Donny4472 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Finally a week or so ago the official announcement of the release ultimate US Locomotive in HO. http://www.athearn.c...2010_POSTER.pdf I know MTH have had the market on these sewn up for a while now, but that could change come Septemberish. These look awesome. The SD70ACe saving fund is under way. Gotta get a couple of these with Sountraxx Tsunami. Donny Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Davies Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Finally a week or so ago the official announcement of the release ultimate US Locomotive in HO. http://www.athearn.c...2010_POSTER.pdf I know MTH have had the market on these sewn up for a while now, but that could change come Septemberish. These look awesome. The SD70ACe saving fund is under way. Gotta get a couple of these with Sountraxx Tsunami. Donny ACK! No MRL on this run.... M-a-y-b-e I can excuse a BNSF one..... -Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Must....resist...screaming...eagle.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beagle1 Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Got 2 silentBNSFs on order. I don't do noise Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted January 28, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 28, 2010 Must....resist...screaming...eagle.... I tried that line myself, but I already know its not going to work. Tsunami in it too, mmmm!!! Interestingly MTH are doing one DCC ready which they announced days after Athearn released these details. Interesting 'head to head' ahead! Hopefully the D&RGW and 'Miss Katy' will be along next year! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 I tried that line myself, but I already know its not going to work. Tsunami in it too, mmmm!!! Interestingly MTH are doing one DCC ready which they announced days after Athearn released these details. Interesting 'head to head' ahead! Hopefully the D&RGW and 'Miss Katy' will be along next year! MTH is already out, personally I am waiting for the athearn, with the soundtraxx, it ca not get much better Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Interestingly MTH are doing one DCC ready which they announced days after Athearn released these details MTH is already out If i'm reading that right the key part of the line is "DCC ready" - as in with just an 8 pin socket for DCC. Their attitude when they originally hit the market was "buy our the bells & whistles semi-DCC-compatible version or go away" - so reality & market forces affecting their marketing strategy I think! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted January 29, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 29, 2010 Correct Glorious NSE. The initial MTH releases were with their own 'DCS' system instead of DCC and with sound only. Wihile it could be operated on DCC systems, some functionality such as advanced consosting was not available. I dont think this was met with much favour in the States. Now there is one coming out DCC ready to take on Athearn's new release. I was tempted by the MTH release but I'm glad I've played the waiting game! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted January 29, 2010 Share Posted January 29, 2010 Aren't these the former Tower 55 models? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 IIRC Tower 55 had these catalogued but never delivered them - T55 had Gevo's (ES44DC/ES44AC) for sale though, something else for Athearn's "to do" list! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Piszczek Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 Hopefully the D&RGW and 'Miss Katy' will be along next year! Yea, these are the two that rock. I'm especially partial to Miss Katy! B) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcoRS1 Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 IIRC Tower 55 had these catalogued but never delivered them - T55 had Gevo's (ES44DC/ES44AC) for sale though, something else for Athearn's "to do" list! intermountain is doing the ES44AC/DC this might delay athearn. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stock_2007 Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 I've been looking at a MTH SD70 in Katy livery on e-bay but I'm not sure about the sound unit from what has been said on this site and others it has it's problems is that right Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted January 30, 2010 Share Posted January 30, 2010 I've been looking at a MTH SD70 in Katy livery on e-bay but I'm not sure about the sound unit from what has been said on this site and others it has it's problems is that right For a pick-apart review of a Norfolk Southern MTH SD70M-2, see http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=58145 The MTH DCS decoder is proprietary and pretty crippled with DCC - http://www.ulrichmodels.biz/servlet/Page?template=dcc-sound has a link to a pdf file describing it. There's also been a couple of reports of gearing issues with the MTH engines : http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=58348 The models are too modern for me. I'd like to have the demonstrator unit (I sort of collect demos) but I'm not certain I want to support MTH and their way of doing business. I dunno... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny4472 Posted January 31, 2010 Author Share Posted January 31, 2010 intermountain is doing the ES44AC/DC this might delay athearn. The Intermountain models are availably with Soundtraxx Tsunami sound too.. Supposedly they will be available March / April. Think i need to get some overtime booked in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Gary H Posted February 2, 2010 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 2, 2010 I've been looking at a MTH SD70 in Katy livery on e-bay but I'm not sure about the sound unit from what has been said on this site and others it has it's problems is that right If you dont mind the toy like radio chatter "looks like its gona be a grrrreat sunny day on the railroad" and other such nonsense and motor control CV's that you cant control, leading to a model that jumps straight to 10mph from a start, then the MTH is the loco to have. Personaly, I wouldnt touch them with a barge pole and Im even more glad now that I played the waiting game. Its also interesting to note that alot of American owners of the MTH effort have been ripping out the boards from these models and fitting them with Tsunami's , I wonder why Ive heard that Soundtraxx has made the sounds especialy for this model. If its anything like their previous offerings, should be the best there is. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted February 2, 2010 Share Posted February 2, 2010 Heard a couple of their steamers and the "all aboard we're ready to go" type messages grated - I get enough "hurry ups" from the rest of the group without the trains telling me to get on with it as well... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
squeaky Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 Has anyone got hold of an Athearn SD70Ace with sound yet? Are they any good, better than the MTH? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted December 5, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 5, 2010 Has anyone got hold of an Athearn SD70Ace with sound yet? Are they any good, better than the MTH? 1- due to arrive in the UK around the 17th according to LSWR 2- yes they will be good detail wise seeing the pics of the model. Athearn mechs and soundtraxx electronics are both pretty reliable in my experience so they should beat the Mth there. I think the comments on US forums about replacing mth boards with soundtraxx are telling as mth still hasn't caught on that many want realisim over gimmicks in sound. Limiting control over the cv's was also crippling as many of us opted to wait confident in Athearn s ability to still go ahead and produce a quality product. Athearn realised their original Mrc decoders were poor and upgraded to soundtraxx and are now reaping the reward for that move. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted December 5, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 5, 2010 My screaming eagle one is currently winging its way from the States, if it shows up tomorrow I'll try to post a quick pic before I go away for a few days. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donny4472 Posted December 6, 2010 Author Share Posted December 6, 2010 Has anyone got hold of an Athearn SD70Ace with sound yet? Are they any good, better than the MTH? I've had mine for a couple of weeks now. BNSF livery. I've not had a lot of time to play about with it, but the sound is superb. Detail wise it's as good as anything in the Genesis range. I've got and MTH DCC Ready Miss Katy, so can't compare sound, but i'd say the Genesis model just edges the MTH one for quality of finish etc. The running quality of both models is fantastic though. Once i get home from work i'll spend more time with the model Cheers Ian D Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted December 6, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 6, 2010 Mine hasnt arrived yet, but here is a quick review by one of the best US HO modellers on youtube Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted December 7, 2010 RMweb Gold Share Posted December 7, 2010 Mine has now arrived, sounds fantastic, looks fantastic and the detail is second to none. Pricey, but well worth it. Only had a chance to do a very quick test run so far, seems fine. Sorry for the very quick pic! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave1905 Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 If only the UP hadn't painted the front half barfy Rock Island bankruptcy blue. Sigh. The Katy and WP ones are really cool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Davies Posted December 7, 2010 Share Posted December 7, 2010 If only the UP hadn't painted the front half barfy Rock Island bankruptcy blue. Sigh. The Katy and WP ones are really cool. Dave, say what you mean, why don't ya? :D I must admit from an aesthetic point, I really do like the Katy livery Really nice looking model - must resist! -Rob Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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