SD40-2 pic Yeah Joe, fantastic. Now You see why you are called MTL's new Rock Star. Z life is looking so good. Still with the bulk of the new stuff yet to be released. E&D's new ACF hopper ranks among the first. So much more, so much more. Zee is Thee best Folks.
Once these bad boys hit the street, it will be high time for Z scale!!!! I wouldn't doubt that many N scaler's will pull up their tracks and move over to Z once and for all. This popular Loco will realy bring Z into the mainstream... Tony B... Wasatch Z Club
looking at the mechanism (made like the others) and the width of the sill over the trucks, suggests to me that the SD40-2 shells are the same width as the other MTL locos. my 2 cents. actually, this makes sense, because remember joe said it would now be easier to make a GP40 by combining shell parts! that tells me they are the same width, or they wouldn't fit to be combined. i guess we'll all find out soon enough. dave f.
David, its a opinion. I also noted on the GP40, it doesnt look as wides as GP35 even thought they have the same width.
I agree with John on this one. also I think the plow on the front takes the eyes away from the cab and gives it a better look. My two cents.
Widths are the same, I think the longer body helps streamline it a bit. The cab is new even though it has the same shape as the GP35...we have holes to accept the railing and new locations for hornes on top. The truck side frames are a bit beefier and when you put those on the sit is better. I've been bashing around the extra shots and by mixing and matching gp35 and sd40-2 parts it's easy to get a GP40ish...even a tunnel motor is possible with a little cutting. I also met with Ben briefly about the cost of raw shells and components and about getting the price down some. We are meeting later today to go over the issue and hopefully we can pare it down. I think the initial price may have reflected per part cost and the time to put up the sets. All that costs money and while $50 plus seems a lot, if it takes someone an hour to put up a few at shop rates, that cost seems to be in line. I'll haggle a bit today and see what I can do. Cheers Joe
I can't remember where I saw it, but the road number on the N&W release was too high for the model you're doing.... for your model, stick with 1636-1652, or 6073-6138.
Thanks for the heads up Robbman, I'll go kick the crap out of the Car Selection guy! ) Really, thanks for the info.. Joe MTL
MTL selection process Joe D. that oversight on the N&W cab numbers brings to mind an interesting question that i have always wanted to ask. How is the monthly process of selecting locos/rollingstock done? Who is the one doing the selecting. Thanks.
Hi Harold, We have a Car Selection Committee that meets once a month to review the overal release scheme for that scheduled cycle. We have a Marketing Assistant who does the initial research for those releases, establishes the number of prints and masks and determines price and profit. The Committee then reviews the list more with the eye to be sure we don't repeat something and to establish production quantities. I just joined the group two months ago to help with the historical and prototypical aspects. Generally the research for the individual releases is done in concert with Marketing and Creative Services. I only develope the product and then trobleshoot for the most part. I do make suggestions and give Marketing a number of car schemes I think would be popular...I also work with Marketing to establish the contents of the Runner's packs. What may or may not have happened with the NW SD40-2 is that the person doing the selections is new to the company...and while doing the best job of any one of the folks to sit in that chair except maybe the current Marketing Manager...he is still working into the position. In this case, if it is wrong then I take the responsibility for not double checking the numbers. We had an issue with another paint scheme where the the railroad in question considered Sd40's, Sd45's and SD40-2...SD40-3's and unless you are a huge diesel nerd and lacking a life like myself...it's difficult to tell the differences especially if your exposure to the designs is limited. The Marketing Assistant may have found a shot that was mislabled as well...again I should have taken the initiative and done more research to make sure...and in the future will try and do so. So, that's kinda how it works...selections are made on historical data, sales, moods in the community and what's bright and shiny sometimes. Not an exact science, but an interesting process. Cheers Joe MTL
