I for one cant wait till the SD40-2 arrive. I have been waiting for them for the last couple of years. I will try and order at least two of each number they do. I have noticed over the last couple of years that Kato tends to do everything for a train. Look at what they have done in recent years. The SD70MAC's/AC4400CW go with the Coalporters. Now the SD70M will go with the new Intermodal equipment they are starting to bring out. They have also shifted to complete passenger trains as well. I just hope they don’t put the same type of couplers on the Maxi IV that they put on the Coalporters and as far as being plastic I would love to see metal but it's not a requirement for me as I can just weight my containers. The same way I weighted my Deluxe Twinstack. Now as far as releasing coalporters even with Deluxe and LBF already doing them this was not a big deal. I hate to say it but Athearn also released theirs about the same time. I think LBF had already saturated the market pretty good by this time. If you look on Ebay I see more and more LBF, Athearn, Kato and Deluxe Coalporters up for sale with many never selling or the seller being forced to lower his price to unheard of prices just to get rid of them. I think Kato has found a better selling method that they feel works for them. Thanks, BN6480
Yes, I agree that they're smart in bringing out trains to go with their engines. And I'm happy to see this time they picked something not announced or available.
I hesitate to point this out, but.... Deluxe sort of undercut Alan Curtis when they decided to do the Maxi-III. (Different markets, I know, kits vs. RTR, but still.) So if Deluxe had plans for the Maxi-IV....what goes around comes around I guess. Anyway, Deluxe probably had no such plans. Here is a list of other common well cars, still unavailable in N, that companies could make, giving the modeler more choice without stealing each other's sales. -Maxi-I (not until I kitbash one from a Deluxe Twinstack, though ) -53' All-purpose Huskystack, stand alone -3-unit 48' AP Huskstack, articulated or drawbar connected -The 53' trinity car, in stand-alone, drawbar connected, and articulated -Same as above made by NSC And they should all be made out of metal, with etched walkways!! Hee, hee
So get started on that Maxi I!!!! I have detailed pics of one in BNSF (they recently got a batch of brand new ones) and one of those ex-Maersk weathered light blue ones. I had delusions of doing the latter on a Twinstack that stares at me every time I sit down at my desk!
Fine then! I started it! I knew there was a reason I started posting to this board. Took me the better part of an hour to remove one bulkhead...nine more to go. How many of you knew that the DI Twinstacks have a round metal weight embedded deep in the plastic and each end of each unit?
Craig of DI warned me about the metal when I told him I'm contemplating this project. Are you using a Dremel to cut off the bulkheads? How do you manage to keep the cut straight? I have no confidence in my "free hand" abilty to cut a straight line with anything! PLEASE POST PICTURES!! We'd love to share in the progress! What paint scheme are you going to do?
For some white face sd40-2's try rosterpix.com I found a couple of them over there. Cant find that kato thing over on 4nscale.com darn. Cant wait for those dash 2's however my fleet was sadly lacking that model. Steve
Agreed - but I don't understand why Kato only did those two road names... This was (from what I've heard and seen) the most populous of all SD40-2 types.
William, Right now I'm just using a no. 11 blade, a sprue cutter, and a lot of patience. I took the other bulkhead off the same unit last night. In both cases, I cut pretty close to the actual line of the Maxi-I. I'm definitely thinking of using the Dremel to mill the surface level, but I need to buy a couple accessories first. I think on the remaining bulkheads I'll cut farther away from the eventual surface line. The evolved method is: sprue cutters and hobby knife until that piece of metal is removed, then Dremel to mill the surface clean. Tips on milling plastic are welcome! This is my first real kitbash BTW, though I've done quite a bit of modifications and detailing, and assembled some kits. Please give advice! I can't post pictures right now 'cause I don't have a camera that can take closeups of models. I was thinking of getting a new digital camera soon, though... I think I'm going to do the Maersk scheme, actually, cause I happen to have the decals already and I remember seeing them when they were new. When I've made some real progress I'll post some pictures in a new thread.
Keep us posted...I have been contemplating this project too. Only drawback is that I would like to run mine empty in a bare table train when done, and they would weigh even less then. I really love the look of the [oooooo] on the inside of these cars. Brian
Shortly after the loco derailed. </font>[/QUOTE]About '89. The seperator stripes showed up post '90-91.
I never tried that site, however, I'm a frequent visitor to BN Photo Archive I browsed there once,a nd found some neat one-off stuff like this:
