Was curious if Con-Cor HO locomotives, specifically GP40’s are similar to the old style Atlas Yellow box versions of the GP40. I believe that they share similar parts? Somebody correct me if I am wrong. I was curious also to the quality as I do not own any or have ever seen one in a hobby shop. I was thinking about purchasing a pair for my WP (Western Pacific) project as I believe I can get a pretty good deal on a pair that I might have lined up. [^]
Thanks,
Brad
Yes they are the old yellow box units. After Atlas stopped selling them, Concor bought parts from Roco and assembled them in both the US and Mexico.
They run good but shell detail is lower than that from the newer Atlas locos and they have that awfull slot down the side of the fuel tank.
Brad,
Here is some info concerning the mechanisms. Over the years there were 4 different versions of the GP-38/40s. They are, in chronological order:
Atlas/Roco - 2 flywheels w/o circuit board, 10T gearing, 2 screw holes in frame.
Atlas/Roco - 1 flywheel w/circuit board, 10T gearing, 2 screw holes in frame.
Con-Cor/Roco - 1 flywheel w/circuit board, 10T gearing, 2 screw holes in frame,
updated Roco motor.
Con-Cor/Roco - 2 flywheels w/new circuit board, new motor, 1 screw hole in frame
and new 14T gearing.
Note:
Versions 1-3 are interchangeable concerning parts.
Version 4 shares only the body and truck side frames with version 1-3. The drive train is the same as the second run of the Atlas/Roco FP-7.
Versions 3-4 has “Made in Austria” ground off the bottom of the trucks; some have a sticker on bottom of frame “Assembled in Mexico”.
Roco has made upgrades to these models with each release. The answer to your parts interchangeability question is that the first version Con-Con produced is basically the same as the yellow box Atlas. The second is not. Before you buy you need to verify how many screw holes are in the frame. You will need to find the Con-Cor version with 2 screw holes. The second Con-Cor version has 14T gearing which does not MU with the other 3 versions. It does MU with Katos though. If you are running DC this may also be a concern.
Hope this helps,
Jim
You guys are just a wealth of information. Thank you all for the great replies and help.
Jim, that is some very detailed info that I am going to keep close to me for future con-cor/Atlas issues or questions. I will be running these with decoders. Just darn excellent help.
ModlerBob,
I have been filling all of those tank casting slots ( old Atlas & Athearn) with a product I discovered while building Experimental home built aircraft called “SuperFil”. It is a two part expoxy filler that sticks to anything primed or not. I buy the 1pint kit (two seperate containers) and mix it as I need it. It dries in about 4 hours and can be sanded in around 6 hours. They advertise it as “light weight Bondo for Airplanes”, although much lighter than Bondo. I purchase it through www.aircraftspruce.com out of southern California. I only do this so that the fuel tanks on the last two mentioned locomotive brands will look like a real fuel tank. Then I sand and repaint the frames/fuel tank and now ugly casting slots or divits are gone.
Thanks guys,
Brad
i have concor gp40 over ten years old no problems since i’ve had mine only clean the wheels once on it.
I too used to fill the slots. Before doing this, I used an Athearn GP fuel tank as a guide to grinding off some of the massive block to resemble a typical EMD profile, then filled the slot and smoothed the surface. With the addition of a few detail parts (sight glass and fuel filler) it makes a world of difference. I needed to justify this work to go along with the major rework of the Rocco shells. Cab, windows, steps, grabs, air tanks and Smokey Valley rails. A lot of work but a very nice WM Circus GP40 was the result.
Thanks for the info on the epoxy, sounds like it would work better than the Bondo filler.
Brad, your frame is going out Wed or Thur -just need to pa