Genesis Geep Rebuild

This week I picked up an Athearn Genesis GP15 on ebay, it was in pieces so I won it for £35 which seemed like a reasonable price provided I could get it back together.
It turned up today and sure enough, the model was in a very sorry state, with a large collection of loose pieces rattling around in the box.

It appears to be brand new, the wheels show little sign of wear, suggesting the previous owner had taken it apart to fit a DCC chip and then started losing parts, no doubt getting ever more frustrated as the model continued to shed parts until finally giving up in frustration and sending it to ebay. 

I have to say the construction for these Genesis models leaves more than a little to be desired, it seems like most of the parts are push-fit, with tiny details like the frame bell, tank piping and radiator grilles coming loose at the slightest touch.

The first order of business was a test run, which revealed that the engine wasn't moving at all, this turned out to be down to the 8-pin dummy plug being loose and once it was pushed home the locomotive proved to be a very, very smooth runner indeed.

I fitted a Digitrax DH123 decoder and then assembled the locomotive and replaced the various loose parts, there didn't seem to be any missing pieces, so the end result looks very impressive.

Damage to blower duct - (small hole at the walkway edge)

The only real damage to the model are the usual handrail problems (one of the supports is broken) and there is a small hole drilled into the blower duct.  This is a strange bit of damage , and it appears to be cause by the body mounting screws being accidentally pushed through the shell, or possibly the original owner attempting to drill out the chassis screw from the top.  A bit of putty and some black paint should fix the hole.

So I'm very pleased with this one, it comes fully boxed and it proved to be a very quick job to get it back on the rails, with these models retailing for £88 currently, that means I got it for well under half price.