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| Did Athearn do a good job? (1156404) | |
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| (1156404) | |
Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012 You tell me: 
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Rockparkman on Sun May 13 15:28:48 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. Ah, the Katy. I made several thousand dollars on their stock when UP made their first stab at them. |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Rockparkman on Sun May 13 15:36:28 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. I'd say they NAILED IT!!! |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by orange blossom special on Sun May 13 16:33:31 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. Depends. Which one is the model? |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Sun May 13 16:39:09 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. They forgot the Amtrak blue flag.
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by chud1 on Sun May 13 16:44:29 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. great. good job.chud1 |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Dave on Sun May 13 17:35:17 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. Unless it's a part added by the user, the sanding hose to the front and rear trucks is missing from the model. |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by WillD on Sun May 13 17:41:53 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. They've come a long way since their hood units were a bit wider than they should have been to fit the motor in there and they slapped any old paint scheme on their models. Hell of a lot more expensive too. |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by randyo on Sun May 13 17:48:44 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by orange blossom special on Sun May 13 16:33:31 2012. If you can't tell, then they must have done a good job! |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Train Dude on Sun May 13 18:55:07 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. Outsides look nice. What do they have inside? How do they compare to Mikes with Proto III. How do they compare in price? As far as I'm concerned, if you don't have great performance, you might as well be running an Athern Hustler. |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by chud1 on Sun May 13 19:01:57 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 17:35:17 2012. a excellent job.chud1 |
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| (1156455) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Olog-hai on Sun May 13 19:23:29 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Train Dude on Sun May 13 18:55:07 2012. This fellow has some interesting tricks to improve Hustler performance . . . including a kitbashed road slug . . . |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Train Dude on Sun May 13 19:26:16 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Olog-hai on Sun May 13 19:23:29 2012. A vast improvement over the dual rubber band drive on the stock units. |
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| (1156463) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Dave on Sun May 13 19:37:13 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Train Dude on Sun May 13 18:55:07 2012. The SD70ACe is in their Genesis line, which is top-line in terms of features and quality. Price is $190 for DC or $290 for DCC w/sound. |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Ian Lennon on Mon May 14 04:40:20 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012. I used to own two Athearn F-7's, and two SD-9's back in the late eighties. They were both direct drive, all four axles. They were awesome units, loved them. I wish I still had them. |
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| (1156546) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Mike Cruz on Mon May 14 09:43:33 2012, in response to Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Sun May 13 15:14:18 2012.  They did a beautiful job! |
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| (1156704) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by WillD on Tue May 15 00:31:37 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Mike Cruz on Mon May 14 09:43:33 2012. They may have done a beautiful job, but it's not quite on par with what someone with a bit of skill can turn out with a few extra parts, some paint, and some patience. As was noted, there are hoses missing from the model, amongst other details. With the old thirty to forty buck Athearn locomotives you could buy an undecorated unit, glue on the Details West parts to your hearts content and either paint it yourself or try one of the paint shops in the back of a magazine. If you screwed up you weren't out a huge amount of money and maybe you would gain some parts for a kitbash down the road. Even if you sent it out to be painted it'd still likely end up cheaper than the current prices for Athearn stuff, and it'd be weathered to boot.Now, with their locomotives starting at 90 bucks for a measly SW1500 I'd be reticent to break out the weathering chalk and deface their masterpiece. They're pushing HO gauge down the road toward O guage's pervasive morass of toy-train-ness. |
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| (1156723) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Rockparkman on Tue May 15 05:34:09 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by WillD on Tue May 15 00:31:37 2012. toy train-ness---? oh, you mean like trains that actually operate when you move the handle on the |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Dave on Tue May 15 11:12:48 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Rockparkman on Tue May 15 05:34:09 2012. I wish MTH would stop with their proprietary DCS nonsense. Everyone else uses DCC. |
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| (1156773) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Dave on Tue May 15 11:24:33 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Rockparkman on Tue May 15 05:34:09 2012. Check out this comparison of MTH vs. Athearn SD70ACe models:http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,2332477,page=1 |
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| (1156800) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Rockparkman on Tue May 15 15:53:42 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Tue May 15 11:12:48 2012. Ok, I agree that MTH is being anal but PS3 (DCS locomotive electronics) is DCC compatible. |
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Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Rockparkman on Tue May 15 15:56:02 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Dave on Tue May 15 11:24:33 2012. Check out MTH's O scale 2 rail trains. BTW, I like the newer Athearn stuff. |
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| (1156872) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by WillD on Wed May 16 01:44:02 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by Rockparkman on Tue May 15 05:34:09 2012. We've always had that. From Overland Brass and other importers. Making them in plastic doesn't make MTH's units in any way better than those units.Athearn's move toward more expensive units is bad, but MTH's HO models are so expensive you'd be a fool to use them regularly on a layout, especially one that requires any sort of handling of the equipment in staging or fiddle yards. They're only suited to droning endlessly around thoroughly un-prototypical loop layouts because anyone who plunks down $300 on a hood unit is going to be afraid to touch the damn thing. Athearn's new ridiculously expensive units only serve to further reduce the accessibility of the hobby. Where will kids get $20-40 SW7s and SDP40s (Complete with C&NW paint!) that I ran my little 4'x8' line with? Hell, what ever happened to dummy units? I don't care if I can shell out $400 for a pretty looking unit, that's nothing new. What I want is something that I can buy relatively cheap, make mistakes with, and not be out hundreds of dollars in the process. That's the way you're going to grow the hobby in the coming decade, not making ridiculously expensive wastes of money. |
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| (1156873) | |
Re: Did Athearn do a good job? |
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Posted by Jackson Park B Train on Wed May 16 02:09:42 2012, in response to Re: Did Athearn do a good job?, posted by WillD on Wed May 16 01:44:02 2012. agreed |
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