MTL SW1500 test shots.

[wazzou]

Hmmmm... I dunno. SW1500s always hit me as having wider hoods than their earlier brethren. Judge for yourself in this similar overhead view:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=902179

For some reason, that looks a lot narrower.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

We went as thin as we could go with the plastic and ended up 8" scale wider and .040" thinner than the Lifelike shell....I can see where that would be a deal breaker 

Joe

The hood is too damn wide!

[JoeD]

Interesting...well, we are about .040" narrower than the SW 1200 and are about as thin as we can go with the plastic shell.  Again, it may look too wide, but in scale it's only 8" so it's not that much. 

Joe

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Joe, that is more than Kato engines and we poke fun at them for it. It is very noticeable on an engine this small. I'll still get one, but I think MTL should have gone through and made their own frames. How much more would it be? You could even recycle the LL motor, gears, trucks and attachment points.

A few thousand more and you could have a real game changer.

[DKS]

It's much more instructional to refer to discrepancies in terms of percentages, not absolute measurements. Add 8" to a 60' boxcar, and you'll be hard-pressed to notice it; add 8" to a 6' loco hood (an arbitrary number chosen for the sake of illustration) and it could be an issue for some people. In the case of the boxcar, it's about 1%, which would be a challenge to perceive. But in the case of the hood, it's over 10%, and there will almost certainly be some push-back on that.

I don't have a dog in this fight, and I'm not trying to bash anyone or anything; I'm merely attempting to encourage people to use more useful terms. 8 scale inches may not seem like much until it's placed in reference to the size of the object to which it's being added.

[wazzou]

Interesting...well, we are about .040" narrower than the SW 1200 and are about as thin as we can go with the plastic shell.  Again, it may look too wide, but in scale it's only 8" so it's not that much. 

Joe

The reality is this...that 8" is probably the same distance in your top down photo, of the left edge of the front radiator grille to the edge of the shell.  Taken in that context, if that space is removed, running the entire length of the carbody it would be significant.

It won't dissuade me from ultimately purchasing one when the flexicoil truck sideframe option becomes available.

[JoeD]

That distance is .065" (edge of the intake and the edge of the side) for reference and we are talking .025" additional on each side, less than half that distance.  New chassis wasn't going to happen given the cost and time. 

[wazzou]

People will buy it Joe, including myself.  It would be nice though for the first time out with this Loco, it could have been closer to scale width, that's all.

[Dave V]

My unsolicited opinion on the matter is that legitimate engineering compromises are more forgivable than mistakes owing to poor research or lack of motivation to get it right.

If the 8" extra gets this to the market at a lower price point it's certainly something I can overlook.  Some things bother some people more than others.  Hood width has never been a hot button for me.

Then again, compared to some folks here I'm essentially an N scale Lionel guy.

[packers#1]

I do have to agree it looks wider than the prototype picture (I kept trying to make it look right and just couldn't) but I agree with Dr. Dave that it's forgiveable to make it cheaper and get it to market quicker

[peteski]

I have no stake in this, but I have been followig this thread simply becasuse it is interesting to see a model being developed.

I thought all along that the LL mechanism was only a test bed. Now it seems that MT will actually use the LL mechanism in this loco.   So, it will be a hybrid of the MT shell with LL mechanical (and possibly MT truck sideframes)?  Is that correct?

As far as the rear headlight goes, in their NW2 Kato used a long lightpipe covered with a shroud which was also part of the locos interior. The LED is in the bottom of the mechanism.  Wouldn't that be a viable option fo this similarly shaped  loco?

As far as the hood width goes, it is white while the other parts of the model are darker color. IMO, that is why it looks so much wider. It is an optical illusion.

[tom mann]

Being X inches too wide doesn't bother me, but the fact that the hood not being inline with the cab windows is unfortunate. 

How many cars are people expecting to pull with these?  What about a z scale motor/mechanism?  Wouldn't that be small and still powerful enough to pull a 1/2 dozen cars?

[Puddington]

Don't like it - don't buy it...........

Happy to see a nice model that meets your needs, say "whoopee" and buy one, two.. whatever........

Want a better one - pony up the dough and make it............

MT's told you what they did, showed you what they did, explained what they did and made their decision (BTW - more than 90% of mfg's do.... right ?)  - their locomotive, their product.... nuff said.

I'll buy one, happily..... I think it looks great. After all; I hardly ever bring the digital micrometer out and hand it to my operators; a car list and Molson's usually is enough.

[DKS]

How many cars are people expecting to pull with these?

So far with testing, I am able to pull 22 40' cars with a little slipping on curves...without the weight I'm down to about 18....un scientific test at this point...just messing around on the layout.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I am just a little disappointed it isn't more exact. Bachmann did the same compromise with their GE switchers, and I understand the reasons behind it. I also see MTL producing Z scale mechanisms that would be the correct width for the SW1500 in N.

This is a classic boondoggle engine in N scale: Riv/Atlas calling their contraption an SW1500, then Con-Cor continuing the tradition before renaming it an SW1200. Now we have this... a lot closer to the real thing, but " 'dat nose".

Oddly enough, the hood looks very close to the width of the CC MP15-1. Another boondoggle in its own right.

I guess my kit bashed Conrail SW1500 fleet will soldier on.