Hello, I am trying to sell my Athearn bigboy at ebay, but there are two problems associate with this engine, first it was outfitted with Tsunami DCC sound because of the low volume of the stock MRC sound board that came with it, and the second problem is that it's heavily weathered. Do you think the value of engine is substantially decreased if it's weathered, should I put back the MRC DCC and sell the Tsunami N4664 separately, thanks for your advise.
You likely will receive 300-400 for the engine unless the weathering job is very good. As far as the decoder the tsunami is a superior decoder leave it in. Or start your auction at the min price you would sell it for.
I have to agree with Superturbine, leave the N4664 in there, you will get more. As for the weathering, I am not a big fan of weathering, however I am weird., most like weathering. BY the way, how did you like the N4664? I have thought of changing out the MRC's before I have a problem. The bad news is I have 3 Challengers and 3 Big Boys, I wonder if I can get a bulk discount!
I would sell it AS IS. The MRC decoder is JUNK. The Tsunami is head and shoulders above the MRC. Before you go to FEEBAY, why not try selling it here on TRAINBOARD in the TRAINSTORE. No cost to seller or buyer. Sell it for $300, buyer pays for shipping and YOU put all $300 in YOUR pocket, not give FEEBAY 9% plus PayPal's cut. There are other place to sell beside FEEBAY. YAHOO! Groups N-SCALE YARD SALE>>>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NScaleYardSale/ I use this a lot. No cost and you can buy & sell.
porkypine, As a former buyer and seller on "feebay" and sadly witnessing its decline, this old codger just learned something new, I will admit. I am not in any selling mode for awhile, but when I am I will be using Trainboard's auction just by the quality of the membership. Maybe the old code of ethics among model railroaders is truer here than "out there" in the land of weasels. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
Thanks very much for the info, I think I will either use the trainboard or yahoo user group auction site to sell the Bigboy, here are some of pics I took after the weathering, will put a layer to dullcoat to tone it down and seal the powder. Please let me know what you think, thanks.
I will certainly use the Trainboard's acution site to sell my weathered bigboy, but can anyone direct me to that site, here are some images of the loco. let me know what you think, it needs to be toned down with a layer of dullcoat.
TrainStore can be found on the main menu bar (the orange buttons on the top) Here's a direct link. http://www.trainboard.com/trainstore/ Your weathering job is beautiful! I don't know that it will add any value, but if you take pride in your work as a weather artist, absolutely charge for the job! The quality shown on this weathering job should certainly not degrade the price. If you do decide to charge for the artwork applied, definitely make sure it is permanent. Non-permanent weathering WILL degrade price.
Spencer, I think your weathering job is beautiful. The image it portrays is that 4009 had been on the deadline awaiting the scrapper for months, then was pulled back into service due to many reasons, a) major upturn in traffic with too little available road power, b) a bunch of diesel road power went belly up, or c) as happened in the mid/late 50s, massive flooding in Iowa raised water levels above the diesel traction motors and the Q had to pull a bunch of steamers off the dead line, which made front page headline photos in New York papers. I agree with Mark, definitely leave it as is, except make it permanent with a coating of some sort. Your excellent weathering may give you a smaller market, but those that want weathered locomotives and can't do it themselves, will certainly appreciate what you have done for them, and will pay you for it.
I would tone down the rust a little. And perhaps just the pics but the weathering looks a lot stronger on the engineer side of the engine. Generally the tender would have a good coat of dust and dirt collected from the run from Cheyenne to Rawlins and Greenriver. It is good work just some suggestions
I am trying to find out how to convert my big boy vintage 2009/MRC to Tsunami 4664n. Do you have any information or can you direct me to a source. Soundtraxx could not shed much light on how to install a decoder designed just for Athearn Challenger. I am still waiting to hear back from Athearn. Geoff Wagner topspn@earthlink.net
