I noticed as of late (at least since the release of the GS4) Kato hasn't Rerun any of their other loco's in Southern Pacific. One loco has been released many times with absolutely no SP, the AC4400. Has Kato started to dislike the Gray and Scarlet?
Good question. I'd love it if Kato did a SP AC44CW, hopefully they do a run of SP SD45 but then again when they retooled the SD40 they didn't do SP. But then they did the SD70M in SP when they only had 25 units but Kato didn't make the UP one which hundreds exist, I'm talking about the origonal flat radiator version.
When asked about the AC's we were told they couldn't do the SP due to the, "light package." We quickly pointed out that the AC's didn't have the SP "light package." We also advised them that the SD44R's could be done using the SD45 and no light package.
Maybe they have set their sights on current rail roads to some extent. With the SD45 being an exception, many non-passenger releases of more modern locomotives has been UP or BNSF, CSX or NS. In some cases that has been determined by the model, like the SD70ACe, but with the recent Dash-9 locomotives it was all BNSF, and no ATSF or anyone else. There were a couple of SP Dash-9's a few years back, but nothing since. And I would agree that they need to re-run SP SD45's as well as others. They just seem to be focused on UP and BNSF and all the rest is charity. Thanks for the info George but as far as light packages, that never stopped them before. So has all this clamor for uber details finally bit us in our collective backends? They are not going to produce anything that is not generic enough to be used across a few road names? And so they will not be attempted at all? Looks like another niche for Fox Valley Models.
The owner of my favorite LHS says that Kato, if they get enough negative feedback about something, will just stop doing it. If too many people have been sending really negative feedback about light packages, that may have done it.
I just bought a SP/UP SD70ACe in Daylight commemorative colors, and now are reading that they are coming out with a George Bush decorated SD70ACe in a few months. I lost the ad in my pile of mags in the ceramic library in my home. Wasn't the George Bush model SP as well? I love SP stuff as well, and sure wish I could locate a Black Widow F3 or F7 ABA, of which I would mortgage the house for. lol Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
The George Bush SD70ACe is a UP unit and it was already released last year. They are making another run of them. If they pointed out the light package as to why they didn't make the AC44CW in SP then they don't know what they are talking about. They can make both the SD40 and SD45 in SP speed lettering and number them in the 85XX, 86XX as MK rebuilt SD40M-2 of the mid 90's. They didn't have the SP nose light package as they had been discontinued by then. They did this with the older SD45's back in the late 90's but a new run is in order! If you want SP keep suggesting it to Kato.
I doubt it will do any good. We have been screaming at Kato for years to do a NCL and it rings on deaf ears. So I am sure the same will happen with SP.
I heard similar straight from the horses mouth. The HO folks are lucky they are getting figures/people from Kato anymore and the occasional rerun. All it took was some regular wining and crying and then a historical society pointing out a possible flaw/inaccuraty and allegedly telling its membership not to buy the product because the product was wrong. So, when contacting Kato it may better suit you and everyone else to take a positive and educational approach, tell'em it's the same as the BNSF one, they might get that. There are a few in the U.S. office that should probably not be handling complaint calls and such as they don't know the differance between a TGV and a AC4400. That resulting in what Wig-wag ran into, someone who doesn't know but has evidently heard enough gripe to associate SP with light packages. That gripe doesn't get any more positive when being reported to management, it then just becomes easier not to deal with you. It is modeling, so some of it is going to be do it yourself. @floridaboy: The George Bush unit is a UP thing, nothing to do with SP. Lucky for you they're doing multiple reruns, that unit has been out for quite a while now.
I hope Kato gets around to doing more SP stuff. My guess is that they'll get around to the SP SD45's on the next round. I would also like to see AC4400s, which are a huge hole in my roster. I'd buy at least a half dozen.
To be fair the ATSF variant is an earlier model which has the ditch lights mounted under the pilot as well as some other minor variances such as number of side windows and differing grill locations aft of the cab. The UP (pre SP merger) had a similar ditch light configuration but mounted the number boards on the nose rather than the top of the cab. They'd have, I'd assume, do some retooling to correctly model the older variants which probably isn't a good return on investment. This is too bad since the older runs of Dash 9s in ATSF don't look very good IMO. They goof up major details (such as air reservoirs on the side of the fuel tank) and the colors and letter look off. I'm tossing around the idea of buying a bunch of the current run undecorated (if I can find them) and make the necessary detail changes then farm out the painting. Not my first choice since it'll be expensive and time consuming.
IMHO anything accurate SP hardly touches the shelves. If it is close it seems it all sells out in no time. I have a few shops that I visit occasionally and there is rarely any SP locos of any kind with the exception of Daylight colors. Even most SP rolling stock flows frealy away before I get there. If a manufacturer wants to make a profit just do a somewhat accurate SP model and be ready for high demand.
Isn't that the truth! Just look at the FVM Hiawatha, a complete sellout. The Kato CA Zephyr also sold very well with the new more accurate tooling. There is an untapped market for manufacturers when it comes to really good models. SP, UP, ATSF and PRR I heard were the most popular roads for modelers. So it would behove the manufacturers to follow Johns logic and make a really serious run at the large modeler population with better details like the SP light packages. While other roads may suffer, the additional income off say the big four I mentioned, would also benefit the other roads because the profits will be there to take some additional risks on other roads. At the heart of this is the risk versus the reward. And maybe Kato looks at it differently because they would like to reuse the tooling as much as possible.
The problem with the whining equals no more SP stuff argument is that they are still producing ATSF and UP stuff and I've seen plenty of complaining about how bad the color is on both roads....numerous times. This hobby hosts its share of whiners so in the end that would mean Kato will just quit producing anything for the US market.
Ok, sorry. Clearly I was in a grumpy mood last night so my word choice was a bit abrupt. However, the essence of what I was saying is true. I just can't imagine that a manufacturer would quit producing sell-out items just to spite some complainers. It doesn't make good business sense. As jhn_plsn noted, not only is it true for retail sales but try to find, say an Intermountain F7AB in either scheme on the second hand market. I've seen in the past few months Life-Like SD7 Black Widows sell for around $65!!! Hardly a bargain. Hopefully we'll see SD45's and U30C's in SP soon. I would like to see them rerun the SD40's as well.
I would really like to see the SD40's too as well as a few more SD45's and other. I need several more SP locomotives for my plans for my NTrak runner collection.
Kato just announced the SD45 in Southern Pacific speed lettering two road numbers. I am going to give this only a few hours until someone complains that part of the light package is incorrect or something like that.
