mp55aec Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 We all have our own personal preferences, i remember when Athearn blue box was as basic as basic is,,,then came Genesis smart stuff ,,and then Ready to Run,,a friend of mine has a very early Genesis CSX SD70 and in my opinion the Ready to Run SD40-2T is better detailed and is cheaper by a margin. I see that Athearn are marketing a motor upgrade to bring your RTR SD45 to Genesis running quality and North West Shortline also do a similar package too for several of the range- http://www.nwsl.com/NWSL_Online_Catalog.html So is it worth the extra spend on repowering a RTR model? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted June 6, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2014 It is if it runs like dog dirt like many of the RTR line can. It seems to be pot luck between getting a good one or a bad one. I prefer dropping in kato motors myself, perfect size, same hexagonal cut outs in the flywheels for the Athearn shafts and building a small plastic card base is ease enough. Kato motors are about $35 from their website. I also reckon the SD45 frame can now take a genesis motor as that will be used in their next product announcement; the SD40. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parthia27 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 TBH comparisons of early Genesis with current RTR models are unfair. Both lines have moved on, my only criticism of Genesis stock and loco is that they can be too fragile as they are highly detailed. As for repowering RTR locos, Kato motors and NWSL wheels is IMHO the only way to go. I have repowered 2 SD40-2s this way and both work wonderfully. All of my recent Genesis purchases run like watches once I have stripped and cleaned the bogies, fitted NWSL wheels and more importantly got rid of the pathetic plastic cable retainers on the board and bogies, and replaced them all with well soldered connections. It's also a good idea whilst you are doing this to replace the Athearn 1.5v bulbs with Minatronics equivalents or LEDs if that is your preference. Hadn't heard that the next Genesis release will be an SD40. That would be good but I would prefer a good GP39-2 Phase 2 model :-). Cheers Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Accurascale Fran Posted June 6, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 6, 2014 Hadn't heard that the next Genesis release will be an SD40. That would be good but I would prefer a good GP39-2 Phase 2 model :-). Cheers Chris It's a hunch, especially when you consider that the RTR SD40 tooling is broken... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parthia27 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 It's a hunch, especially when you consider that the RTR SD40 tooling is broken... Hope you are right as I would love to have a Genesis standard SD40. Cheers Chris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stock_2007 Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 We can always do with another SD40 as Athearn used the Railpower tooling maybe a new model is due. However I do like the RTR SD40 I have a number that are good runners. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfsboy Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I have a Genesis GP15 undec'd.its a mass of tiny parts to be glued on ,plastic, PE, and brass .When you see it in parts its amazing how cheap it is.My RTR CF7 ran like a pig until I put in a Kato motor . I run on it rc battery powered control .I gather the Genesis motors are impossible to get at present according to some US forums . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CraigZ Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 I've had RTRs that ran great out of the box and others....not so much. What I've found is that using the traditional tune up methods can help a great deal. The clip-together design of the motor can get the end bells of the motor out of parallel or twisted relative to each other. And the first thing I do is pull out the motor, remove the motor brushes and take off about 1/4 or 1/3 of their length. Really helps smooth things out. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted June 9, 2014 Share Posted June 9, 2014 Hope you are right as I would love to have a Genesis standard SD40. I'd love an SD39, which a Genesis SD40 makes pretty likely... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcherici Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I have 3 first-generation Genesis SD75's, and adding all the details can take a pretty long time since you need to widen every single hole on the body, and then paint the grab irons. Last year I got a latest-generation BN SD75 from a friend, with Tsunamy sound. It sounds excellent ant it looks very nice, but those handrails are EXTREMELY fragile. I like the Kato (Dash 9 and SD-40) one much better, maybe not as fine but surely much more difficult to break. As for RTR, I have 3 GP60's, they're basically old BlueBox locos with decent detailing pre-applied. But, again, those handrails are even more fragile than the ones on the new Genesis. Got most of them in pieces in the steps areas, and they're hard to fix. A real pain in the neck to handle. Even though they run decently, once I finish laying track on the layout I might get into re-motoring them. On the opposite, I have an old BlueBox Amtrak P42 loco, detailed with Details West's detailing kit, which looks very good and used to run well in DC, I still have to convert it to DCC. Guido Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted June 15, 2014 Share Posted June 15, 2014 I'd love an SD39, which a Genesis SD40 makes pretty likely... I just ignored the differences & painted a Kato SD40 as Progressive Rail's SD39, #40.... like anyone is really going to notice... 'cos no-one else is going to see it...!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 I just ignored the differences & painted a Kato SD40 as Progressive Rail's SD39, #40.... like anyone is really going to notice... 'cos no-one else is going to see it...!! Life imitates art! When Respondek wanted to recreate IT's SD39 #2301 the closest thing they had on the roster was an SD40-2... http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=322209 The real #2301 (later a Guilford machine, via the N&W) http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=837591 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 The real #2301 (later a Guilford machine, via the N&W) http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=837591 Quite fancy modelling it like this, with the green in the vents http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=11667 And the Norfolk and Western lettering showing through http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2890918 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glorious NSE Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 High quality paint jobs Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talltim Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 High quality paint jobs You want high quality? http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2653509 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrian Wintle Posted June 16, 2014 Share Posted June 16, 2014 You want high quality? http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2653509 That reminds me of photos of ex-PRR locos in the early days of Conrail - the PC logos were patched over and replaced by CRs, but the whole lot was wearing off revealing the PRR Keystones that PC had painted over. It also makes me wonder whether some of those PC black locos weren't Brunswick green... Adrian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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