Bachmann HO FT-A review

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
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This review is on Bachmann’s Standard line DC FT-A diesel.[:D]

Bachmann’s FT is obviously not the most realistic one on the market, with the main problem being it’s on a standard F-unit frame instead of an FT frame. The shell is the one originally developed in the 70s for both Bachmann and AHM, which was quickly dropped from AHM’s line of diesels. It has the basic look of an FT-A, but the detail is only average, even for the 70s. Most of the larger grab irons are molded on, but they’re very fine and nearly invisible if you aren’t looking for them. Besides that, the shell is pretty lacking in detail, with only the major things molded on, like roof and side ventilation, windows, a single headlight, marker lights, and doors. Most of the steps and ladders are molded on, but the rear ladders are missing. The paint is actually pretty good, with sharp lines all around, except for a little fuzz around the pin-striping. The lettering is sharp and looks very good, but the yellow striping on the front shows through the Santa Fe logo on the front a little. The trucks are very well detailed, but they’re the basic ones used on almost all of Bachmann’s 4-axle diesels, and don’t have the large bearing caps found on the prototypes.

The FT comes with an excellent drive mechanism, with all wheel drive and electrical pickup, a heavy metal frame, quiet gearing, and an excellent 5-pole skewed armature motor, which is wrapped in foam to reduce noise. It ran very smoothly, quietly and steadily at all speeds, reaching

2

I don’t know what kind of Kadee’s you tried, I found #5’s to work rather well.

3

Really? Interesting. Maybe there’s some flash in my boxes. I tried getting a Kadee spring into one, and it wouldn’t fit.

4

FT-A units did not have ladders at the rear of the unit, they were originally delivered as A-B sets connected by a drawbar, and the ladder was/is on the B unit.

Bachmann also offers this loco, and the B with DCC factory installed, and can be purchased in the $30 range.

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Actually, they did have ladders. Here’s a picture I found of an A-B-B-A set today: http://www.northeast.railfan.net/images/sf164.jpg

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Darth: If you look closely at the pic, you’ll see that there’s a Kadee coupler and center spring installed on this Bachmann FT chassis. I wish I had a better pic. My camera really sucks!

7

I’ve got one of their F-9’s that’s built on the same chassis are drive mechanism. Runs smooth and pulls great for $20! Those coupler pockets work better with a KD Whisker than a #5.

That FT shell has a lot more detail than their F-9 does.

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I guess you were right about the FTs. Bachmann’s model must be based on the early ones. Thanks for clearing that up.[:D]

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Note the the SF units have the rear steps, the demonstrators do not. This WAS NOT an issue about production timeframe, it’s that the SF units are equipped with couplers on the rear instead of drawbars connecting them to the B units. Southern Railway also had some coupler equipped units, and later converted some (if not all) the rest of their FT units.

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Darth Santa Fe wrote:

Are you serious? The paint is “actually pretty good”? What qualifies as pretty bad, then? This unit’s paint scheme is totally bogus. The Indian Head logo doesn’t belong (according to the prototype pic posted), this model apparently has no numbers at all, the “SANTA FE” is not supposed to be at the end of the unit, and the red Warbonnet is supposed to go over two portholes, not one. And that’s not mentioning the most glaring error of all: The three yellow nose stripes. Where did they come from? I’m not even a Santa Fe fan, and I know that’s dead wrong.

In short, the paint is awful. Heck, you even said the nose stripes (!) show through the Santa Fe logo on the nose. That is not “pretty good”. Opaque decals are the bare minimum for “pretty good”, IMHO.

I know it’s a cheap model and not meant to compete with the Genesis F’s of the world, but c’mon, even the cheapest models should get the paint right. It’s not like you gotta pay a toolmaker to get the molds done a certain way.

Paul A. Cutler III

Weather Or No Go New Haven

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I know. What I meant is, they coated it nice and smoothly, with pretty clear coloring. I guess I should have worded it better…

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Paul: If you go back and read the post again, you’ll see that he was pointing many things out as NEGATIVES, not POSITIVES as you seem to think he was doing.

If you feel you can do better, then you do the review. At least I haven’t seen the paint flaking off of these models like I’ve seen it do on some higher end models. In point of fact, I’ve seen some very expensive models that had absolutely horrid factory paint. I have an Athearn Genisis Light Pacific that the paint is actually peeling on it, and this is a $150 model! On the other hand, I have some cheap junk models that paint remover has a hard time making a dent in the paint. I have a Kato, that’s right, a Kato RSC2 with Seaboard paint. The unit numbers peeled off it when I ran a finger over them! Is it any wonder I haven’t bought another Kato?

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I had one of those a long time ago…I was actually very fond of it. It was unique and certainly better than Bachmann’s modern day motor in the truck stuff. At least on cheper models. I developed a fondness for FTs because of this model.

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jeffrey,
Well, maybe that’s how you read it, but I read as an “accentuate the postitive, minimize the negative” review (sort of like what our hosts are famous for [;)]).

For example, Darth Santa Fe used positive words and phrases like: “paint is…pretty good” with “sharp lines”, “trucks are very well detailed”, “lettering is sharp and looks very good”, “excellent drive” (twice), “quiet gearing”, “excellent…motor”, “ran very smoothly, quietly and steadily”, “should be able to pull around 40 cars”, “should be pretty easy to insulate it and wire it for things like DCC”, “It’s great for repowering projects”, “one of the smoothest runners I have”, and “running qualities that come close to Kato’s”.

Neutral words and phrases used were: “basic look of an FT-A”, “detail is only average”, and “basic (trucks) used on all of Bachamann’s 4-axle diesels”.

Negative phrases were: “obviously not the most realistic”, “main problem being it’s on a standard F-unit frame instead of an FT frame”, “grab irons are molded on, but they’re very fine and nearly invisible”, “shell is pretty lacking in detail”, “rear ladders are missing”, “a little fuzz around the pin-striping”, “the yellow striping on the front shows through the Santa Fe logo on the front a little”, “don’t have the large bearing caps”, “Flywheels aren’t included”, “the boxes won’t accept Kadees”, and “may not be the best detailed model of this engine”.

Now let’s analize this. Note how many times words like “excellent”, “good”, “great”, “sharp”, “smoothest”, “easy”, etc. are used to describe this model. Also note how many times the word “very” is

16

Bachmann must have redone the drives in their standard line of locomotives. The regular Bachmann locos I remember had one of those awful ‘pancake’ motors over one truck and they traveled at race car speed.

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Aloco-Yep, these are completely different than those old ones. Heavy metal frame. Central can motor with drive shafts that go out to front and rear driven trucks. If your on a budget, these are great. My F9 runs as good (if not better than) my Athearns.[2c]

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I’m totally with Paul on this one.

The paint rendition on the Bachmann passenger Santa Fe FT is one of the worst Santa Fe locos currently on the HO market. An interesting thing is the red between the three yellow nose stripes should be black, albeit incredibly narrower. The other Bachmann FT’s are much more respectable looking. The FT you bought with a MSRP of $60.00 is outrageous. You didn’t mention how much you were taken…er I mean paid for yours, I’m hoping a lot less.

If you want a plastic Santa Fe FT, go with Stewart (Bowser). And the passenger FT’s on the Santa Fe were pretty rare, the majority wearing the various freight schemes. The Bachmann Santa Fe freight FT is much better looking, and would be a better choice.

Now this is a quality Santa Fe passenger FT (Stewart) with a MSRP of $185. It is expensive when compared to Bachmann, but you sure get what you pay for…although not really with the Bachmann unit:

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twcenterprises is correct. It is not a date issue. A Santa Fe passenger set is NOT a good one to use for comparing anything as stock EMD. These units have already been through the company shops where they could have done anything to them while converting them to passenger service.

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Paul3 and Southwest Chief, you guys are right. I should have mentioned the inaccuracy of the paint.

I only paid $20 for mine at a train show. No box, but it was brand new. The ones that cost nearly $60 have DCC installed. The DC version is less than $40.

Those Stewart FTs do look awfully nice.[:D] I don’t need one now, but I may want one someday.[:D]