BLI


Left to right: BLI, Intermountain, Kato


Left to right: BLI, Intermountain, Kato



Left: BLI, Right: Intermountain


Left: BLI, Right: Kato


Left: BLI, Right: Intermountain


Left: BLI, Right: Kato

Is the sideframe for the front axle of the rear truck bent downward or somehow misassembled?
Little of the wheel is visible below it and the brake caliper appears to be close to touching the rail.

As far as the truck question, it is an optical illusion.  The trucks are level.

I think the paint color for DGLE and the stripping is best on the BLI.  The Intermountain unit is too green and the Kato unit is too black.

Also kudos to BLI for the correct horns.

[wcfn100]

Awesome.  Thanks.

Jason

[Mark5]

Thanks Marc! I guess the BLI units ride a tad high similar to the IM units.

Mark

[peteski]

Here are some more comparison shots.  It's hard to get good pics of dark locos.

Left to right: BLI, Intermountain, Kato

Has anybody else noticed the "squinting" windshields on the BLI units?  I noticed that when I saw the  prototypes in BLI booth a while back (even without the other models close by for comparison).  The windshields seem too short, resulting in the squinty look.

[unittrain]

The Intermountain looks to be not as wide as the Kato and BLI.

[muktown128]

The Intermountain looks to be not as wide as the Kato and BLI.

I noticed that too.  The BLI unit seems to be the widest.

Another tough decision.  Do I get the new BLI PRR F3/F7 units to replace my IM PRR F3/F7 units?  I already replaced my Kato PRR F3 / F7 units with IM units. 

Hmmm.