Gee TiVo... that picture of the C636 looks almost as compressed as the ConCor model of the C636 from the late 1970's. You may need to add the the model name to the milk carton too.
If that is how they are all assembled, if I were to need any I would rather take them as a set of parts and build them myself (could hardly do a worse job)
Calz, Will add model number Back to subject to prevent thread drift... InterMountain Railway Company SD40T-2 in Cotton Belt Scheme (may we all hope that UP will pull thier license?) IMHO, body = Tyco HO (perhaps a slap to Tyco, apologies) paint = Bachmann (while painter has hangover) assembly = Chimpanzees could have done better Accuracy = Don't get me started... Marketing = DECEPTIVE Quality control = INCOMPETENT Research = Was there any? (IM should ask for a refund) The Air conditioner seems to be a fine part and IM may salvage a buck or two by selling it as a seperate part. The rest of the project shell should be scrapped and the IM employees that approved these models (remeber that post descibing all IM employees "testing" and "checking" these "beauties" just before Christmas) should be terminated immediately and a open letter posted by the remaining staff to buy back or replace every single one of these steaming *urds. I am purchasing the ONE that was ordered and I would feel badly for the merchant to have this product as a result of poor workmanship by InterMountain. I will honour this commitment but must reconsider further purchases of any product from InterMountain. Certainly there is no chance of my pre-reseving anything from InterMonuntain until this debacle is resolved. I was raked over the coals by InterMountains web evangelist for pointing out issues. It appeared that it was a capital crime to point out errors like the standard nose SP8492 was listed to be run as a 'snoot'. Oh, how I wanted to be wrong... And we chuckled at those who bid on the "High Speed" SP locomotives for $10.00US! We are paying $80.00US for a shell that is not much better here. Are we fools? INTERMOUNTAIN, PLEASE ANNOUNCE THAT NO MORE INFERIOR TUNNEL MOTORS WILL BE PRODUCED, SO A COMPETENT MANUFACTURER WILL SOMEDAY DO TUNNEL MOTORS CORRECTLY.
If the quality is as poor as it seems then i guess we feel robbed as there was great expectations for the release of the tunnel motor. I was hoping to purchase a few myself but will need to reconsider. I still picture in my mind what it would have looked like if Kato or Atlas were to release this model. The photographs I have seen so far do not encourage me to purchase. Why would a manufacturer go to all this expense and then release an inferior product????
TiVo, I know how much you looked forward to these units, so you must be bitterly dissapointed. Thankfully I cannot use them on my layout
The only reason I can think of is GREED. And the fact that some face needed to be saved once the announcement was made to scare off quality manufacturers who may made a credible effort to produce a quality tunnel motor.
I sent IM the following email, with attached pics, the ones I posted here: To Whom It May Concern: As a regular customer for your great N freight car products, I eagerly stepped up for a Tunnel Motor unit, even though the road I model, BN, never owned any such units. I had watched various forums, and heard of the great lengths you folks make gone to in order to give modelers a great Tunnel Motor engine. I had also heard that every detail was going to be as correct as possible for each individual road. While I am not much of a rivet counter, (concerning the MSRP) I was expecting a superb-quality unit, rivaling that of Kato and later Atlas units. I had expected a smooth-running unit, sharp, clean paint lines, crisp lettering, and cleanly-applied paint. What a shocker I had received when I got the unit in the mail! I took many shots of the unit, detail closeups, and such with my digital camera. Many folks on the online boards in which I participate have been anxiously awaiting these units, and the images I had captured. The camera makes every flaw show up in full-scale. Since it wouldn't be fair to either of us if I didn't include the images I had captured, they are also attached to this email. The paint on the cab side, thickly applied, with areas of thick buildup, almost to the point of a run shocked me. With your reputation of fine models, this quite frankly amazed me. The paint separation lines were a bit fuzzy, but the lettering appeared crisp. It was curious to me that the 'bloody nose' of my Cotton Belt snoot was a bit fuzzy, and the lettering on top of the red was crisply applied. The handrails were well-executed, and very finely scaled, but warped. Nothing a bit of warm heat and gentle tweaking can't fix--something that can happen to any maker's products. No big deal. The horns were, of all things, cast off-center! The bell looks nice although a bit out of scale. In N that's hard to get around, while maintaining the ability to be handled. No biggie there. The photo-etched windshield wipers were a great touch, but were installed with a bit too much glue. Same went for the cab side installation of the handrails. The glue globs were touched-up with paint, but readily show in the images. The headlights (unexplainably) on both ends of the loco were a bit mangled, before installation of the clear castings for lenses. The cab side, where the cab casting will likely mate to the battery boxes has a mottled look, and possibly glued with way too much adhesive. The rediator intake grills close to the walkways were applied with a bit too much glue, once again. The way you comouflaged the lack of a see-though long hood end was ingenius, and well executed, with the exception of the glue. The radiator and DB fans were well-done,a nd the see-through grills were a great touch. The MU hoses being molded into the pilots was a nice touch, but a bit too out of scale, and flattened. The engine looks great out of the box at arm's length, but closer inspection reveals that there are some issues with quality control at your assembly plants. While I would not hesitate to continue buying your rolling stock products, I would give more consideration for another engine, especially if QC doesn't improve. At the expensive MSRP or even a deep discounted price, I could easily have purchased a DCC-equipped engine. I don't know what decoder is appropriate for equipping this engine for DCC, but it seems the mechanism is DCC-friendly. I enjoy your N products, but for me to buy another engine from you, issues above need to be addressed. A concerned and disappointed modeler, Jeremiah Siembida Perhaps I was too lenient, or too critical, but my opinion is out.
Hemi I don't think that you will be the only one sending letters or e-mails to IMRC about the quality of the TM's. I was wondering though, when you initially posted this topic, if you were already disappointed with the product .... or, if after everyone else began to point out the dificiencies, you realized that the model just wasn't up to the standards most of us were expecting. I was a little surprised that you didn't point out those problems when you posted the pictures... maybe you just didn't want to start a manufacturer bashing thread... unfortunately the pictures were quite an indictment against the quality of the TM. Thanks for posting those pictures ... it's better that we know first hand what's actually being produced BEFORE we end up committing money to a product that isn't up to expectations. BTW : Does it seem that the factory workers had a bunch of TiVo's candles, from the "candlelight vigil", that got too close to the models during assembly?
All candles accounted for. If the assembly was done by candlelight it may explain a few things. Milk carton revised. Yes I did shorten it up a bit to fit the milk carton. The fact that you recognized it leads me to belive it is not too distorted...
Actually, I was too happy to finally have one to notice the flaws. Plus, it's not usually my M.O. to start manufacturer bashing threads. Yes AFTER the pics were posted, and angry replies started rolling in, did I realize the assembly flaws. You're very welcome for the pics. I enjoy using my digicam, and I like posting the pics. Shame it was to become a very imfamous set of images!
Geeezzz! That looks like s*$#t! I haven't recieved mine yet, But if it looks as bad as yours Hemi I will send it straight back! Unless something is done about the Quality Control of these things I am probably going to cancel the other 9 I have on order!
Oh... Hemi, I wasn't implying that you were trying to start anything.. sorry if it seemed that way.... I know you wouldnt' do that . TIvo.. the ConCor model I have actually looks like the compressed view of the C636 on the milk carton... I think it is actually about 3 scale feet shorter than it was supposed to be.
I think this is all a big practical joke by hemiAdda2d and Marty M. In a week or two the "real" SD40T2s will show up at the hobby shops and we will all have a good laugh. At the end of all this Marty is going to post an anthology of this tunnelmotor debacle on SNFF with a picture of the real SD40T2 in 1/160. I also think that George and Chuck are in on it as well.
CalZ, The next sound after the Atlas announcement and a couple of whoops was the sound of two of those "C636s" hitting the wastebasket, at about mach3. The difference in forum posters etiquette: Hemi = good guy, no expectations of manufacturer flames TiVo = Lit multiple candles, twisted manufacturers knickers, started brush fires, too long a memory, created milk carton(s), gave a wedgie to manufacturers evangelist, voted most likely to have a parking lot fistfight with a manufacturers rep, OK, just send me off to detention...
Brew... I can only hope what you've said is what is going on..... cause if there is one new manufacturer that I'd like to see remain in business... it's IMRC. If it's not a joke... this will be very hard to explain away and could be a devastating blow to IMRC. They already had some problem with the FT's which they managed to correct ... but this looks more serious... if it's not a joke. Man... am I hoping it is a joke.
