Atlas SD45's shipping

[Cory Rothlisberger]

Strange that there're the two separate grab irons on the shorthood, but all the other grabs are molded...

[Sokramiketes]

Agin that's not a very good angle. The best online photo I have found in my short search so far is this one:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wrongmain/34503929991

Also, not the best angle.

I might have to break down and order a copy of this photo: 

https://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/detail.php?ID=168986

Frankly, I don't see any reason to doubt the official N&W paint diagram.

Cheers,

Mark

Agreed.  My opinion is that the reflective sky is the only thing tinting it toward blue in photos.  All actual evidence is black. 

[Sokramiketes]

Strange that there're the two separate grab irons on the shorthood, but all the other grabs are molded...

Very strange. 

[Wolf N Works]

So to remove the shell, unscrew and pull out the MT couplers.
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Top
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DC / DCC board area  -Current DC board 9.33mm x 19.83mm  area has about 27mm of length for decoder.
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Rear LED package (three LEDs)
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Nose LED package (one LED)
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[jagged ben]

Needs a bell.

(Attachment Link)

I'm looking for ideas on that one.  Aside from maybe asking IM if they have parts, haven't gotten roundtoit.  Or find a 3d printed bell and bend some guitar string for the mounting.

[peteski]

The truck's brake cylinder and piping on that SP unit seems much lighter gray and translucent. While it is  nice to have a separately applied part, it is not looking very realistic.

[jagged ben]

DCC version report (SP)... so far ...before any programming attempts ...

The sound comes loud.  Gonna have to dial that down, although I love a loud horn.  Not sure the horn sounds like a P3 but I recall that Tsunami has options. 
The top front light in the SP version does not come as a gyralight.  I sure hope it isn't hardwired to the same function as the noselight and can just be fixed with programming.  Can't really tell from wolf's photos.
The numberboards appear to be on a separate function which I did not readily find.  (Other than zero the rest of the functions 1-9 all do sound stuff.)  Wolf's photos corroborate. I will very much appreciate if the numberboards don't pulse when the top headlight is turned into a gyralight.

Gonna have to find the feature that stops movement until the startup sound finishes and disable that.

The model looks great.  In addition to the noselight and L-window I'm also pretty pleased that the SP models come with rear plows as well as front ones.

...

Does the DRGW mars light not light up in the silver version?   Can't believe they messed up the location of that detail

[GM50 4164]

@peteski , if you're interested, would you like the board and go over it like you did with the SD7?

I took the truck side frames off to look at the new design, completely new tooling for the wheels and I think they look very nice compared to the older Atlas wheels. They've also gone to a axle through eyelet similar to the Broadway designed axle ends. The frames come apart fairly easily, just unclip the ends and pulling downward on one side, press a fine tip tweezer into one of the 4 small grabbers on bottom. It pulls right off afterwards.

When re-attaching the sideframe piece, it does need to go back on a certain way. Of the 3 axles on a truck, the axle closest to the outside end of locomotive has a small gear next to it. It is raised slightly higher than the other one at the other end of the same truck, which sits a little lower. The sideframe piece has a small opening for this raised gear. Make sure to place the sideframe back in its correct orientation before trying to snap back into place!

[jagged ben]

Update:
F24 is a (too bright) cab light and F27 is the front numberboards.  (The SP prototype has no rear numberboards, which is accurately modeled here.  Nice that there's no light leak even though the rear LEDs light internally.)
I don't like the LED color, it's too white.   Tthis is a consistent issue with Tsunami in my experience.

[jagged ben]

(Duplicate)

[tehachapifan]

Remind me....

Did we determine that ESU does not have a sound decoder that will fit the interface on these?

[jagged ben]

Remind me....

Did we determine that ESU does not have a sound decoder that will fit the interface on these?

I seem to recall that the hood is too narrow for their offerings?  Not that the problem was the interface.  I coukd be misremembering.

[ridinshotgun]

I seem to recall that the hood is too narrow for their offerings?  Not that the problem was the interface.  I coukd be misremembering.

Pretty sure the loksound nano 5 next 18 at 9.5mm wide the same size as the soundtrax next18 at 9.5mm.

[peteski]

@peteski , if you're interested, would you like the board and go over it like you did with the SD7?

Yes, I can do my "thing" for this board, but lets hold off for a while.

I took the truck side frames off to look at the new design, completely new tooling for the wheels and I think they look very nice compared to the older Atlas wheels. They've also gone to a axle through eyelet similar to the Broadway designed axle ends.

Yeah, it looks like the model was designed and manufactured by the same factory that makes BLI diesel locos.  Not my favorite design (I prefer the Kato-style low-friction axle point design).

[sp org div]

The truck's brake cylinder and piping on that SP unit seems much lighter gray and translucent. While it is  nice to have a separately applied part, it is not looking very realistic.

That airline is supposed to offset inward and up over the truck frame at the center, so it got inverted outward and down and QC snoozed there
I pick my sound versions up tomorrow
You guys are scaring me
Animated lighting issues?
White LEDs
Sick snow plow
No bell
Partial raised grabs
Speaker with holes in the tank
P3 horn issues
Then the twin sealed beam is…
Still a stride forward for Atlas so Im going in!