Kato HO scale Amtak P42 Locomotive

Awesome!! And new Phase IVb Superliners!
www.katousa.com/HO/Superliner/Upcoming/Coach.jpg

Anyone prefer the Kato Superliners to Walther's?

Paul Z.

Hopefully they make a P40 in the faded stripe scheme. Phase V is a tad to new for me.

Only problem is the Faded stripe was on the P40 locos and not the P42. The original 800 series locos had some extra details like the hostler window on the rear of the unit.

New undecorated pics!

www.katousa.com/HO/P42/main_expanded.jpg

and video!

youtu.be/MacUY1_YjeU

Paul Z.

Having seen the production photos, I have to say I'm very disappointed in Kato's effort. At a straight-DC non-sound MSRP of $198 and a DCC/sound MSRP of $318 or $328, the loco is in the same price bracket as the recent Athearn Genesis, Intermountain, Rapido, etc. locomotive offerings. The difference? Each of those manufacturers have put out meticulously detailed models for that price - Kato's P42 doesn't even come close.

The P42 has a few details that the Athearn RTR model doesn't have (like some underbody components, for example), and models the newer Amtrak version, but quite a number of the details are poorly executed or crude (the see-through grills at the rear are a nice thought but end up wrong, the steps are ghastly, I could go on), and looks far behind in a variety of respects (the shell detail doesn't look like a 2013 model, that's for sure).

Plus, no windshield wipers, cab mirrors, MU or air hoses, molded on handrails, molded fans - heck, even the RTR Athearn version has some of those missing features, and better tooling on many parts of the shell - and it is priced appropriately. If Athearn can do the meticulous level of detail on their Genesis locos at that MSRP, why has Kato put out a bare-bones loco at the same cost?

Of course it seems their focus was the dual motors, which are supposed to be revoluntionary. Maybe they work beautifully, but it also sets up the loco to be non-DCC ready, and will it really be that much better? There are a lot of great motors out there (Kato's old drive is a good example), and I just can't see this setup being THAT much better that it warrants sacrificing effectively all the details and doing a sub-par tooling job.

I expected quite a lot from Kato, and had really been hoping for this loco. Their past offerings were very well detailed - take the F40 for example; some minor dimensional and decoration issues, but a well detailed and smooth running loco. But then they produce an utterly lackluster looking model whose main selling point is a new revolutionary drive to replace a drive that was already considered by many to be the best in the industry.

I'd love to hear from people who actually have these models: what do you think? Is the drive really that good that it warrants the high MSRP for a cruder model?

If they do produce a VIA version, I may give it another look - although of course if they keep the newer-style unique-to-Amtrak "bolt-o-nose", then I won't bother. A newer style VIA P42 with the "third-eye" headlight? Maybe I'd bite...

I agree, I like the look of the Athearn model much more and it is cheaper. For some reason the Kato model looks like a toy to me.

On the plus side though, they are already coming out with more paint schemes.

I very recently had the chance to get a better in-person experience with the Kato HO P42. I was comissioned by a customer to repaint one of the Amtrak units into VIA Rail colours, so I've been working with the unit for the last week or so. I know any of you who are really interested in them have probably already either bought them or passed them up, but still, having now played with one in person I thought I'd share my further thoughts, in addition to those I already posted.

On top of all the obvious lacking details and blatant mistakes (weird looking steps, incorrect partially-see-through grills, some other weird dimensions I'm not sold on), I was really disappointed by the overall tooling. It lacks any sort of finess or crispness. This is beyond outright mistakes or shortcuts - it just feels like a cheap locomotive. By comparison, the original-release Athearn P42 looks like a state-of-the-art model, and that's before recent improvements. The paint is okay, and the platinum mist is well done, but I was stripping that off anyway - the shell itself is just all kinds of disappointing. The trucks also don't look nearly as clean as the Athearns, and the pilots are really poorly executed.

The disappointment doesn't end with the exterior: this customer had the factory Soundtraxx-Tsunami equipped version. I was disappointed right away with the sounds, but I already knew that the Tsunami P42 sounds were nowhere near as good as the Loksound P42 (for a start, is there seriously no HEP mode on the Tsunami? And the bell sounds way off, in addition to a lousy sounding K5LA....nope, Loksound all the way on this one). On top of that though, the sound install was poor. The two speakers just sort of float loosely in big holes in the frame, so there's no proper enclosure and the sound suffers. All that space in the shell, and they still botch it... I did find that covering over the top of the holes improved it a bit, but there's a bigger fix needed (not something I was charged with doing though, so not my problem!)

I was also really disappointed with the truck-mounted motors. Maybe its just a fine-tuning issue (I know Soundtraxx has its issues with motor control), but straight out of the box there was no slow speed control to speak of. I think this thing took off at about 10mph on speed step 1. Maybe not Kato's fault, though I would think tuning the decoder from the factory would be a good idea (by comparison, my Rapido Loksound-equipped F40PH-2D can crawl beautifully straight out of the box). Apparently this thing could haul a 300 car freight train (or so it seems from Kato's promo videos), but I think good slow speed is much more important for a passenger loco.

Finally, I was really disappointed (there's a common theme!) by the lighting setup. Yes, there are LEDs, and yes, there are lit ditch lights, numberboards and markers - but here's the catch: the headlight, numberboard and ditch lights are all off of light tubes connected to a single LED. So you either have them all on, all dimmed, or all off. No separately controlled ditch lights, no numberboard on without the lights, and no flashing ditch lights for you Amtrak guys (unless you want everything to flash together!). But then the markers are controlled by two separate function keys, one for the front set and one for the rear. IMHO, they would have done much better to use those functions for the ditch lights, have the numberboards always on (dim), and have the markers come on automatically in reverse. A better option of course would be to have them all controlled independently (like my Rapido F40, which has headlights, ditch lights and markers all independently controlled, plus numberboards and steplights).

The only positive I have to say for this is that the air intake grills are removable, which made for easier painting....or easy replacing with something better!

I haven't received my newest-run Athearn P42s yet (the custom VIA Rail run hit some final delays), but I have no doubt they'll blow the Kato out of the water....because the old-release Athearns already did!