I recently purchased the MTH HO Dreyfuss Hudson, and am wondering, is it’s colour correct? Almost every other Dreyfuss Hudson on the market is a lighter grey. The Model Railroader magazine review states that the colour is correct, though that particular review did not mention that the lines on the tender where about a scale foot too high. From the few colour photos of the locomotive I have seen, the MTH model actually looks closer to the real things then I originally thought. I would be grateful if somebody more knowledgeable about the New York Central could tell me how close the colour is to the real thing. I chose the MTH model over the Broadway Limited model that will be released later this year mainly because it will match up with the MTH HO 20th century limited set that should also be released later this year. I only purchase a few trains each year, and from all the negative things I have read about MTH, I am really starting to regret my purchase, which is still in the mail. I did manage to purchase it for $400 Australian shipped, which is a bit of a bargain over here.
Colors of trains from 70 years ago are hard to match or document, and, are/were subject to fading, wear and tear, variations when repainted, etc. So to me close is good enough. Paint colors on such things vary in real life when new, how can they be “matched” 70 years after the fact? And, our models exist in different visual conditions than the real thing, so even the perfect color may not look correct on the model.
Most of the negative opinions (many from me) about MTH center around the control system. I am a DC operator and MTH locos do
If you like the product , be happy with your locomotive and the train will match since MTH will use the same formula for the paint. The colour does seem to be too dark from all of the pictures available, but even correct paint formula’s do not always come out the same with all of the new type of base paint that we now use. Most of the pictures available are in black and white and the few color ones of that engine could be faded somewhat. If you get the locomotive and train from MTH, it should all look good as a train.
From what I have read MTH engines seem to be pretty good quality wise. I have only seem one posting about a buyer that had to send back two of his steam engines. Now I know that sounds bad, but that is the only post I have seen on the subject. I have personal had a lot of problems with BLI engines, have sent back 4 or so. Now as far as BLI repair staff, they more than made up for there lack at times of QC. MTH on the other hand, well lets just say my LHS will not carry any of there HO offerings.
Far as the DCS system being shoved down are down are smoke stacks, that I don’t like.
I am going to give the Locomotive a go, and if I feel impressed, I may well keep it. One of the things I do like about MTH trains is that they are not hard to re-sell, even in used condition.
I don’t own the MTH Dreyfuss (not an NYC guy myself) and can’t offerer a credible oppinion on color accuracy. I have seen the model in person and found the paint finish and build quality to be well above average. That has also been true for the six MTH HO models I do own. I also have owned MTH O scale products for many years. They normally do a very good job of matching the paint on the engines and accompanying passenger cars even when they are built months apart. If color is your major concern I think you’ll be happy you bought the engine and cars together.
Same here Sheldon. I’m of the opinion that prototypical operations are just as much a part of modeling as accurate dimensions. I also feel same about lighting features, smoke, and sound. Done well (not necessarily “perfect”) these aspects are just as much a part of modeling the prototype as anything else. For me, the goal is a “complete package” that brings all of these modeling elements together.
I couldn’t disagree more. From my perspective MTH is offering a more “complete package” than much of their competition right now. I understand for you as a DC operator who’s power supply can only produce 12 volts there are some real short comings. For me, when I bought my first MTH HO engine in 2006 I already had a transformer that could produce NMRA standard voltage for HO even with the high amperage load of MTH and other sound equipped engines. My
My views on sound are complex, but I will try to explain as biefly as possible. I love onboard sound in the larger scales and agree it adds quite a bit to the model effect. In smaller scales not so much so in my opinion. Reasons are several - one, with smaller scales you the viewer are in a much less intimate relationship physically with the model, that is you are farther from it in scale feet no matter how close you get to it. Visually most people can only focus down to about 10", that is still 72’ away in HO.
The second concern for me is sound quality. As an accomplished amature designer of HiFi speaker systems, the sound quality of even the best, of which MTH is among, HO scale onboard sound systems, is not acceptable to my ears - especially given the modeling and operational goals of MY personal layout. My goals include multiple train operations of a Class I railroad division point. Even turned down to their lowest practical volume, more than one or two of these locos just turns into noise in my view - like that 9 transisitor radio I had in 1962. But than again the whole culture now accepts sound quality that is below my standards for most everything - no Ipod at my house thank you.
There are other modeling senerios where I would likely feel differently about it, even with the limitations of the sound quality, but for my personal interests and my layout plan, onboard sound in HO is a non starter.
The station announcements and such are simply toy like in my mind - not interested. Again, how could I hear that person from 70’ or father away? Not realistic at all.
Smoke, not interested for layout room environmential reasons - case closed.
The lighting may have more interest to me, but the cost of DCC to control it does justify the small benifit for me.
Broadway should be releasing their brass Dreyfuss Hudson this July. I’m holding out for Broadway.
MTH locos have great slow speed performance overall, excellent lighting effects, and come lubed from the factory, however the DCS is a major issue for me. I don’t want to have to buy an entirely new system simply for the purpose of turning off that automatic god awful crew chatter. And supposing one were to even buy the system, it irritates me that you can’t run DCC locos with it.
I feel the company has some potential and promise but they have made some very bad decisions in my humble opinion and have marginalized most of the surrounding model railroading community. They need to get their act together and they need to stop suing people.
As another Australian who purchased a streamlined J-3a model some years ago and changed his mind, I might be able to help: I purchased a Lionel O Scale brass J-3a, but as I lifted it out of the box for the first time, the streamlined panel over the firebox on the left side fell off. It was a simple matter of faulty soldering and I could have easily glued it back in place, but it had cost $3000 Australian, and I was concerned about how well it would hold together, so I traded it back to the dealer for other models that were more robust.