timberley
Member
Posts: 189
Primary Railroads: VIA Rail Canada, AMT (Montreal)
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Post by timberley on Jan 23, 2015 17:25:10 GMT -5
I figure there's probably some tweaking that could be done, but as it's not my loco, I'll leave that for the customer in question to do as he pleases.
Of course if I had bought one of the Kato units myself it would have been the Loksound version, which generally has much better motor control to begin with....but it's a moot point, as there are none of these Katos on my roster!
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aem7
Member
Posts: 32
Primary Railroads: Amtrak, B&O, Chessie
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Post by aem7 on Jan 24, 2015 9:55:05 GMT -5
I have both the older Athearn P42 (not the most recent release) and the Kato P42 and my opinion is that the Kato is a better model. For what it's worth, I see the prototypes nearly every day at work and occasionally even run them. The Kato model definitely has flaws but the older Athearn does as well. I saw one of the newer Athearn models at my LHS and I still don't like the paint which I find to be one of the biggest flaws with the Athearn version. I agree that the Soundtraxx decoder is way off but I got the Loksound version which sounds more like the prototype. The lighting features are also terribly lacking but I plan to add a lighting decoder with SMDs to change that. I am certainly not disappointed with my Kato P42s
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timberley
Member
Posts: 189
Primary Railroads: VIA Rail Canada, AMT (Montreal)
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Post by timberley on Feb 4, 2015 10:04:35 GMT -5
I have both the older Athearn P42 (not the most recent release) and the Kato P42 and my opinion is that the Kato is a better model. For what it's worth, I see the prototypes nearly every day at work and occasionally even run them. The Kato model definitely has flaws but the older Athearn does as well. I saw one of the newer Athearn models at my LHS and I still don't like the paint which I find to be one of the biggest flaws with the Athearn version. I agree that the Soundtraxx decoder is way off but I got the Loksound version which sounds more like the prototype. The lighting features are also terribly lacking but I plan to add a lighting decoder with SMDs to change that. I am certainly not disappointed with my Kato P42s If you're happy with them, that's great! They're just not for me. Of course I will admit that part of the issue is that as a VIA modeller, I don't need the Amtrak versions (well, I have one - an Athearn - as power for my condensed "Adirondack"). So the "bolt-o-nose" mods are unnecessary, so that's a blow against the Kato right away. And the paint is irrelevant (though yes, Kato has done a nicer job of the platinum mist than Athearn), because the only RTR VIA units that have been available have been through Athearn, and otherwise I'm painting my own. I've spent loads of time around the VIA units since they arrived in 2001, and I just find too many little things about the Kato that bug me....more so than the Athearn. I guess my biggest qualm with the Kato units remains the price - to pay $318 for a sound equipped unit (which ended up being more like $350 at my LHS here in Canada), I have a serious issue with just how lacking it is. Even if I were going for an Amtrak unit, the prospect of having to modify lighting, add a ton of details and deal with poor tooling issues is not worth that kind of cost....even for nicer paint (again, full disclosure: I would be comfortable repainting my own, so that may not be the same consideration for others). I don't find it to be nearly as much of an issue to make the various modifications to the Athearn units, when I'm only paying the ~$130 (again in fairness, a bit more here in Canada). Add in a few details, lighting upgrade and Loksound, and I still come out ahead by a good margin. Regardless, I think we can probably both agree that *the* definitive P42 has yet to be produced. Overland's brass version was better in a lot of ways, but still had its issues....and at brass prices of course. Would love to see either a completely retooled Genesis-level version from Athearn, or perhaps Rapido (though I doubt that would be high on their priority list). |
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aem7
Member
Posts: 32
Primary Railroads: Amtrak, B&O, Chessie
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Post by aem7 on Feb 12, 2015 18:54:27 GMT -5
I would certainly agree that a definitive P42 has not been produced, I would also agree that Athearn is the better choice for the older version without the bolt on nose. I did find that the Kato P42 pulls better than the Athearn version I have (older version). The new drive does have limitations particularly on uphill grades. For an Amtrak phase IVb version I think the Kato version is worth consideration. The retail price is way too high for the model but I found Kato DC versions for around $130 and the Kato Loksound version I have was just over $250 well below the retail price. Rapido or a Athearn Genesis version would probably be superior model but I have experienced some quality control issues with some Athearn Genesis locomotives I've purchased before such as glue spots, broken detail parts and poorly fitted parts.
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Post by backshophoss on Feb 13, 2015 2:57:29 GMT -5
The 2 ph IV's I have date back to the end of the "Blue Box" era
and US production,so cleaning up the frame and tweaking parts placement
was par for the course,including hardwiring for DCC decoders,because running at shows
and at the Fair tends to need "bullitproof" drives that easy enough to maintain.
Thankfully the bodyshells were decently done at the factory,a couple minor tweaks
still need to be done on the Head/Ditch lights for now.
The drives are now "broken in" and waitihg for their shells for now.
Having test run a Kato P42 with a Soundtraxx decoder,ran ok but the decoder volume level at max
was right for a home layout,was hard to hear under show conditions.
Had to mu with a Kato SD90/43-mac to pull my Superliner set, (11 cars)
A single unit pulling the Boston section of the Lakeshore (4 cars) did alright.
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Post by rails4dmv on Apr 10, 2015 11:11:50 GMT -5
To my surprise, Kato is releasing 2 more road numbers of their Phase V P42 model (#91 & #150). I didn't think the sales were there for additional road numbers judging by the negative comments across all the boards I've read, but I guess the sales are pretty good.
I would hope they do the other Amtrak paint schemes down the road.
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