I found a couple of Athearn locos in the BNSF H2 and UP ‘Flag’ scheme which are discontinued with my ususal Atlas and Kato manufacturers which I wanted.
Just wondering what kind of quality in general are they comparing to Atlas and Kato? Couplers used? DCC ready? Ditch light and number boards lighted?
IMHO I’d put Athearn in 3rd place, behind Atlas/Kato, on a par with Proto 2000 LifeLike. Athearn shares the proven split frame design. The F59 was their 1st model & proved to be a jackrabbit speedster. Athearn learned a lot from that experience. I don’t do DCC, but I haven’t heard of milling the frame to make room for a decoder. Athearn has started to use similar Accumate couplers like Atlas, unless they mention MTL in the ad. You may want to convert ACC’s to MTL’s. At least they don’t do Crapidos!
The new Challenger may be the best new steamer on the market. The combination of sound & power makes it worth the price. As with any steamer, you need to test it to be sure everything works. I have heard of some programming problems. The MDC/Athearn steamers are very good. Athearn upgraded the couplers & paint schemes from the old MDC molds. They need some work to get them rebuilt into 20th century models. There may be a way to swap lights & other details.
I have had 2 Athearn locomotive models. The N Scale Challenger is in my opinion, a very fine model. Quiet mechanism, great detail, very good paint, pulls better than most other steamers of modern manufacture and has dual mode DCC/sound. I have preordered from the second run due in July. In my opinion; the NS SD70M was noisey, decent detailed, but had way too much paint applied, excess glue on windows and joints and did not pull all that great. It did pull faily well though. I returned it to the LHS for a Kato NS SD70M. Since both are priced within a few bucks, to me it’s easy. Get the Kato.
Bob
I have 2 Norfolk Southern SD70Ms with the Flared Radiator and they run ok…Not as smooth as a Kato but,still smooth-similar to a Atlas IMHO…
The early SD70s suffered from noisy operation to glue on the windshield.
Aha! I think those ones on eBay are not the flared radiator ones so must be the first runs with noisy mechnism and glue infested windshield.
I think I might just keep searching for Kato ones, I am starting to love them moe and more, nothing just compares to them. Although the need to paint and install grab irons as well as the trip pin is a bit annoying sometimes. But since I need to install the decoders, it’s just another 5-10 min. and the end result is simply supr rewarding.
I bought three of the recently released Athearn engines (all diesels) because Atlas & Kato did not make these and also out of curiosity. I would categorize them as fair, a distant third after Kato & Atlas but very much better than Bachmann. The details are okay, but rather heavy on the paintwork. The motor is their weak point, noisy and not smooth running and poor pulling power. Inspite of having fly wheels the engines do not glide to a stop after the power has been cut off.
I think that Athearn should improve on the motor and paintwork so that N scale modellers can have good alternative options.
Cheers,