Lajos, Your first statement was brief, open ended, and could have been misread as "Its obvious AZL took an existing Chinese made rail bus and slapped an RDC shell and truck frames on it" which is what I think Rob had a problem with. AZL went through all the fun engineering of making a whole new chassis and had to have all new parts made for it. Simply using a proven design that has been used successfully by well respected companies like Kato, isn't a negative in any way. Thats like saying that they used the same chassis design for their GP7 as every other N scale manufacturer has used for their engines. I'd also wait a week to have the product in hand and measure it with a caliper before I would make an accusation that the trucks are too wide. Thats really unfair to the accused to say the trucks look wide from a side profile photo. -Curn
Well, seeing the pictures, looks like the trucks are swinging out of the line of side panels. Obviously I can be wrong, and the whole thing is just an optical illusion. A better picture or a factual measurment (or both) by AZL could help to prove, I was wrong. I'll be glad to admit it.
The WP units I got look fantastic!!! Waiting on my SP unit and a box of goodies. :tb-biggrin::thumbs_up: Oh and SP modelers can always have two! #10 before... and after the log truck it hit, rebuilt with only one cab end.
So, I'm not familiar with Z releases, but are there undecs available? Or maybe a better question...any chance a Trinity Railway Express RDC-1 is in the pipeline? I don't have any Z-scale but if I could get a few of those I might jump in. I think there were some F59PHI's and Bombardier cars done by someone, too if I recall. Might make for a neat Z layout.
You mean this TRE set? AZL: F59PHI Dallas TRE passenger set [7006] - $299.00 : Ztrack Resale, Your Place For Gently Used Z Scale Trains & Accessories Rob
American Z Line makes those. I have a Metroliner w/ Bombardier cars. They also have a TRE, Caoster, West Coast Express and Sounder w/ the Bombardier cars. They also have Amtrak California and West with California cars. They look and run great. You can buy the F59PHi's separately, but the cars only come with the set.
Rob, yes that's the one. If I thought I could get a pair of RDC-1's in the TRE scheme, I would buy one of those sets in a second. (might anyway if I sell a few n-scale items I currently have up on the block) Sorry to jump off topic, you can PM me if you'd like, but a couple of questions... -Are the F59PHI's DCC ready? Easily converted? -Regarding the separate F59PHI...are they available in TRE and would it be the other road number?
If you plate over the front windows, you can make a RDC-9. Apparently a few were made for the NH for use as trailers in a train (no engineer controls).
I got my RDC today, and its looks great. It just need a little weathering to give it that hard worker look. I put it on my test track, and it ran like no other AZL. It will give my fastest MTL a good beating. It has great running characteristics. It will move as soon as you move the trottle. Very good slow speend response to go with its top end speed. I could not test its pulling power. I think it should be above normal. While it handle 195mm track with no problems, hooking it up to any truck coupler cause a derailment, but it still pull it around the track. I give this new release from AZL a thumbs up.
Yesterday I had the chance to have a close look of an AZL Budd RDC. It's a very nice model, highly detailed, the overall quality clearly proves, the sceptics about Chinese made products are wrong. The chassis was designed based on the alresdy proven cost effective mechanism of various Japanese Z-scale locomotives and railcars. Each truck tower incorporates the worm, they're driven by a flex shaft with universal joints, so there are no noticable friction changes during turns. Because of the tower construction, the small, close to perfect scale wheels are suspended via a pair of bronze(?) sides, installed inside of the injection molded nicely detailed side frames. The pros of this method are smooth rolling characteristics combined with dependable electrical pick-up, the con is the added width to the truck frames. It's almost impossible to design and produce a reasonably priced Z-scale product without compromises, so overall, the RDCs are very well thought thru, great value.
I'd like to add one comment to the superlative reviews: THANK YOU AZL! 1. For making as well-running a locomotive as AZL has produced in the past 2. For making as well-detailed a locomotive as AZL has produced in the past 3. For producing so quickly in a time of turmoil for the industry with respect to contract manufacturers 4. For producing a MORE INEXPENSIVE loco than AZL has ever produced in the past! Attaboy!
Mine came in today. Looks and runs great. But, for a DCC ready loco, it's pretty tough to figure out where to connect the various wires. It's pretty odd as my AZL Metrolink is DCC ready and it's pretty easy to figure out where the wires go. Has anybody converted their RDC yet?
Dr Ken, I am waiting for Robert Ray to figure it out first. I just have couple of observations. The leds are modules, and you need to take them out before taking the whole pc board out.
I will DCC mine as soon as they arrive! Rob, hurry and send them to Z Scale Monster so Anthony can send them to me!
The main PCB should have clips on either side - remove to expose the solder terminals for a wired DCC decoder. Should be same setup as the SD70 and GP7. Correct - this was a basic design issue we had to address early in the RDC design - sorry folks! Good news is they have direct track power feeds, so the lights will light up if on DCC track - but there is no control without some kitbashing. We will go to a common DCC PCB platform with the GP30. This concept has been exceptionally difficult to translate into Cantonese. Cheers, -Rob(A) AZL
Got mine today from Anthony. Took it out of the box and one of the trucks fell off. I think there was a universal joint in there too but my chair ate it - I was lucky to grab the truck before it vanished also. How had to get another UV joint? Is there a UV joint on each truck? Key-rap! ;(
