FYI - Somebody offers a U33C/U36C radiator for the Kato U30C on Shapeways. Also, if the Kato U30C is a "widebody", it's not going to accept scale width components from other models that do have scale width hoods.
Let's not forget the U28 and U30B! Norfolk and Western was the 2nd largest buyer of the 28 and the largest buyer of the 30 so I'd be in for some.
Fitting the Kato U30C shell on an Atlas drive isn't the issue, it's the possibility that the Kato U30C hoods aren't the same width as the Atlas hoods...
They aren't. I just compared an early Atlas/Kato U25B shell to an early Kato U30C shell and the U30C is wider on the long hood by about .75mm.
If you are an extremely lucky hunter, about 25 years ago N Scale of Nevada made a tiny run of U33/36 shells.....
I guess these two were 'born' in Schenectady NY; and, were caught at Erie PA while heading west to their home rails. Based on the date of the photo, these two didn't last long in that attractive silver/orange/black scheme... soon to become the Perlman green/orange scheme.
I have been waiting for U33/36Cs for a long time, I do have one NSN U36C shell that's is bowed had to grind the shell in order for it to sit low enough, reason I didn't purchase more. I got tired of waiting on Atlas and painted two Kato C30-7 for EL, they don't look bad and most people don't even know there not a U33C. I sure could use about 3 of each in EL paint, I believe Atlas is really missing the boat here because IMO a lot of people want the old 33/36 U-boats, in both Cs and Bs.
I'd have more interest in RSD15s than more U-boats but I understand the feeling of want people are experiencing. But what's going on, Paul... one ALCO S2 compared to a couple of HO models... hardly seems fair.
I was on another discussion about train car prices and was talking about how the game industry funds it's products these days. So if Paul wants to see what the demand is for these locos, Atlas could do a kickstarter for funding the project. Here is an example of how Steve Jackson Games funded their project: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/847271320/ogre-designers-edition You'll notice the game garnered about 100k$ with around 5000 people pony-ing up cash for a copy of the product. I don;t know how many units Atlas makes of each N scale loco, but this would be an interesting way to see new locos happen. It changes the whole ball game as far as distribution goes, because all sales are direct sales from manufacturer to consumer. It's really just a way to get cash flow via pre orders on Kickstarter. So yes, I'd like two cheeseburgers please.
