Cheap Athearn 85ft Flatcar

I found this Athearn 'Transport Leasing' 85' flatcar going cheap on ebay, the auction picture was a bit blurry, but I thought I'd take a chance on it.  I'm glad I did, the model arrived today and it is in mint condition, with only some superficial wear to the outer box to reveal that it is not brand new.

The model is very nicely detailed, with separately applied wire grab-irons, detailed loading ramps, separate trailer hitches and very fine printing.

The model also comes complete with two 40ft trailers, one decorated for B&O and the other for Great Northern, these seem to be the old A-Line trailers with modern printing and very detailed wheels and chassis, they certainly look great.

A great model, and one I'm glad I picked up, it's certainly whetted my appetite for more of these.

Unexpected Kato #2 - Another GP35 arrives.

I noticed this mysterious unboxed locomotive on ebay, advertised as an unknown make and model, I could see from the picture that it was a GP35 and the running number matched the Athearn Wisconsin Central GP35 so I assumed it was an Athearn RTR model.

It arrived today and turns out it is actually a repainted Kato, very nicely detailed and in good shape.  A bit of a surprise and a pretty good result as I paid less than £20 for it, and Kato GP35's generally go for at least £40, even repainted.

The only damage is a broken rear porch handrail, the top rail is split on the right-hand side and will need to be patched or replaced.   The original owner also fitted an all-weather window that has dropped off and needs re-glued.

It's a beautifully smooth running engine, but I haven't had a chance to look under the hood yet, and I suspect this engine probably won't be the later DCC friendly version.  I may have to invest in a new lighting board for it.  

The Kato website has some details on how to fit DCC to the original release GP35 and SD40's here (link).

Kato SD80 rebuild - Conrail Cadillac rides again.

When I got the replacement shell for my SD80 (link) it came with a partial set of detail sprues, and it turned out to be missing some of the key handrail sections.   The Kato website was out of stock as it's been years since these models were last available, so I couldn't get spares to complete the shell.

Luckily Kato have just reissued the HO SD80, including the Conrail version, so the handrails are once again available from them.  I ordered a couple of sets, along with various parts for the other Kato project locomotives I have to hand.

The new handrails are an exact colour match, but interestingly the cab grab irons are moulded in white on this new set, where the previous release grab irons were blue.  I looked at a few prototype pictures and it appears that real locomotives use a combination of white and blue, seeing as I had both I was able to do the same.

I find these Kato handrail a bit fiddly, especially with the multi-piece design that uses small extra pieces for the step rails, these parts are push-fit and I find they spring loose easily like the rear step grab has done here.

This shell is fitted to the frame from the dismantled Candian Pacific SD90mac I bought a few months ago, and this frame had a defective lighting board, so I also replaced the board with a cheap secondhand one from eBay and fitted an 8pin DCC chip.

The locomotive is now ready to join my NS SD80 hauling coal gondolas on the club layout, and I will definitely need to get some more gons to justify such massive motive power!  I will give the model a light weathering at some point, but for now its going to remain factory fresh.

Baltimore & Ohio Geep

Still no sign of a high-nose GP30 on ebay, but I did pick up this cheap Bachmann Spectrum in B&O livery.  This is an old model, one of the earliest models to feature factory fitted details, with wire grab irons, lift bars and separate windscreen wipers.

 The overall detail level on this model is not to the same standards as the Proto 2000 GP30, but as a consist locomotive it will help to fill a gap until I can locate some more P2K examples at the right price.

The previous owner has removed one of the side windows to give a better view of the cab interior, and fitted some home made sunshades made from plasticard, I will replace the shades with brass ones and probably fit a plow as well as repainting the engine in N&W black.

No see-through fans on this model, but the roof detail is deeply moulded to the extent that it looks almost as if it is see-through.  A nice budget model, and it runs fairly smoothly, if a little loudly.

Freemo board update

I managed to get a little time this week to lay some more ground cover onto my module, and successfully filled out the missing bottom left corner beside the warehouse and the banking beside the farm track.

The original paint colour I used for the base was a little too red and clay-like, so I also mixed some brown paint to a shade that matched the garden dirt I've been using, this means that the farm track and other open areas are now much closer in tone to the rest of the scenery.

The only major section of the base that remains is the custom foundation for the three buildings that form the outer edge of the town.  These buildings need to be cut to fit, so I haven't been able to complete their foundations yet.

I will also need to repaint the road surface with a darker shade, as the grey I have used is looking far too pale.
The bridge metal over bridge is taking shape, and I have got the deck completed and ready for paint, I have also purchased some Wills girder sections that I plan to use as supports for the main part of the bridge, and I may reinforce these with brass depending on how vulnerable it seems.

Another Cheap Geep

I spotted this Athearn RTR GP35 on ebay with a very low buy-it-now, I'm guessing the seller based the price on the going rate for a wide-body blue box model.

This one is in better shape than the Western Pacific one I bought a few weeks ago.  The handrails are a bit loose and will need a spot of glue to hold them in place, the pilot steps are missing on the long hood end and slightly bent on the front, and there is no front coupler (the previous owner has chosen to superglue a stack of black plasticard to hold the shell on - a bit random, but easily fixable).

It's a nice model, but as I already have the WP one, and the Kato shell as projects, I will most likely fix this one and add it to the 'for sale' pile to go on the club table at the show in September.

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.