I got mine today tooo................ I got my BNSF SD75 in the mail today!!!!! Actually, I am still waiting, but the delivery is inevitable. It will take place. I can hardly wait!!!! The excitement is killing me! :lightning: Hobo Tim
Hello all! Ztrack is back from vacation. I received two reports of couplers not attached to the SD70M upon delivery. This is not a flaw, but part of the design. The coupler was designed on purpose so it easy to remove and swapped with the body mount coupler/snow plow that is supplied. To put the coupler back on the truck, you will need to get the pin on the rear of the coupler box inserted into the hole on the truck. The long tab then locks the assembly in place after the pin is inserted. The plate on the bottom of the truck can be bowed out to make the insertion of the tab easier. The trick is to angle the coupler box upwards towards the top of the shell. The natural inclination is to angle it down towards the trucks. This will not work. I played with the system and I think it is great! This makes swapping snow plows and couplers much easier without damaging the locomotive. Too cool! Also, I have had a question posted concerning the parts package which includes a sprue of silver micro-parts. These are super detailed parts, but I must admit, I am not sure where they go. I will see if I can find out. If anyone is an expert on the SD70s, please let us know!
Robert, yes!!!! Good call. I remember hearing something about a fire cracker antenna. So whay aren't your three green yet? LOL!!! Rob
Great addition to the Z scale community. I do have a couple of questions though. Anyone else have any issues with any paint overspray on the windows of the cab? Also my front railling was bent (very very little but noticeable). Overall though it looks great. Performance wise I hooked it up to my 17 cars my MTL Chessie GP35 pulls with ease, but the SD70 didn't compare. It lost traction several times and is much much slower than my all my other locos. Also I wish the number boards lit up a bit more. I'm in no way trying to bash this great piece of artwork, but performance wise the one I got doesn't come close to the GP35's. I will be doing a repaint on my NS, converting it to CSX #700 The Spirit of Cumberland. The real life model is fairly special to me since my dad works at the Cumberland shop and I was one of the first people on the real life version. Can't wait to get this done!
Joe, Did you break in the loco? Does the slipping occur on curves or grades? Does it happen on the same spot of the layout? The reason I ask is that every SD70 tested easily pulled 20+ cars. 17 should be no problem. The GP35 with 4 axles does have more maneuverability than the 6 axle SD70 and I am wondering if that is part of your issue. As for the slow speed, this is a design feature. The Sd70s are geared down for greater traction. No speed demons here! Rob Kluz
Hi Rob, I did break the loco in over 30 mintues. I've ran it some more this evening and it is showing improvement. As with a lot of locos I own each one usually takes a little different time for break in, this one just took a bit longer. The slipping does occur on curves which makes since with your statement about 4 axles compared to 6. Thanks Joe
Joe, That is interesting. Over time, as the loco breaks in more, this condition may improve. I can't wait to see your repaint. I do know that CSX is planned, but it may be a while. Also you east coast fans, anyone notice the 'cab' drawing on the exploded diagram? Rob
Rob, One thing I noticed was that the left hand side of the engine has high steps which CSX #700 doesn't have. Just noticed this when I started painting. To anyone who is taking these apart for repaint, be very careful when taking the shell off, the trucks come out very easily and the rails are very fragile as well. It's probably best to start with removing the front and back rails completely. I used tweezers and a very thin knife blade (like exacto). The side rails I found out are attached to the "deck" surrounding the main part of the shell. Do not try to remove these from the "decking", they are connected very well and there's a good chance of damaging them. You can easily paint these when the middle of the shell is removed since they will still be attached to a solid piece. Also I did not attempt to remove the windows, they appear to be glued in and they may crack if too much force is applied. The cab is connected to the shell and I found these a little hard to remove. The cab and rear end of the shell are attached to the decking with little clips and there are also little clips above the trucks on each side of the loco. Just handle this loco with more care and you should have no major issues taking this apart, took me about 15-20 minutes. - Joe
Tim, you are a little late for April fool. Joe, you do know that the Spirit of Cumberland is a SD70MAC. If you have made your research, please keep us updated on the difference. So far, the major difference I could find is the AC cabinet in the front and on the back. I also model CSX, and I would love to see pictures of your repaint.
Well it looks like this is going to take a bit more time for me. I just started the conversion into the SD70MAC. Looks like painting this is going to be the easy part. I already cut the railing and took the dremel to this. I'm going by pics of CSX #700 and an N scale #734. I'm glad I have some brass left over from some building kits because I'm going to need it.
Joe, do you have pictures of your conversion. I would like to see how did you do your conversion before I do mine. I want to do it the easy way, let other people do all the hard work..
John, I hope to have some pics soon. I've removed the right back break wheel and I'm in the midst of placing it where it should be on the MAC. I was going to use some plastic pieces for the space this left but it looks like the brass is working much better. I'm not going to attempt to convert everything on this to make it to a MAC because I don't have the tools to do it. For example, what I call "storage boxes" under the right window of the cab are not exactly the same as on the SD70 MAC but trying to change that around is nearly impossible (at least at what's at my disposal). I've removed the air horns and am getting ready to place them in the correct position. This was a fairly simple mod. I've cut the handrails on the left side and am in the middle of adjusting those as well. I just hope this doesn't look like total crap when I'm done. Painting will be one of the easiest parts. By the way, do you or anyone else have any suggestions on how to make yellow decals stand out better? On my GP35 I had to layer about 4 on top of each other for them to show up on the blue cab which took a very long time. Any other ways I can get this to work besides layering? Yellow is one of those colors that ends up kind of transparent on the decals I make. Thanks to you or anyone else with suggestions. Joe
"...suggestions on how to make yellow decals stand out better?..." you can use white (instead of clear) decal sheet you can see the result in: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=76512&highlight=decal the only difficulty is in matching the background colour (it was easy for me with black) Chris
Hi What is the wheelbase of these units from axle centre to axle centre ? Are they longer than an SD40-2 ? Was thinking of the potential for the chassis being used for an Aussie diesel . . . Cheers Ben
What do you think of reproducing this lineup in Z? I think it can be done thanks to AZL! The SD60M in BN is just what the repainters need to be doing with the SD70's! http://64.246.11.82/images/b/BN9250.jpg.86640.jpg
Don't be confused by the similar number. The SD70ACe would require a completely different shell than an SD70M. In fact, I believe its frame is also 2 feet longer, like an SD70MAC.
Those who have dealt with AZL may know . . . would AZL sell the mechanism for the SD70 as a part without the body ? Is it a mechanism that could easily be shortened a few feet to SD40 type length - 65' or so ? Ben
