A search of the Walthers website turned up a black and yellow GP35 in Z scale: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/489-98101142 Rich
The Frisco GP35 sure looks good, though adding the roof mounted airtanks would be a bear of a job with 65 year old eyes who don´t see much of anything smaller than G scale! A pity MicroTrains didn´t release the model without the dynamic brake blisters though. A set of Mopac "Screamin´ Eagle" `35s´ would have looked great next to the Frisco´s but the d/b is a total turn-off. A shame, since this feature could have been offered both ways and not have been cost effective. I don´t count rivets but the d/b is just too unprototypical for the investment in a locomotive rostered by a railroad that rostered 35s without d/b! Joe Toth
Ethan, Thanks for the info on the Mopac GP35s. I guess in retrospect I should have checked out the Mop web site before I sounded off. A bad habit I have. The MT´s Mopac #s still need to be checked against the models they produced though! MT should still offer all diesels they manufacture these options for the modeler just the same! With the prices they expect us to pay we should be provided with prototypical details according to the diesel of the railroad we model. It isn´t like the 50s and 60s when Athearn was a top player in the HO field and we bought what was offered when they released a new model. Their F7 is a perfect example. It evolved from the old Globe manufacturer and had a steam generator and we still bought the Santa Fe blue and yellow freight scheme and the tuscan red Pennsys as well. Tyco did the same thing as did Varney. Frisco was Champ and Walthers decals in those long gone days except for a few HO freight cars like the Varney 40 foot double door boxcar and Ulrich hopper. It wouldn´t even bother me today if I still had my HO collection but in the 21st Century with the Athearn Genesis, Atlas and Proto diesels providing this fine scale detailing in HO surely MT can provide the d/b and s/g options in Z scale as well! I don´t model in Z but have "played" with it thanks to my German dealer Rainer Knoch, www.modellbahnritzer.de, in Nuremberg. I am impressed with it but it sure puts a strain on my 65 year old eyes! I still try and keep up with all scales in model railroading. This stems from the summers of 62 and 63 when I worked part time for Chester Holley in his Tampa, Florida, train shop together with my late best friend, Robert Taff. The two Frisco GP35s and Full Throttle Frisco hoppers sure would look good running along my 18 foot long livingroom wall though! Of course, Andre Ming would kill me since he has just about talked me into going S scale. I CAN see S scale without high powered glasses! My fixed income retirement checks and unrelated medical bills have derailed my modeling plans for the time being anyway. I do a lot of daydreaming. So far the German government hasn´t got a tax on it...yet? Joe Toth
Actually it's a normal function of the brain. The scientific name is making inferences. The more common name is making assumptions. You had seen most of the GP35's with out DB's and you didn't know anything else so your brain inferred or assumed that they all didn't have them. I had the same problems with gyro lights till I saw a list of all the models the Frisco had that did and didn't have them. Ethan
The brain of a Texan by birth is an interesting machine all in itself! I let my Frisco Diesel Power get away...loaned out, never found its way home...so I recently found a new still shrink wrapped copy in California of all places. Soon to be in my hands again so I can check out the GP35s and other neat motors. I didn´t do a # check on the two MicroTrain Frisco GP35s to see if they would need the roof mounted airtanks...in Z scale...gads. While I don´t plan to model in Z, they would make for interesting table pieces along with other Frisco rolling stock that has been released in Z. The advantage for me is the small amount of space required to pack them to get them here in Germany. In Z one has to make many concessions. The Märklin F7 is longer than the MicroTrain version due to the fact it was manufactured to fit the frame of a German Federal Railways class E10 electric! In Z scale it becomes an FP7. Again, this is Z scale and taking concessions. It will work for all the other railroads who rostered FP7s of course. Paint and decals is another project altogether. If my eyes just weren´t 65 years old... Thanks for the info. Wonder if Frankenstein needs a recycled brain? I got one, dirt cheap! Joe Toth
Joe, here is a rule on DB's for Frisco units. All EMD units had DB's except for the following: GP7, E7, E8, F3, F7, FP7,GP15-1 and two of the four SD38-2's Ethan
Thanks Ethan, Now you see just how bad I need the copy of Frisco Diesel Power that I have purchased. I promise to study it from cover to cover! Joe Toth
