Hmm, Thats what one of the FEF's sold for on ebay. The castings sold for $ 100 and obviously many people didnt want to take the time to build one either. Ephesians 4:31¤ Here is a you tub video of an FEF casting up close [video=youtube_share;GqMxF-Tihe0]http://youtu.be/GqMxF-Tihe0[/video]
Jason, I think that is a fantastic looking model. Are the castings still available? Anything else need to be changed on the GS-4 chassis/running gear? Looks great! ! ! IMHO, you know what will freeze over, before KATO makes a UP FEF. There has been too much bashing of their efforts on other projects. Carl
Several years ago, when Athearn first got into N scale and developed the Challenger and the Big Boy engines... I was almost certain they would continue to offer high end motive power that would ultimately include a UP FEF. The 'hints... rumors' of Kato doing the FEF over the past few years has gained traction because Athearn not longer appears to be the most likely candidate to make the FEF anymore. Some probably are very hopeful that Kato will do the FEF because they have generally done a great job with other complete passenger consists and... and the FEF was a frequently a passenger locomotive in the UP stable. I for one would like to see Kato do the FEF with a greyhound passenger consist.
My guess is that a lot of people would not have the expertise to build one from that casting, unless all the modelers here are skilled enuf to build their own...I gather from you comment " obviously many people didnt want to take the time to build one either" that implies that RTR is for lazy people and that everyone should be able to build their own model ..
You are welcome to your opinion, I never said that those who buy RTR are lazy, we would all be lazy then. I just thought i would show my kitbashed engines. In doing so, that usually forces a mfg to make that specific engine as history shows (you should thank me:- ) ) I have no desire to fight with a n scale UP railroader, who is a brother in Christ. Good day Sir, Jason Smith
Man, I don't know how many times that has happened to me. But I can always say I was the first kid on the block to have whatever model I made.:teeth:
One of the great hazards of trying to do ANYTHING that smacks of a salable item in specialty N scale is suddenly getting stomped on by an actual mass-manufacturer. They don't mean to squish you, they just have really big feet. Jason's made quite the adaptation collection on the Kato GS4 base and I applaud him for it. But I applaud him even more for doing so in the face that the rumors have persisted that one is coming out. I'll be the first to admit that I run at the first sign of trouble. I was busily producing a 44-tonner project to go on the Kato 11-105 when I got a good rumor that Bachmann was going to introduce theirs. All I had done was the truck sideframes so at that point I went to the 70-tonner and got two years out before that also got mass-produced, and I escaped with very little leftover inventory. I think it was Grant-SAR that did that wonderful resin F45/FP45 for a couple years before Athearn did theirs, yeah, that was nice work there as well. We had a forumite also work diligently on the Alco S-class via Shapeways, and what do you know... When you're lower on the food chain, you can still get eaten. I got in too deep to the CF7 project not to have finished it, although it wouldn't particularly shock me if one shows up. I did receive confirmations from at least two manufacturers they had no intent of ever producing one, too oddball, too many variations, too many paint schemes, etc. It looks like I'll survive that as well. And I'll be doing built-ups of those, for a price. Bottom line is that it's a lot smaller market than you think and there's room for the boutique builders in the era of casting and RP. N works well for it. I was warmly received by Kato on my Climax kits using their chassis, as well as Atlas with the GP7 conversion to a CF7, and if you found something useful to do with some of the stuff they all have stuck in inventory, you can become their very best friends.... I do kits and builtups as well. I love all my customers, and the guys that buy custom-builds from me sure aren't lazy, they just have other applications for their time that give them disposable income, which I'm happy to trade!
Russel understands all too well what I am saying. Randy, thanks for the kindy words. It is your great efforts tha come to mind when I consider my efforts being overtaken by a Mfg. But the one thing that scratch builders/ kitbashers are all aware of is the satisfaction one get for building the slightly flawed model and knowing it was the first of its kind.
Not to take away anything from those that scratch build and or kit bash as I have done some of that in my own right but not in model rail roads. I offer any appoligy to anyone offended as I certanily did not intend to do offend anyone. My only original thought was for a mfgr to make a RTR of UP 844 .
True words. Back when JNJ Trains were still in business and manufacturing some shells and kits they had also come up with a 44 tonner. I infact had one of the mechanisns for it that I had acquired from them when they dropped the project. I figure that now since I managed to come up with a way to convert the MP loco to a 4-4-2 and others have done the same with the MiniTrix chassis, Fox Valley or somebody is going to come out with a decent standard 4-4-2. My money is on Fox Valley since they already have the mechanism. Hopefully the NP Class A conversion becomes a real thing versus a proposal if enough folks have signed up for one. I still keep chasing the SP&S 700s and one of these days hopefully I will finally come up with a decent conversion that makes me happy, probably about the time that Kato comes out with an excellent NP A-3/SP&S E-1 locomotive.
John, Not to hi-jack the thread but have you seen my SP&S 700? I used an Oriental Brass A-3 I picked up about 15 years ago, so yea they're not readily available but when you find one I would jump on it. The conversion was quite easy, just had to build a oil bunker for the tender. To improve performance I put a coreless motor w/flywheel in it and then made a new tender bottom out of styrene and mounted Spectrum 6-wheel trucks under it to give me 12-wheel pick up. With a TCS Z-2 for the motor and lighting and a TSU-750 for sound, its my favorite engine in my roster and runs the best too!
Norway, that looks fabulous! Does the double decoder install support the " dynamic " output function? Do you put a load on the Tsunami, other than the speaker? Any overheating issues? Jason, great work, and a LOT of it! Can't wait for the new ATSF 3800's, boilers and frames! Because we KNOW those will never be produced by any manufacturer, right? Keep on steamin', Otto K.
Otto, Thanks for the kind words. The way this story goes unfortunately is that I originally put just the TSU-750 in it with the original tender pickup. It ran so poorly that I then put the separate decoders in and just addressed them the same. The only load on the TSU-750 is the speakers. Haven't seemed to have any problems with it. After that I still wasn't thrilled with performance through yards over a bunch of switches, so I built the plastic frame for the tender and swapped the trucks. Now it runs like a swiss watch. The chuff rate doesn't adjust for any additional load on the engine or anything but its good enough for me. I have been tinkering with this engine for almost four years off and on, finally getting it all smoothed out about six months ago. At this point I am thrilled that I can now just put it on the track and watch it go! Phillip
The A3 and A4 are pretty different in appearance. The A3 doesn't have the solid pilot or the all weather enclosed cab. Phillip
