This is not intended to be a bash on Athearn but I need to know if the quality I have in my first locomotive is typical of Ahearn’s RTR. You might have seen my previous post on a problem I had with one of the trucks on this unit. Well the body has it’s issues too. For one, the gluing technique is terrible. The glue used left a glossy film (interior and exterior). Can you see the puddles near the seams?
The glue seeped out on the outside of the shell as well…
In the next photo notice the fan units… they are missing blades. Terrible craftsmanship…
Now my questions is; is this typical of Athearn RTR stuff?
Thanks for the correction on the fan blades. Silly me.[:I] I am getting the idea perhaps this unit wasn’t really “New In the Box” as the e-bay seller indicated. But we will see what others have to say.
I have sent numerous emails to Athearn and no response. I plan to call them tomorrow as I have the day off.
If you have the day off tomorrow, they may also have it off as well (holiday). Did the locomotive box have the factory stickers intact or were they opened? Athearn puts some round stickers with the Athearn logo on them to seal the box, having these stickers could indicate if the engine was NIB (factory sealed) or not. Some RTR locos I’ve purchased in the past had these stickers.
be very careful about ebay!!! there are some good deals out there but some of the “new in box” items are actually returns that the original purchaser found fault with. there are sellers out there who specialize in reselling distressed merchandise. these hucksters are slowly but surely ruining a good thing. while they might not cheat you outright, they will offer you every opportunity to screw yourself. make sure you have a complete understanding with the seller about returns before you commit to buying anything and don’t expect much help from paypal regardless of all the hype you get from ebay about it. i speak from years of experience as a buyer and seller on ebay who has just about given up trying.
Also recall Athearn had a big “yard sale” before their move to their new facility…These rejects and returns may be starting to show up…After all most people forget such things over time.
Brakie is correct, there must have been allot of reworked and seconds on some of theor loco’s that filtered out into the market. I bought a RTR Athearn at a train show last fall, and had some issues with glue also. It was a brand new unit, but seemed to me it had been reworked the way it looked under the cab. As far as ebay goes, there are allot of sellers stating “new”, but I would bet some of these are reworked units that have had some issues and got caught in quality control in the factory. They were then set aside until they were scoped for rework. This is common in manufacturing to rework damaged, and defective products.
I have found some of these “special” deals myself but I paid very little for them. I just recieved an AC4400CW which I paid very little for NIB (sealed) that was very loud. It turned out the motor had a broken magnet. I replaced the moter and it runs great. there have been allot of Athearn clearance deals latley but they make good projects or parts machines. No complaints here. I n your case try calling them, maybe they will help in resolving this for you.
