along with my other new toy from Caboose Hobbies, when i got back home today my 3 UP C44ACCTE’s (AC4400’s) were waiting for me.
first off, i love the new LED’s. not anywhere near as blue as the 90MAC’s and the C44-9W’s. and the paint and decal work is excellent. i could find nothing wrong on my 3. i got the 2 flag units and one lightning stripe unit. i see no mold parting lines on the trucks either. and for being cast on details, they still look really nice. one problem, the usual problem with Kato, is that the horn, ditchlights, trucks, and plow are molded in gray plastic and they are quite a bit darker than the gray paint used on the shell.
i ran them around my loop of track with several different locomotives. the MU’ed pretty well with the Genesis SD70M and the Kato C44-9W. i ran them with the Athearn RTR SD50, and the SD50 was a heck of alot faster. I also ran it with an Atlas 8-40B. they ran pretty well together, but the Atlas was a bit slower. BY NO MEANS IS THIS A PRECISE COMPARISON! some of these locomotives have been run much more than the others, and are more broken in.
for those of you that want to judge the appearance for yourself, here are a few pictures for your viewing enjoyment.
here are some prototype pics that i have so you can do some comparison. only difference i see is the horn, and on the cab under the 5 there is a panel with a vent in it on