Bowser's Frisco U-Boat

Hello fellows. Sorry to have been away for awhile,but I have been a little busy. I want to thank all of you here on the Frisco Forum,for the Birthday wish,THANK YOU,that was mighty nice of y'all. Also,have you guys seen Bowser Trains advertisment for the Frisco U25-B ? Would love to get my hands on at least one,but money is an issue right now,so all I can do is dream,,sigh. But maybe,just maybe,I'll be able to get one soon,before they are gone. I think this is the correct website, WWW.Bowser-Trains.com, and ,if not,please let me know. But,do go and check it out. You'll find the loco in the Executive line of Locos. Enjoy . William.

 

I saw a thread on here a while back about them and I thought I might have to buy one but now I wont because I got an Atlas B30-7 yesterday. BTW Bob, that engine looks realy nive and it runs realy good, till I get the trhotle to about 80% and then it stalls for a millisecond then reverses and some times it wont move and the gyro and flasher lights will come on. I think it will work better when I get the power cab, if I get it. Also I got that decoder instaled last night but still haven't got the shell repostionsed just right yet.

 

Too bad it's not a black and yellow hi-hood!

Tom

 

That would be too much to ask for!

Steve

 

Please reference a thread that I started on 2/19/09 explaining my conversaion with the Stewart/Bowser rep about this release. The website says Summer 2009 so we should be getting close to seeing them in person.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

You know something fellows,it would be great if someone would do a U-Boat in the black and yellow scheme. But,also along those lines of thought,would it also be cool if Walther's would offer the SW-1 in Frisco paint? Because if they did,man you know I'd snatch one up. William.

 

The Stewart rep told me they would have loved to do the loco in B&Y but the body shell they have is for a Phase IV one and those were delivered in O&W. Actually, many years ago they did do it in B&Y, so maybe you could find one.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

I hope their handrails are better on this new unit. The old handrails looked like they were too big.

Ship IT on the Frisco!

Rick

 

Rick and All:

Here is my part of the post on the other thread that may address this issue:

" Finally, unless they changed their mind after I talked to the rep at the OKC Train Show, the only downside to this model will be the fact that they will be using some old tooling of sorts where the handrails are mounted on the top of the walkways vs. mounted on the sides as per the prototype. I for one will be willing to overlook this if the rest of the model is a good as it looks in the drawings on the website. The model he was showing at the show did have see-thru screens, etc."

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

I had a few of the original offerings. Not quite right lettering and the Athearn drive. But back then, they were the cat's meow.

It's easy to denigrate models of 20 years ago, based on today's standards....much as folks poo-pooed Varney stuff during the 80's.

If today's offerings aren't better than those of 20 years ago, in any venue, we have a problem.

 

One of my Atlas B30-7's has sound and it replicate's a GE pretty well

 

Ken:

Go to the Soundtraxx website and listen to their U-Boat sound sample. To me, to "chug-chug" is there.

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=dp7

Then listen to the EMD 645 Turbo to hear the difference.

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=dp2

While you're at it, listen to the Leslie RS5T and the S5T horns and see what you think.

http://www.soundtraxx.com/dsd/tsunami/playsound.php?s=da7

Which one did the Frisco use? I really should know, but I forgot.

Bob Hoover
FriscoFriend

 

I have been monitoring the Bowser website watching for updates on the release of the U25B. The loco in front of it on the release schedule (Baldwin AS616, etc.) has been pushed back to March so keep collecting your pennies, nickels, and dimes.
Maybe by summer?

 

Bowser is evidently getting closer to the release of their long anticipated Phase IV U25b in O&W as they have now posted a photo of the actual model on their website vs. the artist rendering that was there before and here is what it looks like:


First of all, I'm not sure if this is a finished product version or a base sample. What I mean by that is if you go and look at the pictures posted of all of th roadnames being offered several things jump out, the most obvious one being the stark lack of hardly any added details such as lift rings, grab irons, etc. and the ones that they did add seem too heavy. The original artist rendering showed the roof beacon but the model doesn't have one. As far as the detail parts are concerned it is possible that some of these are included but need to be applied by the modeler.

http://www.bowser-trains.com/New_Products/New 02_20_09 U25b 23375_23390/New 02_20_09 U25b.htm

Having said that, I welcome others to jump in with their comments, but here are some of my first observations.

(1) First and foremost, the color. It looks like they got it right as they said they were copying Atlas's.
(2) Unfortunately, they did go ahead and use the top or deck mounted handrails which they themselves admitted they knew were wrong for this Phase of the prototype.
(3) It looks like they chose to use the same body shell they have had for years without upgrading it and making the details finer. This is not in keeping pace with other manufacturers such as Atlas and Athearn. To me it makes the model look outdated, heavy, and somewhat toy like. This is especially apparent in the size (thickness) of the handrails.

In conclusion, by just looking at the picture, the model to me just doesn't live up to modern day standards we have come to expect. Hopefully the real thing will look better.

 

Ken and All:

When I first looked at the picture, the first thing that I noticed that looked weird was the white above the sunshade. After looking at photos it should extend to the line between the orange and white. To me this will not be an easy fix and shouldn't have happened. As far as the positioning of the handrails is concerned, the factory rep pointed it to me voluntarily and said that to have made it right it would have added another $10-$15 to the MSRP of the locomotive and they felt it wasn't justified. I told him that I disagreed and most modelers would gladly pay the difference for an accurate model. He was very receptive to my opinion, but it was obvious the decision had already been made and it wouldn't be changed. As I pointed out in my earlier post, other companies are going to great lengths to upgrade their dies to obtain a higher degree of realism and so should have Bowser. Put this locomotive in a consist with an Atlas B30-7 or the future U30b and the differences will really stand out. To me, this locomotive falls into a comparative category with the Atlas Trainman Line (GP38) especially things like the oversize handrails. Close but no cigar!
Also, as long as I am in a nitpicking mode, how do the rest of you feel about them leaving the grills unpainted or painted black? Wouldn't have it been better to paint them orange (I assume that is the way the locomotive was delivered) and then we as the modeler weather them as we see fit? This forces one to make this a highly weathered locomotive unless we try to match the orange base paint. Correct me if I'm wrong, but even with use the corners of the grills on the top still show and orange color or tint.