Will there be any undecorated for those who want special road names that aren't likely to be released?
As per Hans at AZL Forum: LINK No undecorated SD45s. We have a lot of road names coming though. Hopefully we will start deliver the SD45s first week of January... Sincerely, Hans (AZL)
That's kind of a bummer as I know there are those who want road names that will not be done.........for instance, some Mexican roads. I just sent some SD70 repainted to Mexico this week. Guess the painters will have to first do the strip tease on the painted ones. What is the best way to remove AZL paint from the recent releases?
Loren, If you consider the last few locomotive releases from AZL I have to ponder: how does one define an undecorated locomotive? With the variations in fans, hoods, air tanks, winter hatches, etc. there are no longer a single physical GP7 or F3 or SD45 but conceivably dozens. If there is interest and a market, it seems what you really want is a locomotive kit: a body with a bare shell and a box full of the add on parts. Bachmann produced a locomotive like this 20-30 years ago. Don't know how successful it was, but it was about 25% more costly than the RTR versions. I'm uncertain how successful a produce like this would be in Z. It seems when a new locomotive body style is produced, the first road is quickly sold out and Z scalers are repainting them anyway. Mark
I would recommend using the PRR version as an undec. It will be the easiest one to work with for repainting. Rob
Well, I know one fellow who will be very happy with release of Mexican roads. Mark, I just meant that an unpainted version is the easiest to custom paint, no stripping necessary. And I agree with Rob, if you have to strip one, PRR is the name of choice. In the mean time, I'm setting money aside for when UP makes its appearance.