Overland Gensets

[ljudice]

Everyone have their Overland Genset orders in???? Only $721 each!

http://www.overlandmodels.com/search...rch_box=genset

[kiwi_al]

http://www.overlandmodels.com/showroom.php?scale=3

[Hyperion]

I'd love to have a couple.  But I'll wait until a plastic version comes out.  Until then I've been meaning to get around to bashing a TEBUC6 to be an interesting piece of yard power.

[wcfn100]

The Little Joe was $850.  Totally worth it.  I don't see why this would be any different.


Jason

[pedro]

The Little Joe was $850.  Totally worth it.  I don't see why this would be any different.


Jason

I have a theory about brass, and that is if it's something iconic and unique, like the Little Joe or road-specific steam, then it's worth it. Something like a gen-set or a SD70ACe? Not worth it. Admittedly, the gen-set is not that common on the prototype, but it's just common enough, or getting that way, that one of the usual suspects may tackle it someday. It sure is not something I would shell out $700 bones for.
 
Brass should exist to fill the niches that the manufacturers won't ever touch. Road-specific stuff. Steam and cabooses. I would sell a kidney for a C&NW class H or H-1, for example. Ann Arbor cabooses. Stuff like that.

Just my opinion,
Pete D.

[Denver Road Doug]

Pete, that's a good theory and probably about how I feel about it, but the problem is that the Hybrids and Gensets are about as different as cabooses were from railroad to railroad.  They are all, essentially "kitbashes" based on their donor locomotive so for a manufacturer to take them on they'll have to be a few "foobies" in the mix.  Atlas Trainman would probably be a good place for something like this, but overall there will be a lot of complaining I suspect.

I was goofing around with one of my Life-Like GP20's and came up with a very loose kitbash.  I haven't tackled the cab yet so it doesn't look great but here's a pic...



I don't know if the mech works yet or not.  I filed it down to the top of the motor cradle and it seems to be held in there OK but we'll see.  And what it will pull with all the weight gone will be anybody's guess.  I suppose I'll have to add weight back in the cab, for starters.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That's pretty cool.

[3rdrail]

Pete, that's a good theory and probably about how I feel about it, but the problem is that the Hybrids and Gensets are about as different as cabooses were from railroad to railroad.  They are all, essentially "kitbashes" based on their donor locomotive so for a manufacturer to take them on they'll have to be a few "foobies" in the mix.  Atlas Trainman would probably be a good place for something like this, but overall there will be a lot of complaining I suspect.

I was goofing around with one of my Life-Like GP20's and came up with a very loose kitbash.  I haven't tackled the cab yet so it doesn't look great but here's a pic...



I don't know if the mech works yet or not.  I filed it down to the top of the motor cradle and it seems to be held in there OK but we'll see.  And what it will pull with all the weight gone will be anybody's guess.  I suppose I'll have to add weight back in the cab, for starters.

Please keep The Railwire posted as to your progress  on this locomotive, along with some shots of the mechanism modifications. There are lots of Life-Like UP 474 GP20's out there left over from the Hobby Expo blowout and I suspect there may be many other (or at least some other) modelers that would like to follow in your footsteps and build a genset locomotive.

A really good project for modern modelers, IMHO. 

[Denver Road Doug]

Here's the mech.  If you have a GP20 handy, you can pretty easily see where I chopped it from the original frame.



The main point of the exercise was to see if I could file down the frame and make it work.  Jury still out but I think I acheived that goal.  Then it was just a matter of, heck I've got the shell let's make a quick and dirty Green Goat with it.  Certainly not prototypical just kinda playin' around with it.  And I'm still about $704 ahead at this point.   

[Walkercolt]

Wish the dollar/yen rate was like back in '72...nearly 400 Yen to a dollar. Or whatever the Korean money is. It sure would help with brass prices. Guys could get stuff like brass from the PX's in Okinawa on R&R. Oh well...

[ljudice]

Doug - looks like your on to something!! Very cool!

Re: Overland - I agree with the sentiment that OMI should stick to the truely rare stuff. I was badly burned by buying 3 OMI SD80MAC's - then of course Kato's came out. I eventually sold them for a lot less than I paid. No big deal - I enjoyed them when I had them. Well I enjoyed LOOKING at them, because they ran like my old Yugoslavian locos...

Another thing they could focus on are the spreaders, ditchers - maybe even a ballast cleaner or railgrinder.

I have an OMI spreader and an Ohio Crane, and both are very nice models.

[FrankCampagna]

I was badly burned by buying 3 OMI SD80MAC's - then of course Kato's came out. I eventually sold them for a lot less than I paid.

Yeah, I predate you. Spent good money in the early '80's for brass RS-2. Next year, Atlas came out with their RS-3, at a quarter of the price. Road specific wood cabooses would seem like a license to print money for the brass companies. Endless variety, not horribly expensive, and always people looking for them.

Frank

[engineshop]

Here's the mech.  If you have a GP20 handy, you can pretty easily see where I chopped it from the original frame.



...

Thanks for the picture Doug.
I am more leaning towards a Railpower Goat but the work is almost the same since the use old GP9 etc.

Since Overland will not do anything for the next 2 years except keep the announcement, I hope somebody else (Kato, Atlas) will jump with an announcement the day Overland ships them.

[Walkercolt]

With all the variations in the "state of the art" locomotives from each roadname, brass shells over a split-frame mechanism would seem to me to be smart. The late Bobbye Hall did it very well with the SD-24's. Probably the best N-scale brass engines ever made. :'( No, I'll reserve that honor for Aspen Models Nn3 steam, but Miss Hall did good.

[ljudice]

Walkercolt, didn't OMI say a few years ago "no more N until we had a mech. that was equivalent to Kato?"