Intermountain F7s

[sizemore]

Another slap in the face.. They did it right in HO scale..

Partially right. The separation between white and black should be the bottom of the headlight and bisect the top portion of the markers. They also have this incorrect on the N scale production sample shown earlier.

I've ordered two A's and I'll pick them up Friday. Waiting on the B's from my LHS. See if I can correct them and how off the factory lettering is from Microscale decals.

The S.

[wmcbride]

Based upon the online photos, and now confirmed by the engines I have in hand, I figured I would have to repaint the black to bring it down and then fix the white-red demarcation. Or I could just strip them and make them speed-lettered units.

I have some canopy glue but it just irritates me that they shipped them this way - along with my one unit with the matching bent horns.

I've been at this N scale stuff for 4 decades so I've had to do my fair share of fixing and modifying etc. I'm just fatigued a bit with these. Oh, well. It's just a hobby - but an expensive one...

[spookshow]

The bottoms of the old and new chasses ride at the same height, but it looks like the bottom of the fuel tank on the new model sits about 1/32" lower than the old one. I'm not sure how this is accomplished, maybe it's just how/where it attaches to the new chassis.

-Mark
 

[wmcbride]

The bottoms of the old and new chasses ride at the same height, but it looks like the bottom of the fuel tank on the new model sits about 1/32" lower than the old one. I'm not sure how this is accomplished, maybe it's just how/where it attaches to the new chassis.

-Mark
 

I have not opened mine yet since I am on the fence about keeping them.

Is the speaker in the fuel tank making it larger than earlier versions?

[spookshow]

I guess you could say the speaker is in the fuel tank, although the actual plastic fuel tank detail simply serves as a lid to cover up the pocket in the chassis where the speaker sits.

-Mark

[wmcbride]

I put mine on the track to see check the sound.

It sounded good; no tinny, poorly enclosed speaker.

The operating backup light is a nice touch as well.

[GM50 4164]

I put mine on the track to see check the sound.

It sounded good; no tinny, poorly enclosed speaker.

The operating backup light is a nice touch as well.

F5 turns on the numberboards and they are independent of direction!

[wmcbride]

F5 turns on the numberboards and they are independent of direction!

Yup; that's pretty cool.

[spookshow]

I'm very impressed with mine so far (DCC-Sound A and DCC-Quiet B). They ran flawlessly right out of the box and have been running nonstop for a week without so much as a single glitch.

-Mark

[wmcbride]

I decided to keep mine -- and will work on the wavy etched grills. I have emailed Intermountain about the matching bent horns on my one WM F7A unit. I have always had good experiences with them over the years.

I bought another F7A and its grills were attached properly and the horns were OK. I will eventually try to fix the goofed up factory paint on the snouts if it bothers me enough from running eyeball distance.

[spookshow]

What's with the DIP switch pack on the top?  Probably to turn off some lights?

The in-box instructions don't mention the dip switches at all. The top left of the box says "ON" and the top right says "KE". The switches are numbered 1-3 on the bottom of the box. My DCC-Sound A unit has 1 and 3 up and 2 down. My DCC-Quiet B unit has all 3 down and piece of Kapton tape covering up the box (presumably to prevent you from touching them).

I'll have to ask to IMRC what they're for.

-Mark

[High Hood]

I’d like to see a comparison between the Intermountain, Broadway Limited, Kato, and Rapido F Units. I think it’d be interesting to see how they all look side by side.

[spookshow]

As it turns out, IMRC has no idea what the dip switches are for and referred me to ESU. Whee 

-Mark

[peteski]

As it turns out, IMRC has no idea what the dip switches are for and referred me to ESU. Whee 

-Mark

Is that entire PC board (with DIP switches) produced by ESU?  Or is it just a IM-made motherboard with a connector for one of the standard ESU LokSound decoders?

[wmcbride]

I’d like to see a comparison between the Intermountain, Broadway Limited, Kato, and Rapido F Units. I think it’d be interesting to see how they all look side by side.

I can try to do this tomorrow. I have Rapido F9s, Kato F3s, BLI F7s, and old and new Intermountain F7s.

IMO, the BLI units have squinty front windows and the grills (part of the shell not separate etchings) always struck me as not high enough. That said, I have three of them I bought from their refurbished site and they run just fine and look okay from normal viewing distance.