Fox Valley SD70ACE Totally Worth the wait!!!!!

[learmoia]

Made my weekly trip to the LHS to find the first 3 (of 6 Conrail related) Fox Valley SD70ACE's

W.O.W

Totally worth the wait!!..




Vs...


~Ian

[ednadolski]

What, no Union Pacific?

Ed

[Smike]

The FVM is sweet, and I'm grabbing one over the Kato for sure, but darn, the Reading Lines logo text is just a tad to big on the FVM model. Handrails are orange vs yellow too, but that is an easy fix when you plan on replacing them with wire hand rails  I love the correct Antennas’ , nice touch!

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=424498&nseq=158


How does it run?

[learmoia]

The FVM is sweet, and I'm grabbing one over the Kato for sure, but darn, the Reading Lines logo text is just a tad to big on the FVM model. Handrails are orange vs yellow too, but that is an easy fix when you plan on replacing them with wire hand rails 

The Yellow looks a tad off too, plus they stopped the green above the cab windows instead of coming down level with everything else (I assume the sun shade will hide that.)..

The handrails are correct (Very hard to tell on the prototype).... The RDG yellow being 'off' seems to make the handrails more noticeable on the model than on the prototype.

~Ian

[Leggy]

The windshields on the FVM ACe have always bothered me and despite emails to FVM about them looking too narrow after the first samples appeared they didn't seem to either want to bother or care. The Kato looks quite alot better in that regard imo. Still, I'll be getting a couple soon....

[Smike]

Well I stopped by my local pusher and was able to see these side by side, and the yellow is faily bright on the FVM, while the yellow on the Kato was more muted and matched the HO Athearn and Bowser Reading units (Which all looked more correct to me)  The handrails on the FVM are spot on, while the ones on the Kato look a little off.

Now with that said this pic does make the FVM look brighter than it is in reality, so its not dayglow yellow, but again brighter than the Kato.

[learmoia]

Reading yellow must be one of those colors that changes dramatically with light (and dirt)

Compare these 4 prototype photos:
So here is the 'builder's photo'
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/7/2/2/1722.1337816958.jpg

A photo at Spencer (Day):
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/2/9/3/1293.1341343457.jpg

A photo at Spencer (Night):
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/7/9/6/8796.1394425126.jpg

An in service photo:
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d2/5/1/4/4514.1410313423.jpg

You can tell how each company matched their paint... (FMV

~Ian

[learmoia]

Well I stopped by my local pusher and was able to see these side by side, and the yellow is faily bright on the FVM, while the yellow on the Kato was more muted and matched the HO Athearn and Bowser Reading units (Which all looked more correct to me)  The handrails on the FVM are spot on, while the ones on the Kato look a little off.

Now with that said this pic does make the FVM look brighter than it is in reality, so its not dayglow yellow, but again brighter than the Kato.

Seeing the 2 side by side, it's clear FMV has the ability to produce a superior overall model.

I don't see the narrow windshield issue.. I DO see that the Kato number boards are too thick.

Kato needs to stop designing it's diesels based on 20 year old ideas...

~Ian

[Leggy]

The windshields on the FVM model look even narrower beside the Kato model....

[peteski]

Seeing the 2 side by side, it's clear FMV has the ability to produce a superior overall model.
I don't see the narrow windshield issue.. I DO see that the Kato number boards are too thick.
Kato needs to stop designing it's diesels based on 20 year old ideas...

What do you mean that the Kato number boards are too thick?  I'm not sure I understand?  Does the number board housing protrudes too much from the nose?  I can't really tell from that photo.

The FVM windshields are clearly narrower. The FVM A pillar (for the lack of a batter description) and the center pillar are visibly wider on the FVM model (which makes the windshield panes narrower).

I'm also not sure which specific "features" of the Kato model are based on some 20 year old ideas.  Could you elaborate? 

I'm trying to think which Kato's ideas are 20 year old.  The ones that come to mind are solid pilots with body-mounted couplers and the cone-needle-point axle-end pickups/bearings. Both revolutionary ideas widely imitated by other companies.  All the other design ideas are much older than 20 years. 

[Scottl]

The windshields are disappointing and they really stand out to my eye.  I have been waiting a long time for this, as a precursor to the SD70M-2 that would be very similar, but it looks a bit "crosseyed" to me with windshields that way.  Pity.

[Rich_S]

From what I can see, the Kato number boards correctly extend above the cab roof. The downside of the Kato model is the long hood hand rails are molded in a color that does not match the body color. It appears both units have faults and probably the best bet would be not to mix and match. Just my two cents and your mileage may vary 

[flight2000]

What, no Union Pacific?

Ed

Just for you Ed...    

http://nscalesupply.com/fvm/FVM-SD70ACe.HTML

A&M, MRL, BNSF, and UP...   

Brian

[jimmo]

IMHO the windshields look too narrow as well. It appears that there's approximately 12" between the windows in the center on the real thing and about 6" on the sides (or A-pillars). The FV model looks more like 16" to 18" in the center and 8" on the A-pillars.

Perhaps blackening the window gaskets would help.

[Scottl]

I think Kato takes the win on this one.  I can deal with railing color but the cab tooling really matters.