My LHS has an old SP C449w blue box from Athearn. It is $54.95. Not sure if that is a good deal, but I like the look of the engine. Is this good or too much ?[:I]
Problem, I have only built freight cars, and not done anything to them other than build them. This one has a metal railing, and lots of little parts. Can a beginner, do it, and in a reasonable amount of time ?
I think it is possible, I did get the plastic cab off finally, first time ever I did that.
Good buy for me, or return and get a RTR version, and newer.[:D]
It seems like the list price for the Athearn 9-44CWs was $59.50, so it is below retail. Athearn handrails can be tricky to put on, but they are not real difficult (http://www.trains.com/community/forum/topic.asp?page=1&TOPIC_ID=27591). There are a few small parts also. I cannot say for sure if you should get it or not. If you have some pliers, cement, tweezers, skill, and patients, I think you would probably be able to put the details on. If not, you can also wait until you have some more experience to put the small parts on.
I have bought and assemble two of them. They were not too bad. I think the worst parts to get on were the sand hatch covers (if I remember correctly) on the nose.
I’ve built 6 of these in assorted paint schemes. You’ll need one Kadee #21 and one Kadee #27 coupler to fini***he model (I fitted longer couplers on the nose ends so that I will be able to fit anticlimb pilots at a later date). Assembly was easy enough, though as ericsp said the sand hatches are a little tricky to install. I’d recommend a set of fine smooth-jawed pliers and a fine file as tools for building this loco - the pliers are handy for pressing parts into place (such as the handrails) and the file is good for “persuading” some parts to fit (the main problem with the sand hatches seems to be their mounting pins are a little too big for the holes). Just take it slowly and you should be fine. It’s worth painting the handrails after assembly (first put a drop of CA glue on the top of each upright where the horizontal rail goes through it, this will stop them moving from vertical to slanted), then paint according to photos ( www.railpictures.net has plenty of prototype photos). You might also want to look at Details West’s detailing kit for these locos - their website ( www.detailswest.com ) has pictures of an SP Dash 9 fitted with the kit which looks very nice. Hope this is of help!
Eric and Matt thanks. I think I can do it. I will start it this next weekend, and take a pic when I am done. Eric the link helped. Matt I like the details info also.
The price of $55 is oo much money for that. For that price You should try an auction site. I have an assembled on right in front of my on my display case and an unassembled one because it is not a genesis or Kato to be on my layout.
I learned one thing about building the C44-9w you might want to check before building. I spent 2 days detailing the body and mounting all the “truck” parts and when i went to assemble the frame to the body, i found out the frame was bent. So i used a frame from another kit, the bent frame still sits in a box. I afraid to try to straighten out the frame because i see “SNAP” written all over it.