I have been thinking on getting a HO Kato SD70MAC BN Executive #9615. I do not own any KATO locomotives and wonder how good /bad they are? Are they ready to run? Anything need to be installed?
Would love to hear some reviews on this unit before I buy one. Thanks for any info.
Mark
I have that one you have to put it together and it does run great.
Thats great to hear there good runners. What has to be put together on these locomotives?
Mark
The Kato SD70MAC’s are excellent runners and look great. There are a lot of small detail parts to be installed. Have lots of light and lots of patience handy. Tweezers, serrated-jaw needle nose pliers, a sprue cutter and magnifiers are a must. Take your time and don’t try to do it all in one sitting. Everything is plastic and some pieces are fragile. Fortunately there’s an excellent diagram that shows all the part numbers and where they all go. There are even extras of some of the most common parts as over-zealous trimming can launch them into another dimension. The handrail/stanchion pieces can get warped in the box…it helps to lay them out flat so they can straighten out. Your patience and time will be rewarded with a fine model.
The basic shells are pre-assembled. I don’t remember everything I had to install on mySD70MAC, but the typical Kato engine requires the purchacer to install the hand rails, grab irons, cut bars, MU hoses, wipers, number boards and horn. All of which need to be cut from their plastic sprues with flush cutting nippers.
John.
Yes they do have alot of small and difficult pieces to install, however once you finish the resulting locomotive is worth it. Kato’s are some of the best runners I have ever seen and the detailing looks great. I think my SD70MAC took 2-3 hours to complete but it was the 3rd Kato I have detailed. The only advice I can offer is go slow (I did mine in one long sitting, but thats probably not for everyone), don’t force any parts that won’t fit (if you slip with the pliers or tweezers you Will damage the locomotive or at least scratch the paint), and use the flush cutting nippers to remove the pieces from the sprues (if you use a hobby knife it’s alot easier to slip and cut pieces in half, especially the grab irons). The locomotives are runnable out of the box before detailing too, I ran mine at the show I purchased it at and didn’t detail it for another 2 weeks. Good luck, and you probably won’t regret purchasing this locomotive.
Excellent engine all around. Yes there are a lot of detail parts like grabirons etc. to add BUT unlike some models (Walthers passenger cars) the holes are pre-drilled. Generally they just use friction, you don’t need to glue them in place. In fact sometimes the hole is a little too small, I use a pointed X-acto knife to take care of it. Put the point in the hole and rotote a half turn or so, that usually widens the hole enough to get the piece in.