Received my 5047/5133 combo. They've come a long way since the Athearn BB versions. I am grateful for the progress. Photoetched grills, lots of grab rails, fine detail small decals/screenprinting?, DCC ready and more. 5047's rear driveshaft came loose in transit, but was easy to reinstall. Satisfied.
Keith, Athearn responded to my earlier inquiry that they will provide a replacement for the incorrect unit. Jay
They also missed by putting vertical louvers in the side panels of every A unit, which none of those units had. Only a tiny fraction of FP7s (or F-7s) got those. Maybe it bothers no one else, but it bothers me. That’s not what the Athearn Genesis line was supposed to be about. One unit out of five is not a good record for accuracy. I’ll buy my pair and learn to ignore it. I was planning on buying the rest if they were available. Probably not, though.
There is a saying in the industry, and that goes sort of like this: “It’s just as easy to do a model right as it is to do it wrong.” In this case, they got a lot of unit specific details right, but let their guard down and made some big errors on the basics.
Hi Keith: Here's a photo of an orange & white FP7 that illustrates the horizontal louvers between the portholes better than on a black unit. The Athearn model comes with the vertical slits that were used on very late F7's/FP7's of other railroads, and the F9m's and F9's of the Frisco. The louver snafu is no doubt a personal GnC (Gnats n' Camels) issue that each modeler has to decide for themselves, but Frisco F unit fanatics notice it immediately. As mentioned, as far as I can tell, the only vertical slits were found on the F9m's, and F9's of the Frisco AND the possible exception of this Frisco F3A unit, for which I can't readily find an explanation: Hope this helps. Andre
5047 with horizontal louvers. 5047 in later days as 47. Still with horizonal louvers. Unlike the model, or at least the photos of it. I'll still buy it, but darn... The lower shot is also a Mike Condren photo.
