Russ, Maybe someone should email IM this pic and show them how a real tunnel motor should be presented. Ok Russ you better get busy I can see an order from a few thousand frustrated modellers . I'll take two in Rio Grande thanks lol
Geez I ordered 6 of them,im panicking now.Can anyone tell me if they run with Atlas SD50's.DRGW SD's of course.
Considering that the next locomotive washer SP built would have been their first one, a heavy dose of weathering should cover up the imperfections. I don't think I've ever seen a clean SP diesel- they all looked dirty or have/had ragged paint jobs. Even the SPSF paint job peeled off after a while (bad/no surface prep by the SP paint crews) OK, OK, I'm pullin' yer leg somewhat, but as an HO scaler, I'd say you N guys need decent-looking tunnel motors too (that are NOT in brass). Looks like IM has some 'splainin to do next week- wonder if they got a look at the models before they released them.....
Jason as to your question of will they run with Atlas SD50s, I haven't tested it yet, but looking at the Parts diagram, it appears they are the same, as are the trucks and gears. I guess it depends on if these are the new motors or old and if you SD50s have the new or old motors. I will have to try and test these later to see, been busy with the holidays and a birthday
Well I got out my SD50s and the Cotton Belt Tunnel Motor. These results are just quick ones and you can take them for what they are worth. First test was with a SD50 with the fast original motor (Seaboard), well the SD50 would run rings around the TM. Second Test was with a SD50 with the slow motor (SP), closer but the TM was faster. All I can say is I might have to get some motors from Atlas and try to match a few sets up. Hope this helps
OK - I've been watching all of this unfold over the last couple of days, and been anticipating the arrival of my tunnel motor, which came yesterday. Here's my opinion: "total disaster"? NO! A little rough in spots? Perhaps. . . . I was gonna wait until the Atlas forum opened back up, mainly because I was too lazy to register to this one, but here I am. . . . My unit does not have near the glue problems that the picture posted by Hemi shows. The paint appears good - nice crisp lines, and it runs WELL - right now it's leading a long pig train w/ a Kato SD40, Atlas B40-8, and Kato SD45 and the speeds are matched (I dont have DCC). Not to say that it is perfect - the rear headlight assembly is glued on crooked, and the small horn was bent when I took it out of the box, and when I tried to straighten it it broke off and disappeared to the land of long lost small train parts. I'll get a detail part and replace the rear headlight assembly, likewise w/ the horn. About those rivets - I agree, they have to go. And they are gone on one side of my unit already, carefully with a sharp blade, then some Floquil SP gray touch up. It looks much better. If someone can tell me how to post pics on this forum, I'll post some - it's not intuitively obvious to me. . . Anyway, maybe I got a unit on the other end of the bell curve, maybe Hemi's is exceptionally bad, but I'm overall happy that I've FINALLY GOT A TUNNEL MOTOR!!! I think the fans/grill work look great, the lettering looks great, the overall proportions look right on, and it runs great! I think after I work on mine (lobotimize the Mars light, run fiber optics to nose light, plate the cab light, weather, fix the rear light and horn (I'm planning on moving the horn anyway to the long hood) I'll have a big winner. Oh yea, did I mention weather it? So, the opinion of this big time SP fan is YES! WE'VE FINALLY GOT TUNNEL MOTORS!!! We've been waiting for these things for years, and IM has done a MUCH BETTER job than comparisons to Bachmann would have one believe, based on my unit anyway. Assuming IM fixes the production issues, and I'm confident that they will, I'm looking forward to adding more, better tunnel motors to the fleet in the future. It seems like this post has gotten pretty out of control with all the negative press, and I just wanted to get my opinion heard. Dave N [ 04. January 2004, 01:28: Message edited by: dave n ]
thats a fair comment Dave, glad you are happy with your model although there are quite a few modellers (me included) who are not into modifying models. So for me I expect a good model straight out of the box. I guess we have higher expectations now with the quality of Atlas and Kato that these are now the benchwork models we base our judgement on. To post pics you must have the pic loaded on a web somewhere. If yo do not have webspace you can open an album at Rail Images the service is totally free. To post a picture here you need to click on full forum post then click on the image button and paste the link. [ 03. January 2004, 23:25: Message edited by: Colonel ]
Hi Dave, I am pleased you took the time to register Welcome aboard! Good to see just a little bit of positive comment about the TM's. Hopefully future batches will be better.
Colonel - thanks, I didn't do the 'full forum reply' last time. I've already got a Railimages account. Before the flaming starts, I haven't put the sunshades on yet - gonna wait until I do the weathering. Hopefully you can see the glue on mine isn't near as bad as Hemi's. This is the side that I filed down the rivets on & touched up - once the weathering goes on, I think it should look fine. Here goes. . . Dave
Welcome Dave! At least we know that not ALL of the TM's are royally messed-up! I took a trip to the old DRGW Moffat line west of Denver, and was immediately hooked to real mountain railroading. I saw a coalie comign from the Moffat Tunnel eastbound--with not less than 8 units thoughout the train! 4 on the pint, 2 midtrain, and 2 pushing, well, braking... I was trying to imagine the black and orange DRGW Tunnel Motors replacing the UP and SP Geez...
No, it's 2 trains. You can barely see the head end of the Santa Fe intermodal at the top of the loop. The SP dispatcher put him in the hole to let the SP train run through! Dave
Dave, thanks for posting those pics... I too was watching all this unfold, but in examining the only pics available I was trying real hard to look through the layers (the stuff that can be corrected if the assembly process is re-examined) and I'm actually impressed with the detail... In all three sets of pics I've seen, I'm perceiving dimples in the lift rings, as if they actually have holes in the lift rings! IM is a pretty stand-up company so I have no doubts they'll make it right. And like I said, I think the tooling is just fine (sans cab rivets) so the project isn't a "total disaster." I don't fully understand the necessity of all the glue since the shell seems to have all the clips and tabs that Atlas and Kato shells do, but then again I don't own one of these units - so what do I know? Now, I just need to get my hands on some of L windowed cabs when they become available as parts... Regards, -Mike
After seeing Dave's model i'm now in two minds, i will definately wait until the rio grande are released before i make my final judgment Actually looking at this pic taken by Dave, the model looks pretty good. For those who'd like to see Dave's excellent layout you can see more pics at his rail images album Dave's album [ 04. January 2004, 01:50: Message edited by: Colonel ]
Dave, First, thanks for the pix of the TMs, plus, that's a great looking layout... thanks for sharing with us. I totally agree with the fact that IMRC has a good track record for customer service on the FT releases, in fact, I've supported their FT loco's by purchasing several sets, because Marty was so pro-active at making sure that product was as good as it could be despite some flaws it had initially. That being said, this is not their first locomotive anymore... they've had time to work-out glitches they learned from in the FT project. Granted, this is a different loco with different potential problems which they may not have been able to forecast. However, they didn't HAVE to ship them out as they were if they really were testing them out before shipment as Marty had mentioned. I can't believe that IMRC would send out engines with such obvious flaws that would certainly start some critical reviews regarding their quality. As I'm writing this, I've seen some other reviews which state that there are some TM which don't have as many flaws as HemiAdda2d's or Geep35's units which were shown on some Boards. Perhaps as time goes on, and the assembler's become more proficient at assembliing these models... the flaws will diminish. But, If we don't complain about the quality, and express our displeasure with the results, how can we be sure that IMRC will monitor their assemblers to make sure the quality improves? I also agree that they are NOT a "total disaster", but... with the expections we had... it would appear that some people, which really were looking forward to these models, expected a "museum quality" piece and are now very disappointed. I haven't cancelled my order yet... I'm waiting for several SP (roman) and D&RGW units... I really hope that I begin to see improvements soon.
Hey Wolf, Thanks for a heap for that 'lil experiment,prolly means I gotta buy a doz. new motors from Atlas to replace the SD50 ones,any one wana buy some cheap old version Atlas mtrs?jkn. Dave,your layout really is a nice piece of work...thanks for sharing it with us.
ok, ok, Dave's TM is not as worst as the other ones we've seen on this and other forums - but for me they are not worth U$ 119.95 - never ! I've cancelled ALL my preorders and reservations (UP - for custompainting, D&RGW because I like them, all ATSF, BNSF and MTL SD45-2's and also two CR SD45-2 I've ordered for custompainting...) you can see I've saved a lot of money...
