This review is on Athearn’s Genesis 2-8-2 Mikado by Samhongsa. It’s currently out of production, but is still widely available at shows and in auctions.[:D]
Athearn’s 2-8-2 is based off the USRA design, making it a pretty generic model that can be used for a lot of railroads. There are some minor detail variations, like the headlight and bell positions, or the type of pilot. I have the version with a boiler mounted bell, upper headlight, and freight pilot. The detail may not measure up to the USRA 2-8-2s available now from BLI and Trix, but it’s still an excellent model.
All the main body pieces are molded very cleanly, with some of the sharpest detail I’ve seen. Most of the separate detail comes factory installed, but the rest has to be put on by the owner. The parts bag with the final details includes the main boiler handrails, front and rear marker lights, bell, whistle, cab grab irons, tender ladder, and rear coupler cut lever. Athearn recommends using liquid plastic glue, but all the parts either press fit or snap on tightly enough that it really isn’t needed (I actually had to shave the mounting tab on the whistle to make it fit). Most of the upper boiler detail is molded on, but it’s done so well that you almost have to look twice at some of it to tell if it’s really separate or not.[:D]
The detail on the lower boiler, chassis, and tender are almost all separate, and most of it looks great. The large grab irons on the cab and tender are too thick and mostly warped out of shape, and could’ve been done better. Replacing them with wire parts should be pretty easy, fortunately. The separate smokestack is also too wide and doesn’t match its base, and looks like it was done at the last minute during development. Other than those two things (which can all be fixed), the detail