Help!! Does anyone know how good is the build quality, model accuracy and running qualities of these locomotives? I model the Great Northern and was put off the Life-Like version of the FA2/FB2 due to the reported poor slow running performance.
I don’t know anything about the Brawa units.
I’m surprised at your reluctance to pick up some LifeLike split- frame units. These units are close to the best F units on the Nscale market!
ModelExpo had them on sale in their fire sale train closeout last year. Prices went down to about $20-25 per loco. You may find them at other etailers at deep discount. They run great & will pull a house. Easy to convert to MTL but have difficult conversion to DCC.
Another way to improve low- speed performance may be to connect a flexible wire from each side of the split frame.
I would second Glenn’s view on Lifelike locos. I’ve heard great things about their FA/FB units and have come close to purchasing a pair myself. I do own a couple of their SD7’s which have an older split frame design - and they run great. I also own a couple of their GP20’s and they have wonderful slow speed performance (I think they share the same split frame design as the FA/FB units).
Brawa is just distributing Life-Like products in Germany. See
http://www.brawa.de/index.php3?sprache=1