TheRailwire
General Discussion => Product Discussion => Topic started by: flight2000 on September 26, 2015, 11:26:21 AM
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Just wanted to let everyone know that the Kato Amtrak P42 done up in the Veteran's scheme is now available through the Amtrak Store. Just got mine delivered yesterday... :D
Yes, it's a little pricey (about the same as a Kobo unit), but better quality IMHO.
http://store.amtrak.com/ProductDetail.aspx?did=17265&pid=160217
(http://www.lakeshoremodeltrains.com/uploads/3/5/6/1/3561529/7967644_orig.jpg)
(http://www.lakeshoremodeltrains.com/uploads/3/5/6/1/3561529/8956639_orig.jpg)
Cheers,
Brian
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What happened to the headlight and front number board?
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Is DCC installed already like on the Kobo units?
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Is DCC installed already like on the Kobo units?
No, also not all KOBO units are DCC equipped, some are just new paint or added detail like the upcoming UP excursion E9's. This look like a regular P42 run built just for the Amtrak store.
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What happened to the headlight and front number board?
I forgot to install them before I took the picture....it's literally right out of the box... :facepalm:
Brian
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I bought mine in person at Amtrak Train Days in Philadelphia. Are they not Kobo units? I thought someone told me they were. I know that the two units I have seen have had some slight paint defects that led me to believe they may be KOBO.
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I got mine today and it really looks like a regular production run engine. It even has a regular production number 176-6029 after the new run of phase Vb P42's. Very nice engine.
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I got mine today and it really looks like a regular production run engine. It even has a regular production number 176-6029 after the new run of phase Vb P42's. Very nice engine.
Weird, as it seems every one I have ever seen had a small paint defect, but never the same defect. Does yours have any defects that you can see? I will have to get pictures of what I am talking about.
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Mine looks fine and you don't mention were the defect is. But its not unheard of for Kato to have slight painting defect on production units. The Great Northern BSB SD45 come to mind or the original run of CSX ES44 with the lightning bolt facing the wrong way.
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Mine looks fine and you don't mention were the defect is. But its not unheard of for Kato to have slight painting defect on production units. The Great Northern BSB SD45 come to mind or the original run of CSX ES44 with the lightning bolt facing the wrong way.
Well, as I said, it varies from unit to unit. On the ones I have seen, the defect looks to be like paint bleed from either the red or the blue, and sometimes a combination of both, that stray into the white and make what appear to be streaks. Other things j have noticed are blue or grey "dots" in the white stripe on at least two units I have seen. I am not knocking the units, as I love the one I picked up, but I just found it weird that every one I have seen has had some odd defect (usually only viewable when holding about a foot away). I will have to take pictures of the three units I have seen.
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Well, as I said, it varies from unit to unit. On the ones I have seen, the defect looks to be like paint bleed from either the red or the blue, and sometimes a combination of both, that stray into the white and make what appear to be streaks. Other things j have noticed are blue or grey "dots" in the white stripe on at least two units I have seen. I am not knocking the units, as I love the one I picked up, but I just found it weird that every one I have seen has had some odd defect (usually only viewable when holding about a foot away). I will have to take pictures of the three units I have seen.
Can anybody take a real close-up photo of the paint job (and the flaws)? I wonder if they are printed using an ink jet printer (like Kato decorated some previously-released Amtrak cars).
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Can anybody take a real close-up photo of the paint job (and the flaws)? I wonder if they are printed using an ink jet printer (like Kato decorated some previously-released Amtrak cars).
I will take a picture of mine and any other ones I can get my hands on this weekend (attending a small hometown train show). I am not sure of the printing process used, but the actual "veterans decal" part of the scheme has an odd texture to it (not sure if texture is the right word, as it feels rather smooth but looks as if it's texture would be like that of a golf ball).
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I will take a picture of mine and any other ones I can get my hands on this weekend (attending a small hometown train show). I am not sure of the printing process used, but the actual "veterans decal" part of the scheme has an odd texture to it (not sure if texture is the right word, as it feels rather smooth but looks as if it's texture would be like that of a golf ball).
Is the texture similar to the image on the right?
(http://i1068.photobucket.com/albums/u449/peteski7/Railwire/MicroTrains/InkJet/KatoAmtrak01_zpse903b329.jpg)
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Is the texture similar to the image on the right?
(http://i1068.photobucket.com/albums/u449/peteski7/Railwire/MicroTrains/InkJet/KatoAmtrak01_zpse903b329.jpg)
Somewhat. As I said, I will have to get a picture this weekend. My unit is in the southern half of New Jersey with me in the north. I promise to take some decent photographs over the weekend (with no digital trickery).
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As far as I know the blue were spray on since there is blue overspray inside the shell. The silver and dark gray also look spray, the white and red look they were pad printed since they have the texture of Kato lettering.
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I apologize in advance for dredging up this thread from the dead, but I am a man of my word, and therefore I will finally produce the images I promised (with absolutely no digital "trickery"). I could spend all day making excuses as to why I did not upload them sooner, but nobody cares about that, so on to the reason I am posting. The photographs below illustrate the aforementioned production issues that I brought up on two different models of this locomotive. I have since forgotten which model is which, but that should not make as much of a difference, as there are errors on both (along with my model, not pictured):
Photograph 1:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0074_zpsl7v4lsxt.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0074_zpsl7v4lsxt.jpg.html)
Image one was likely taken to try and capture the printing effect on the veterans logo on both sides of the locomotive. I am no photographer, so this is the best I could get. The texture will hopefully be visible to those of you familiar with Kato's printing methods (if this example indeed shares its production method with other releases).
Photograph 2:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0081_zps3icj8wjn.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0081_zps3icj8wjn.jpg.html)
Image two highlights a few of the decoration errors that I have made reference to previously in this thread. Clearly visible in this photograph (hopefully) appears to be a sort of paint/ink bleed from the blue stripe into the white stripe. This is seen in the form of a grayish-blue dot (to the right of veterans logo, within the white band), a blue streak directly below the right side of the veterans logo, and a blue dot inside the "door" to the left of the veterans logo. Also of note is the color of the stars within the blue band, which appear to be a blueish-white rather than plain white, but that may just be a limitation of the printing process.
Photograph 3:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0080_zps8ylr6lwx.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0080_zps8ylr6lwx.jpg.html)
Image three shows probably the most prominent error on any of the units I have seen, which is a series of red and blue streaks across the white band (located below the road number "42"). This error makes the others seem almost able to be overlooked.
Photograph 4:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0079_zpscxdwmrva.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0079_zpscxdwmrva.jpg.html)
Image four shows another example of the "bleed" effect along the lower portion of the white band below the veterans logo. I do not feel the need to point out each individual blemish in this case, as there are enough to be obvious.
Photograph 5:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0078_zpshhahcbn7.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0078_zpshhahcbn7.jpg.html)
Image five shows even more of the bleeding effect present on these locomotives, with much of it being centered around the door and below the veterans logo. Perhaps these areas are prone to error due to specific details or artifacts of the printing process?
Photograph 6:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0077_zpsc5pjeque.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0077_zpsc5pjeque.jpg.html)
Image six is of the rear quarter of one of the locomotives. There appears to be more blue bleed to the left of the rear door. Also of interest is the appearance of what looks to be incomplete printing along the handrail indentations along the sides of the doors. This I did not notice until reviewing these photographs again, but I am not going to complain about it due to the fact that I could not visibly see it in person, unlike the blue bleed (then again, I am usually to close for comfort with these models most of the time, so I doubt many others have picked up on any of these errors anyway).
Photograph 7:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0076_zpsvjrlualb.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0076_zpsvjrlualb.jpg.html)
Image seven displays more of the blue bleed color in the usual places. Also of interest is what appears to be a darker grey dot to the left of the veterans logo, but within the main silver body color of the locomotive rather than within the confines of the stripes, like many of the other errors previously identified. The flag also looks a little suspect from this angle, but that could be due to a multitude of personal problems, so it will be ignored.
Photograph 8:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0073_zpsf7fcxkez.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0073_zpsf7fcxkez.jpg.html)
Image eight again identifies more evidence of blue ink bleed. A notable example of this is located within the confines of the side door, where the bleed is very visible, and is visible from approximately three feet away, which is cause for internal alarm.
Photograph 9:
(http://i1274.photobucket.com/albums/y425/ChristianJDavis1/DSC_0072_zpsi694bpc0.jpg) (http://s1274.photobucket.com/user/ChristianJDavis1/media/DSC_0072_zpsi694bpc0.jpg.html)
Image nine is pretty much the same photograph as image eight, but from a slightly different position. I am including solely because I already took the photograph and copied the link.
I hope these measly nine photographs can satiate this forums desire for photographic evidence of my claims. I am also positive that a true modeler would be able to just fix these slight discrepancies and go on with their lives. I for one will just run it at high speeds and forget I even saw the defects. Initially, I was just curious to find if anyone else had noticed similar problems. Writing this and looking over the photographs makes me curious as to what other decoration discrepancies are present amongst the members of my fleet. Again, not complaining, just simply curious. If you managed to make it to the end of this post, thank you, and I hope it at was at least worth your time.
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That's all textbook Kato paint application. Not always that way, but when they have issues that's usually what you'll see...bleeding colors is their specialty.
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That's all textbook Kato paint application. Not always that way, but when they have issues that's usually what you'll see...bleeding colors is their specialty.
Interesting. If that is the case, this must just be the only one that I have noticed these problems on, and I own a fair amount of Kato units.
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To be honest Chris, what I see in those photos does not look very problematic (maybe I would change my mind seeing the unit in-person).
The red stripe appears to be Tampo printed (the photo showing the rear side door shows the red paint not fully covering the depression for the handrails). It it was ink-jet pritnted or spray painted the depressions woudl be fully painted. But Tampo is basically a soft rubber stamp, so ti will not be able to provide paint coverage in very narrow depressions.
The logo is most likely ink-jet printed (even thought the photo does not show the telltale rastering shown in my sample photo).
All in all this looks like an interesting model.
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To be honest Chris, what I see in those photos does not look very problematic (maybe I would change my mind seeing the unit in-person).
The red stripe appears to be Tampo printed (the photo showing the rear side door shows the red paint not fully covering the depression for the handrails). It it was ink-jet pritnted or spray painted the depressions woudl be fully painted. But Tampo is basically a soft rubber stamp, so ti will not be able to provide paint coverage in very narrow depressions.
The logo is most likely ink-jet printed (even thought the photo does not show the telltale rastering shown in my sample photo).
All in all this looks like an interesting model.
Thank you for the insight. No, I do not see it as overly problematic, just something I noticed and was curious as to whether other people noticed it as well. Overall, I am happy with my model, and will not let these issues distract me. If I wanted to, it would be an easy fix. I think I just like to cause trouble...