Hi,
I was wondering if the Life like GP38’s or F40’s were good runners, and had decent detail? And does anyone have pics of them?
Thanks
-Monkeyman2 [:D]
I don’t own the LL GP-38 or F40, but I have a small fleet of Life-Like’s offerings from the 1990s. I don’t have a clunker among them. While not quite up to the Kato or Atlas standard, they are serviceable, good-looking locomotives.
The only problem I have had is that the rapido couplers on some of them are very stiff and don’t work well. Converting to Micro-Trains on some of the early 1990s production can involve cutting and drilling, I’ve noticed more recent units are built so that one only has to slip out a clip and install a 1015.
I might order one, anyone else? thanks.
Don’t ask me why, but I have 3 of the '38’s. They do ok, but… they look very toyish when sitting next to an Atlas '38. All of my engines are either Kato or Atlas. These were given as a gift, so they’re never on my rails.
I bought two of the P2K GP38-2’s last summer and recently started running them. Details are nice and the engine is quiet and smooth running. Right now, they don’t coast as far as my P2K SW9 when i cut the power but then I have run the SW9 much more so I’m guessing they need to be broken in. I have not seen the Atlas or Kato engines so I can’t offer a comparison to those.
Hope this helps.
Tom
I have one of the F40s. It’s a very smooth and quiet runner, and has a huge amount of lead weight in it.[:D] I’d say it weighs somewhere between 4 and 5 ounces. Some of the basic features are: 5-pole skewed armature, all wheel drive and electrical pickup, tons of weight, decent detail, spring universals and a working headlight. The spring universals give it nice, smooth starts and don’t make any noise.[:D] The only problem is the fact that there are no flywheels, but it’s smooth enough that it doesn’t really need them.[:D]
Both LL engines are old models based on outdated mechanisms (10-15 years old at least). I’ve looked under the hood of the GP38 and it’s very primitive. Their mechanisms from eight years ago are far superior. That doesn’t mean they are not OK runners, but unless you are getting them for a bargain (under $20), then I’d take a pass and look at the Atlas GP38’s or Kato F40’s. I also heard that LL is redoing the GP38 soon anyway.
My brother bought a couple of the GP38-2s, they seem pretty good. You don’t get full pilots (they have rapido couplers mounted on the trucks) and they’re not heavy haulers but they run well enough to make a bit of detailing work worthwhile. Considering how cheap they seem to be over there they’re well worth a look.
I got one LL GP38-2 but always worse problem clean up dirty wheel all the time and sometime run not very good not smooth
I think I won’t buy these LL GP38-2
Actually I would wait on the newer units…
Here is the details.
http://www.nscalesupply.com/Lif/LIF-GP-38.html
However…If that locomotive doesn’t fit your hobby budget I suggest looking at the older GP38-2 at your LHS and give it a test run…That way you will know for sure if it fits your locomotive standards.[:D]
Sorry,none of my on line hobby shops had any F40 details…
Best of luck!
Thanks!
I Might just save up for the Kato F40s and wait for the newer GP38’s, but my budgets kinda low at the moment, so I may get the GP38 for $20…, Even if its not the smoothest runner it should work in helper service on my future layout… [:D]