Atlas SD45's

[kscessandriver]

Bow down and kneel before your prototype width hood unit.


Anyone blaspheming Atlas for going with the narrower sound decoder can sacrifice their units by sending them to my address.


The MOST common complaint heard round these parts for years has been that N scale locos are too wide. And now Atlas solves that issue and people are upset they have to change decoder vendors?

See, if everyone still lived in a sound free DCC layout room none of this would be necessary. 

Glad to see someone decide to replicate a long since out of production classic. Time was, the mere existence of the Bachmann SD45s would have precluded Atlas from making their own version.

We've come a long way, baby.

I’m not blasting them for hood width, I’m blasting them for using a shitty decoder

[bman]

While I am happy to see SD45's I am a bit bummed by the road choices. So do I wait for SOU, PC, and CR and CR patched or do I jump on board early and paint my own? And hopefully HH SD40's are not far behind. Having to revamp my locomotive roster due to switching modeling locales got easier with the Scaletrains SD40-2. If product can get to market quicker here soon I can resume being lazy and not having to paint my own so much. At least I don't have to worry about sound as it drives me crazy. Then again I had to listen to the drone of diesel engines most of the day for many years.

[Wardie]

While I am happy to see SD45's I am a bit bummed by the road choices. So do I wait for SOU, PC, and CR and CR patched or do I jump on board early and paint my own? And hopefully HH SD40's are not far behind. Having to revamp my locomotive roster due to switching modeling locales got easier with the Scaletrains SD40-2. If product can get to market quicker here soon I can resume being lazy and not having to paint my own so much. At least I don't have to worry about sound as it drives me crazy. Then again I had to listen to the drone of diesel engines most of the day for many years.

Given the odds that we are probably looking at at least 1-2 years before a second run I am going to order a couple undecorated as to paint the units I want.

[C855B]

Frankly, I already ordered a handful of undecs to have painted into UP and ATSF. I encourage others to do the same. That Atlas blew-off popular roads on the first run is disappointing. Having a whole bunch of folks ordering unpainted units likely in excess of their planned production mix will send a pretty strong message that they screwed-up.

Sincerely,
Grumpy Gus

[garethashenden]

Where are people ordering them from? I must be looking in the wrong places as I haven't seen any preorders available yet.

[mu26aeh]

Where are people ordering them from? I must be looking in the wrong places as I haven't seen any preorders available yet.

I simply provide the product numbers/information to my LHS and ask to have them order/reserve

[C855B]

Where are people ordering them from? I must be looking in the wrong places as I haven't seen any preorders available yet.

https://www.nscalesupply.com/atl/atl-locomotivesd45.html , for starters.

[garethashenden]

https://www.nscalesupply.com/atl/atl-locomotivesd45.html , for starters.

Thanks! That's who I wanted to place the order with but they weren't showing up at first. Maybe a caching problem. Anyway, 4 ordered. 2 EL, 1 PRR, and 1 undec high nose.

[mark.hinds]

Why presume that it necessarily would be done sloppily?

As for out-of-scale, we all know that there are very few separately applied parts that are done in a truly scale size (and that is not limited to N scale). But again, why presume that it would have to be grossly out of scale, when some vendors have shown that it doesn't always have to be that way.  I give kudos (and my purchasing dollars) to them.

Molded-on parts OTOH never can or will be prototypical.

Ed

I am not presuming, but speaking from previous experience. 

It has been my experience that factory-applied detail parts are more often than not applied sloppily, when compared to how I would do it.  For example, the IM F-units, which have factory-applied grab irons and radiator grills.  Another example is the 1980s Hallmark / Samhongsa brass locomotives with (of course) separate wire grab irons, radiator fans, radiator grills, pilots, etc.  I had to de-solder and reposition some of this detail.  Posted images on these boards of more recent similar models confirm my past personal experience.  And as I said, in addition to the less careful assembly, these parts sometimes look over-scale (thinking grabs on Scale Trains UP turbines ??). 

I have about 20-30 IM F-units for my 50s-era SP / AT&SF layout; mostly Intermountain.  While the latter are good models, especially after modification, if I had to do it over again, I think I would use Kato F-units (especially since they eventually came out with Black Widow scheme on the F7s).  There was an article in one of the older N-Scale issues where a guy showed his procedure for finishing his Kato NP F-units.  He did stuff like underline the grabs with a technical fountain pen prior to weathering, and the overall effect was exceptional. 

[peteski]

Do these really protrude 7-8 inches off the locos surface?



Sloppy application, and CA glue "fog" around each glued area of the steps.

The more I think about it, the more I understand that this molded-on vs. free-standing details is like the best way of track-cleaning, or DC vs. DCC debates.
Basically it is a personal preference. Neither method of depicting things like steps or grabs in N scale done at the factory depicts those items in scale or realistically. Some prefer the less visible molded-on details while others are willing to put up with the compromise of out of scale free-standing details along with all their "warts" (like imperfect application or glue residues). Nobody wins this contest.

[jagged ben]

Do these really protrude 7-8 inches off the locos surface?

Yes Pete, they DO.

[ Guests cannot view attachments ]

(Have we not discussed this before?)

[dandopinski]

Grab irons/step irons usually have a 4-5 inch gap from the body. Enough that you can put your toe/ball of your foot on them, but not so far that if your foot went sideways it would not fall through causing injury. I have measured!

[ednadolski]

I am not presuming, but speaking from previous experience. 

I get it, to me it just seems unfortunate if that is the justification for shying away from trying to improve models.

Ed

[ednadolski]

Do these really protrude 7-8 inches off the locos surface?

Not really sure that I see the point to posting pics (with measurements, no less -- it's not hard to find out-of-scale parts on an N scale model.  Have you measured a plastic molded stirrup, or the cage ends of a covered hopper?).  No one is questioning that there haven't been many poorly done models in the past, and that certainly isn't limited to detail parts (think couplers, out of gauge wheels, poor electrical pickup, lighting, crooked handrails, etc.).  And you do get to vote with your wallet - if you dislike that particular model so much because of the quality, can't you return it for a refund?

The reality of poorly done models will always be with us.  I prefer to focus my resources on the models that are well done by manufacturers who are not afraid to make improvements.

Ed

[peteski]

Not really sure that I see the point to posting pics (with measurements, no less -- it's not hard to find out-of-scale parts on an N scale model.  Have you measured a plastic molded stirrup, or the cage ends of a covered hopper?).  No one is questioning that there haven't been many poorly done models in the past, and that certainly isn't limited to detail parts (think couplers, out of gauge wheels, poor electrical pickup, lighting, crooked handrails, etc.).  And you do get to vote with your wallet - if you dislike that particular model so much because of the quality, can't you return it for a refund?

The reality of poorly done models will always be with us.  I prefer to focus my resources on the models that are well done by manufacturers who are not afraid to make improvements.

Ed

Ed, as you likely are well aware of, the example I posted is the 'Rivet Counter" grade model from "Scale Trains".  Isnt' that one of the top manufacturer of N scale models (who make such highly-detailed models)?  Instead of counting rivets, I did some "separately-applied detail parts analysys".  This problem with added-on detail parts that Mark eloqently described is prsent on all recent models from all manufacturers who chose to have those detail parts applied at the factory (at ptoduction pace and quantity).  No factroy worker I can think of will be able to produce close-to-perfect models on an assembly, so all such models will suffer from what we are describing.

I have nothing against improvements in N scale models, but some "improvements" to some of us aren't really improvements.

You mentioned that you choose to focus on "on the models that are well done by manufacturers who are not afraid to make improvements".  Can you mention some specific manufacturer's names?  I also assume that you are talking about manufacturers who factory-install all those free-standing tiny grab irons, etc. (since that is what we're discussing).  Otherwise, Kato  wins for me.  They seem to produce models with best overall quality, and they also seem to have the most innovative designs.  Not perfect, but closer than any other manufacturer

And I'll again mention that in the end it is really each modeler's preference as what we all find acceptable in our models. What we're doing now (having a discussion about what type of factory-applied details are acceptable and how well they are executed) will not get us anywhere.