Problems with NEW Kato SD70Ace's

[kschmidt626]

Greetings,

Writing to see if anyone else has been having the same problem that I and others that I know have had with the new Kato SD70Ace's.  I ordered three of the Heritage units.  When I recieved the Rio Grande unit it ran for about 5 minutes and then stopped running completely.  This also happened to two other modelers that I know who bought their locos from different hobby shops. 

Earlier this week I recieved the CNW and SP units.  Well I batted .500 with them. The SP unit ran fine, the CNW was DOA out of the box, NOTHING.  Went to remove the shell and when the shell came off so did one of the clips that come down from the board and make contact with the feeder from the axles.  It was not attached at all.  Another friend also had a DOA unit.  The hobby shop took it apart and found burrs on the gears and grease where there shouldn't be any. 

What has happened with KATO quality.  I shouldn't have to take apart a $110 locomotive to get it to run.  Luckily all 3 of my units now are running, but no thanks to KATO.  Might be some of the last KATO locos I ever get.

Keith Schmidt

[kiwi_al]

There's nothing wrong with Kato quality, mine runs perfectly and it had to travel further than yours did  ;D
I live at the bottom of the world so it could be that your carriers are just crap eh!

[nscalesteve]

well Mr. Schmidt, good to hear...
...then there are more left for me !

[Glenn Poole]

 

.......Might be some of the last KATO locos I ever get.

Keith Schmidt

Yep, Kato has gone to crap, and Atlas is now glueing there models together.

 I guess we will all have to buy only Bachmann. ;D

[pedro]

I don't know, but I found footage of your engines being delivered:

Honestly, I think shipping "issues"  and the newer gimmicky Kato drives don't mix well.

Pete

[tom mann]

 

.......Might be some of the last KATO locos I ever get.

Keith Schmidt

Yep, Kato has gone to crap, and Atlas is now glueing there models together.

 I guess we will all have to buy only Bachmann. ;D

The 44tonner is great!

[lock4244]

I think the complaints are somewhat legit. Some people over on the A-Board had some problems with them as well.

http://forum.atlasrr.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=54007

Pobody's nerfect, not even Kato.

[sizemore]

Seriously I think KATO should be banned from making trains all together. I mean this non-sense about purchasing lokies with poor QC issues kills me, maybe they should just stick to tiddily-winks and pick-up sticks. I shouldnt have to do something super easy like taking off the shell and just pop a simple part back in place or worse yet investigate and fix myself! I shouldnt have to test it before I leave the shop.... To think these KATO folks are still in business!

 

The S.

[Ian MacMillan]

My complaint of the ones I saw yesterday was the horrible paining. I had one of the SP heritage units in my hand and in several spots the black or red was not filled into the spaces between doors and seams, etc, leaving them yellow.

[Hyperion]

well Mr. Schmidt, good to hear...
...then there are more left for me !

Steve, knowing you I'd have to think if you're buying some of these you've got to be stripping a lot of them since Kato's not making Undecs.  What's the secret to removing Kato paint?  Everything I've tried just kinda smears it around.  Yeah, you get it off eventually, but it's more like you sort of smear it off after a fair bit of effort rather than it just peeling off like with Atlas locos.

[nscalesteve]

What's the secret to removing Kato paint?  Everything I've tried just kinda smears it around.  Yeah, you get it off eventually, but it's more like you sort of smear it off after a fair bit of effort rather than it just peeling off like with Atlas locos.

I haven't found the "right juice" which will have the same result as with Atlas locos but I use 96% alcohol and a round brush on a dremel flex. I soak the Kato shell for 2-3 minutes in the alcohol and then I immediately start to use the brush to remove the paint. the paint will come off in layers and not peeling off like Atlas or LifeLike. let it soak again for a couple minutes and again brushing with the dremel... one thing, after the shell did soak in the alcohol you have to make sure you remove all the paint before you paint the shell or you will have a nice snake skin pattern on your newly painted engine. the remaining paint will get little, fine craks and if you decide just to overpaint - don't do it... (do not ask why I know that...  )

[tokenbrit]

You're not supposed to let the factory air out - they look and run perfect in the jewel boxes