Jim, there is no reason to flame you! It would not cost more if they do it right at the first attempt but I think the tooling is made and now we live with this little issue. Be sure that I get a bunch of these in my favorit paint scheme and I'll enjoy another great addition to our Z-Scale Fleet.
Well, the BLMA "fans" are just etched grills to go on the molded plastic fan housing... so the "real rivet counters" still have an issue with spacing. Proportions are a much easier thing to notice than a missing rivet, hopefully AZL can have the tooling corrected.
Very nice looking locomotive even if the fans are not perfect. They will look great in GN orange and green and BN Cascade green! John
Hi Guys, Just a quick update - we are looking into the fans again - thanks to everyone who spotted this issue. This is exactly why we post pictures of parts during project development: to get feedback from the community and hopefully improve our products. While the fans *are* the correct size - we agree that they may be a bit off on placement. The good news is that we are still early in the process and changes can be made. Best, -Rob
Just be careful with these types of statements. They turn into.. -If you are a rivet counter, you replace everything with BLMA parts -If you are not a rivet counter, you get a box with a motor inside There has to be some checks and balances, and from what Robert Allbritton just said, it sounds like this thread should be used as a serious critique. I personally wouldn't care if the fans are spaced slightly off. I watch the whole train, not just the fans. But I would certainly feel a lot more comforted knowing the money I spent bought a model with correct fans (and everything else).
Thanks Rob. As to correctness of shells, I hope this discussion at least has been a road worth going down. Distortion of images is something worth taking into account though . . . I'm just pulling apart and regluing an Aussie baggage van that I made 6" too narrow . . . the digital scan of the plans I was working off were a bit warped . . . now the roof and ends need redoing . . . (sigh) . . . so I feel for you. Ben
And then there are road specific and reworked locos. Doubt anyone will ever get the "exact" model. Even some of the unfortunate road numbers are not always from a 'production' run so that one may be 'wrong' but any road number around it is correct. Doubt we'll ever be right.
Not to mention phases. This was brought home to me when someone did an MR article on the building of five GP39-2s; every one of them had radical differences in door placement, types of fans, grilles . . . you name it. In reality, fans out of place can be fixed. If there's a choice, I'll go with details that need fixing instead of problems in scale fidelity and wrong proportions which are far more frustrating. Where we came from : Lima EMD GP30 Let's not go back. Ben
Rob, Looks pretty darned close to a GP30 and since I will be looking at it from a few hundred scale feet away, that's good enough for me. Make it so in Rio Grande Orange and Black and you will get my money. Todd
If Pennsy ran them and you build some in the Pennsy colours then i will buy some, i have all three numbers of the GP-7 and am glad someone is bringing out some new loco's. The more the merrier.
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/prr/prr2211.jpg There you go. You can't see the SD30s pushing in the rear though. Damn, they were elusive ! Ben
:bear-wacko: Huh?! I remember seeing a drawing of an "SD30" once, but didn't know they really existed!! Would've been a sweet engine, though!:teeth:
it must be a misprint, the picture shown (of the pennsy pushers) is a GP30 (blomberg trucks) with two Alcos in front of it. i still have yet to see a picture of an actual SD30. i'm not saying there weren't any, just that i have never seen a picture produced for one. dave f.
According to Kalmbach's "Diesel Spotting Guide" printed in 1967 when the GP30 was fairly new, there is no SD30. I think what fuels the rumor is the SD28 which people think is a six axle but lower horsepower version of the GP30 but is in fact related to the SD35. --Steve from the other Phoenix
all, I like the the pictures of the shown GP30. Looks great. The base color is already ok, just DRGW orange has to be added. I have to start on my second DRGW caboose, I guess.... Regards, Frank
I think it's the story I heard: that Kennecott Copper ordered an SD30, but EMD wouldn't build the model for only a one-unit order.
Hi Gang, Just wanted to show a quick video of the GP30 running. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOUDtp1PStw"]YouTube - AZL GP30 & Modern Tank Cars[/ame] Based on what I discovered while running this prototype, there have been several key changes made to the drive train. Because of that, we are still a way off from production, but I still think we will have delivery of the GP30 before the holiday season. Cheers! -Rob(A)
