13:03 Wow you actually have a real photo of it. Definitely looks like Athearn could do a more accurate job with that cab roof, maybe you should send them that photo reference, there's not many photos of the roof of these. Nice review overall!
Great video! I am really happy with my units b/c they don’t have some of these issues but I see what you’re saying about the cabs/boxes (thankfully mine aren’t that bad). Hopefully after these issues Athearn will completely re-tool these and include rotating bearing caps and more detailing to bring them up to ScaleTrains-like quality & detailing. In the meantime, these are still the best ACes on the HO market.
Like the review! I like the honesty you put in this review. I bought mine a couple weeks ago and am pretty happy with it. I wish athearn would’ve really stepped it up with these however. The dash 9 was an outstanding release and the value was definitely there. With these units, lowering the price would make it worth it for people. Thanks for sharing!
Can you please do a roster update and go into full detail to? Awesome locomotives to,I have one from an older release and I need a LOT more of these for my BNSF coal trains.
Eventually I plan on showcasing all my custom work. Haven’t had as much time lately to do it but hopefully soon I can get back to making more model railroad videos.
Like most people watching this video, I own a few of these but mine are from the earlier run and they work and look great. I have 3 Athearns and 2 MTH SD70ACe’s and the MTH units work and sound great on the layout but the shell details are WAY off from the prototype. My MTH units have Proto 3 sound so comparing the MTH units to the Athearn is night and day. The biggest issue is the shell is too wide, they did this to make enough room for the PC boards. Then the engine exhaust port is way too large and it goes on and on after that.
I'm curious why you are using Kadee #118 couplers? Do the prototype locomotives have the double shelf style couplers? Thank you for the Fantastic review and answers to my questions.
Nice review, That friend that provided the info is kinda wierd. Seen a ridiculous post he made about a other manufacturers other than Scaletrains not being religious enough for his liking LOL. He seems to complain about every little thing.
Hi Nice review. Did you cut off or pull out the trip pin from the Kadee couplers? If you cut it off, what did you use? I have found that if you try to remove (especially by cutting) the trip pin off a Mchenry or Accumate coupler, it ruins it, it no longer functions correctly. Perhaps the inertia/force of cutting the trip pin on a plastic coupler damages it. I've ordered 8401 and plan to put a loksound and scalesound speaker in. Thanks Wayne
13:03 Wow you actually have a real photo of it. Definitely looks like Athearn could do a more accurate job with that cab roof, maybe you should send them that photo reference, there's not many photos of the roof of these. Nice review overall!
Great video! I am really happy with my units b/c they don’t have some of these issues but I see what you’re saying about the cabs/boxes (thankfully mine aren’t that bad). Hopefully after these issues Athearn will completely re-tool these and include rotating bearing caps and more detailing to bring them up to ScaleTrains-like quality & detailing. In the meantime, these are still the best ACes on the HO market.
Like the review! I like the honesty you put in this review. I bought mine a couple weeks ago and am pretty happy with it. I wish athearn would’ve really stepped it up with these however. The dash 9 was an outstanding release and the value was definitely there. With these units, lowering the price would make it worth it for people. Thanks for sharing!
The ACu's were pretty amazing too !
I was able to add the missing conduits by using Athearns PTC antenna array parts.
Nice looking locomotives!
Can you please do a roster update and go into full detail to? Awesome locomotives to,I have one from an older release and I need a LOT more of these for my BNSF coal trains.
Eventually I plan on showcasing all my custom work. Haven’t had as much time lately to do it but hopefully soon I can get back to making more model railroad videos.
Like most people watching this video, I own a few of these but mine are from the earlier run and they work and look great. I have 3 Athearns and 2 MTH SD70ACe’s and the MTH units work and sound great on the layout but the shell details are WAY off from the prototype. My MTH units have Proto 3 sound so comparing the MTH units to the Athearn is night and day. The biggest issue is the shell is too wide, they did this to make enough room for the PC boards. Then the engine exhaust port is way too large and it goes on and on after that.
I have that same heritage unit only problem is the lights bleed threw
Great review.
You are so professional subscribed look forward to your next one!is there anymore to watch on your page?
Its ok got them!
Maybe ScaleTrains will do a HO scale SD70ace, then they will finally be correct..... also, have seen BNSF unit with ground lights.
Yea that would be nice. They use truck lights on the yard/local power but the road units don’t have them.
My little lights bleed threw the roof on mine
How do I fix that we're the lights don't bleed threw like that
Paint the tops of the visible light pipes black in the cab and it should fix the problem
When i bought mine, it did not have the ground lights, or numberboards turn on. I have no clue why.
I'm curious why you are using Kadee #118 couplers? Do the prototype locomotives have the double shelf style couplers? Thank you for the Fantastic review and answers to my questions.
They are a pretty close protoype to the couplers used on most aces and modern heavy haul locomotives
@@WhiteRiverRails Thanks for the reply.
Nice review, That friend that provided the info is kinda wierd. Seen a ridiculous post he made about a other manufacturers other than Scaletrains not being religious enough for his liking LOL. He seems to complain about every little thing.
Hi Nice review. Did you cut off or pull out the trip pin from the Kadee couplers? If you cut it off, what did you use? I have found that if you try to remove (especially by cutting) the trip pin off a Mchenry or Accumate coupler, it ruins it, it no longer functions correctly. Perhaps the inertia/force of cutting the trip pin on a plastic coupler damages it. I've ordered 8401 and plan to put a loksound and scalesound speaker in. Thanks Wayne
I use some high leverage cutters that seem to cut it off pretty well without damaging the coupler itself.
How did you remove the trip pins on the coupler without cutting the shelf part off?
Why don’t the UP units have a MU jumper cable ?
Also a layout update too?
I see ATHG still isn’t installing grab handles on the plows.
bnsfguy617 here