Hi Ken, It seems to me, from my eyeball Athearn has come up with yet another shade of Red/Orange for us. It is in my estimation a bit darker than what has been used on Athearns late RTR SD40-2's, SD45's GP15's or their latest Bay window caboose. But lighter or a bit more Orangish than the GP40-2/38/50 that were the earlier Athearn stuff. It is close enough that it still looks good to me. Like Ethan, I dont think it is as dark as pictured on Athearns website. Thats just my opinion.
Thanks Tom. I look forward to receiving my two. In all fairness, the prototype units displayed slightly different shades of red/orange as well! Depended on who painted them. Ken
Yea I should have said that as well my friend, Thanks. Please let us know what you think of the colors.
Note to group self - If Athearn ever announces another Frisco unit to be equiped with a gyralite, immediately send note to them to make sure a working gyralite is in the production specifications! Hope this helps. Thanks! Mark
I haven't been able to run mine yet, since I got the DCC ready version and I don't have any spare decoders handy. I just shot some Model Master Chevrolet Engine Red on a white base (I was painting a caboose) and compared it to the Genesis model. The GP38-2 is a shade lighter than the color I just used and a bit more orange in appearance. I'm a little curious about the horn. I bought 454, which has an all bells forward 5 chime horn. I don't have a photo of 454, but other units in that series have 3 bells facing forward and 1 or 2 facing back or just 3 forward. Any thoughts on the horn and is it different between the different numbers Athearn did?
After looking tonight in different light I am not so sure the R/O paint isnt a good match with the late Athearn runs now, I'm telling you this R/O changes under different light. Like Ken says, with the prototype being different, its all good. Not crazy about the horn used on my version of 419 and 695. The DW, AH 191 is better IMHO, for the 3fwd/2rev bells. I always seem to completely dis-assemble new locos, but it seems to me they would have been better off to use the old BB trucks under this, they were and still are good performers. P2K seemed to think they were good enough to copy and use
Green cab interior. As said before, I always seem to dis-assemble everything. In that spirit, I did again, and found a nice surprise, in-that the cab interior for this Genesis GP38-2 was that EMD shade of Green, it had the toad stool seats, panel details and all, nice job Athearn! As well as the channel for the nose Gyra light leads. Note the weathered Genesis GP15 in the back ground, as a reference for the colors
To All: I echo what I perceive to be0 Mark's frustration over the omission of the gyra-light bulb. Believe me, I am the last person0 on earth want to spend the kind of money that we did on these to have to pay someone else, in my case Keith Robinson, to add it as I would not even attempt it. Having said that, I would like to add three comments. (1) Genesis construction is modular so thank goodness they at least didn't produce the loco with a plain nose. (2) If my memory serves me correctly the last offering by Atlas, the U30b, retailed for about the same amount and did not even have a roof beacon and the wrong nose gyra-light because they told me they wouldn't produce the correct one just for one road. (3) As I said before, my contact immediately acknowledged their error and promised not to let it happen again. For lack of a better term, the Genesis line is regarded as the "Cadillac" of their company and they are going to great lengths to keep it that way. That is why we haven't got a GP7 yet as they haven't tooled the right body components to make it prototypically correct. They will! Bottom line, Mark's comment is well taken as what happened is frustrating.
If someone does wire in the gyralite, please share your procedure with pictures so that the rest of us who don't know what we are doing can piggy back onto your work. I don't know which light, wire and other parts, if any, that would be needed, so I would be afraid that I would botch up my engines by trying to go blind. Thanks, in advance, Terry
Here's the process for adding a bulb to the Gyralight casting; http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index....w-nose-gyralight-on-genesis-locomotives.6567/
To All: As a follow-up to the quoted post about CRC 2-28 I am happy to report that it seems to be working very well. I have treated two of my GP15-1's with it and both run at the slowest speed possible on my layout without stalling. Having said that I realize that Keith's solution outlined in another thread is the ultimate fix, this seems to be an easy and inexpensive alternative.
My permanent fix for poor pickup from the trucks is posted at: http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?7479-Fix-for-Athearn-Genesis-four-axle-pickup-problems
Finally received my SLSF 695 & 419 today. Spring Creek shipped them to the wrong address in spite of my instructions, but I finally got them. Opened up the box for the 695. Haven't taken either out of the box yet, but it seems to me that the shade of red/orange, if not perfect, is certainly workable. The acid test will be what they look like when sitting next to the Atlas GP38's, whose color is close to dead on to my eye. Haven't looked at the Frisco-specific details yet. How did they do on these? Overall, I think Athearn Genesis does a fine job on their models, even with some running issues. Sure wish they would do Frisco F7's in black/yellow! Ken
I will check with my source again but I don't think the proper body has been produced yet. I have noticed frustration from groups of other roads but I can't remember which ones. I think it centers on early production units.
I am renumbering the ones I have. So, A question about the number series. Besides the Bloomberg M trucks, are there any other visual differences between the 400-415 series and other similar units that are numbered 418 or 695? I cant see any, maybe I am not looking closely enough. After looking at the trucks that came under these, I am doing some minor machine work and using the BB/RTR type trucks that will allow the use of the M truck side frames, and better suit my needs. Thanks
Tom - Not all the 38-2's were alike. I can't comment on specifics for each number until I get back to all my files and photos, which will happen shortly. The Genesis models look pretty good to me! Ken
Thanks Ken, I can see the same fan separation, grills, battery boxes and stuff. I think the only difference is the trucks. Which would represent the Frisco's introduction to the Bloomberg M trucks, I want to make sure. Thanks to all.
Would someone who may have the opportunity to have their shell off of one of their new GP38-2's look at the nose casting and report back on this thread whether or not it looks like that all that might be necessary to make the gyra-light functional is securing a bulb to the shell behind the factory installed clear lens casting and wiring it to the decoder board. In speaking with Keith last night after I received mine we didn't realize that a lens was already installed. Also, look at the decoder and see if there is a part number etched into it and if so what is it. Thanks in advance,
Tom, Athearn specifically picked loco series that had the same base make-up details (phases if you will). See the roster link below with phase explanations. They were clever to do their homework on it all. So the only differences you'll see are the truck sideframes and horn types and colours which were specific to loco numbers. If you are going to renumber, refer to the roster info to see if the correct numbers will match the phase. Nick http://www.trainweb.org/jaydeet/gp38-2.htm
