I pre-ordered this model when they were first announced over a year ago, with my model coming from Model Junction in Slough who were very efficient as usual and it arrived very safely packaged and ready to go.
I have several Athearn blue-box geeps on the workbench but this Genesis model really sets a new bar for superdetailing, even more so that the recent Athearn GP15 or SD70ACE releases, and the sheer amount of detailing on this model would be hard to beat even with a box full of Detail Associates parts.
The thing that strikes me about the factory detailing is how crisp and perfect everything is, even the tiniest details are applied with no visible glue residue and the factory paint is incredible, with even the smallest warning stickers easily legible.
The factory printing on these models is far beyond what can be achieved with waterslide decals and it's unlikely that any of my own superdetailing projects would stand up to the level of scrutiny that this Genesis model can.
This Southern version features the same hood bells as the Genesis SD45, but the model also has walkway lights, sight glass and what appear to be even finer handrails than previous releases. Compared to Atlas or Proto these details are much finer.
So, yet another superb model from Athearn Genesis, and one of my favourite locomotives. My first US outline model was a blue box Geep 38-2 in the late eighties so it's great to have a new version from Athearn after all these years and this model certainly sets the bar for other manufacturers to match, my only real worry would be that the detailing is so fine that it's really difficult to handle the model for fear of damaging it! What we really need is an enterprising company to devise an affordable method of transporting models like this for shows and the like, because getting it in and out of the sturdy Genesis packaging can take quite a few minutes.
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