I want to pick up a GP35 and I see that the Athearn version is based on a shell they acquired from Rail Power Products. Is the quality of the castings comparable to the typical Athearn? Any other caveats, good bad or indifferent? From a picture I have seen I realize the detailing is rather spartan (no MU hoses, coupler lift bar etc.) but this stuff is easily added. I would assume the same typical Athearn running gear, crappy motor etc.?
My 1st RTR run Rio Grande’s stand up pretty well to my other diesels (other than needing the nose lamp assembly.) For the price when they first came out, they were a great value. The chassis is actually not bad. The shell up to snuff for me.
The detailing on the Rail Power shell is not what I’d call fantastic. It’s not bad, but overall, it’s a little mushy. It really benefits from having the cab and the high hood end replaced with Cannon & Co. parts. Athearn made a few improvements to the tooling before adopting it for their RTR line, such as including see-through fans (the RPP fans are solid). I believe that they also improved the turbo exhaust.
As for a mechanism, all that RPP ever sold was the shell. They never offered mechanisms or handrails. Their GP35 shell was designed to fit on a modified Athearn GP35 mechanism.
The RPP shell was a pretty big deal at the time it came out since it had a scale-width shell, but it was soon overshadowed by the Kato GP35’s crisper shell, and the fact that the Kato GP35 came with a Kato drive.
I have an Athearn RTR GP35 and I will agree that the detail is not up to the Genesis level but neither was the price. The mechanism has required the standard Athearn tuneup and even after the motor periodically growls like it is losing a bearing. If I keep to a regular lubrication schedule it behaves well enough. It is actually one of my favorite locos perhaps because of all the time I have spent on it and had it apart.
Joe
I don’t own any of the RPP based Athearn GP35’s but I do own a bunch of the RPP based Athearn RTR SD45’s and there has been some major upgrades to them, they are not just repainted and detailed. Much has been said about what remains, which is the long hood door and latch detail is crude by todays standards. Make of it what you will, but I imagine some similar can be said for the GP35 but I’ll let those who have them comment. I know that the upgrades and added prototypical details applied to the SD45 make it a lot easier to over look what remains of the RPP heritage.