This review is on Bachmann’s HO scale Spectrum K4 4-6-2 Pacific.[:D]
The model reviewed is the original version. I can’t find much reference on when it was made, but I believe it was introduced in the early 90’s as the first steam engine in the Spectrum line. At the time, the only choices for an HO scale K4 were either expensive brass or a Bowser kit. Both choices have advantages over the Bachmann offering, with the brass having top of the line detail, and the Bowser being a heavy hauler able to last a lifetime. The Bachmann model was less expensive than either option and came ready to go from the box, and in its day, was still pretty decent.
The K4 comes packed tightly in a box large enough for an entire train set, with a brief history of the prototypes under the front flap. Unfortunately, the holder for the engine was poorly designed and crushed the bell just from being packed at the factory. I had to glue the bell in place and unbend a few other details. Aside from the wire railings, most of the detail is plastic. The piping is all molded onto the plastic shell, and while some looks decent, some has an obvious molded appearance. The bell, whistle, marker lights, headlight, generator, and a few other large details are separate parts, and they look pretty decent. The headlight lense looks like a plastic lump from a toy up close, but it’s not so noticable from a few feet away. The handrails, grab irons, and coupler lift bars are blackened wire, and help the appearance of the whole thing quite a bit. The interior is well detailed with a full backhead and painted crew.
The paint scheme is the highly decorated “multistripe” version, with a straight from the shop gloss finish. With the sharply printed
You sure that is a Bachmann Spectrum K-4? I have one and it looks nothing like yours. Mine is very well detailed and is an excellent running loco. The headlight is a little dim but I plan to replace it with a warm white LED.
Perhaps you have one of the revised Spectrum engines that Darth mentions in his post. I think that questioning him on whether or not he knows what engine he is talking about is a little bit derogatory.
Seems to be a lot of that in the forum recently. Not good!
This engine was the first HO scale steam engine I got for my son before he switched to N scale. He loved it. I installed a DCC sound decoder ans swapped tenders with this engine, so it had every axle picking up electricity. Very cool. Yes, it was a pain in the butt to install a DCC decoder in, especially isolating the frame. But I got it working, and it ran very well.
I have a DCC/Sound on board pre war K4 that sounds great, but I need to either add more weight, or use that bullfrog snot on a driver…it cannot pull a lick. It struggles up a 2% helix with 6 NMRA corectly weighted boxcars(Yes I know the prototype was a passenger loco). It barely pulls 3 cars, So I have ended up assigning it to the “local”, of just two older Rivarossi old style heavyweight coaches.
I bought one of the first run Spectrum K4s from 1988 or '89 as I recall. I switched to HO in the winter of 1987-88 and it was I think the second or third HO engine I bought. It didn’t look like the one in Ulrich’s post, it didn’t have the striping on the wheels. It was no. 1361 - I think?? Whichever number was the restored K4 that was then running on fantrips.
BTW several of the early Spectrum products later became regular Bachmann or “Bachmann Plus” as the Spectrum line improved. For example their standard line GP-30 was an early Spectrum engine from the late 1980’s.
farrellaa, my K4 came in a big Spectrum box, and has Spectrum molded into the plastic under the frame. This is an early production model, and Bachmann revised them in the late 90’s with better detail and a more refined (but very similar) chassis. You can still find a lot of these on eBay and around train shows, so I thought it’d be good to put up a review.[:)]
Jimmy_Braum, that’s always been a problem with the Spectrum K4. Neither the old or new ones are very good pullers, so putting lead in hollow spots or putting “Bullfrog Snot” on one of the drive wheels is necessary to pull longer loads.
wjstix, one thing I forgot to mention is that Bachmann has always offered multiple versions of the K4 to match different prototypes. Mine is a prewar version with gold pinstriping, and there are also prewar versions with more standard paint. They also offered a couple postwar models with the correct pilot, headlight, turbo generator, and other details. I’ve always liked the prewar look better, though.
snjroy, I’ve posted a lot of reviews if you want to go back and look through any.[:D] And I’m sure I’ll be doing more as time goes on.
