SORRY if you saw this before look again! I got the makers name wrong! ...ooops! So:>>>> What are people's experiences of the MODEL POWER 4-6-2 Pacifics? The new ones with the metal bodies? I have been offered one but am unsure about it. Some say they are good others that they are not. What are YOUR experiences?? Are they good pullers? Do they get through turnouts ok ? Are they ok on Minimum curves? Or are they worth avoiding? Help Please!
Here is a copy of the link I gave you in the previous post. This is how the author rates engines. The Model Power Pacific got a "B". There are no "A" Pacifics listed except for one brass one, which is surprising for some N scale brass. But the popular manufactures don't have anything better out, eg. Kato, Atlas...etc. Grade Description A Looks and runs great. Smooth, quiet and accurate to the prototype. Worthy of any operational fleet. State of the art B Runs well enough, but not as smoothly or as quietly as an "A". Minor visual drawbacks (oversized handrails, etc). Good enough to operate until something better comes along C Has some performance flaw making it unworthy of operations- maybe it runs rough through curves, is overly loud, is too light, jackrabbit stops and starts, etc Looks toyish- oversized handrails, proportions out of scale, etc D Completely unsuited for real model railroad operations. Runs poorly and/or barely looks like the prototype it professes to model F Complete piece of junk. Can't complete a simple loop without stalling or derailing. Looks like crap with coarse, oversized and/or molded on details I Incomplete - I haven't been able to try one out yet N No grade - I only rate locomotives with an actual mechanism [ 13. January 2003, 21:37: Message edited by: rsn48 ]
Pete, I bought one of the Model Power Pacifics and have taken it apart tp see how it was built. I would advise against buying one. My opinion is that they will not last. The pick up wipers on the loco are very flimsy and the wiring from the pick ups are very thin and prone to break. I read that they improved the tender pick up a little but it is still not up to Kato standards by a long ways. There are other problems as well. Mine ran OK at first but soon developed problems and that is when I decided to "look inside". My suggestion would be to buy a Japanese prototype Pacific from Kato or Micro-Ace and then use that for a basis for what you want to do. I am currently "Americanizing" a Kato Pacific by using an old Atlas/Rivarossi Pacific shell. Below is a picture of a Micro-Ace Pacific that I just changed a bit to make it look American. No new shell was needed for it. This way you have a good running loco that will last. John
