Wow ! Kato GG 1 is here

[Nato]

  I recieved my Kato GG 1 from BLW today. As the owner of old Rapido locomotive all I can say is "I'am Blown Away" ,but then again Kato has had years of expierence producing models of electric locomotives. First of all the Brunswick Green color, is it Black,is it Green,it has that just right look where it looks black under some lighting conditions and green under others. The real locomotives that I got to see several times in the195's 60's on visits back east had the same effect to my eyes. The detailing is way and above wonderful, ladders under the cab which Crapido bever had because they were afraid the truck's would hit them on curves. Exqusite delicate horns one on cach cab end. The pantographs (pans) unlike those on some brass locomotives (Little Joe",I have one) are not stiff ,spring loaded  and easly bent or broken. Kato's pans are nicely blackened can be raised up into two positions ,fully extended and half way up and they stay in place. The pinstriping is amazing,did they do some sort of pad printing? They are not decals,the Keystones are really nice not the crude stickons of the first run of Rapidos or the somewhat nicer shiny foil stick ons of the 2nd run of these locos ,which by the way look too green to me. Kato even has carefully done the red outling around the cab window frames and seen in the pilot model photos. So far I have just test rum my new baby back and fourth in my rail yard,the leds used for headlighting have that nice old fashioned warm glow real locomotives had for years. The mech runs smoothly and quietly with a very low crawl speed. Later today the big test,hook her up to 16 or so mixed manufacturer passenger cars and see what the little gem will pull.                                                    Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.                                                                 

[David Leonard]

I got my G on Monday also, and yes, it is a real jewel. Looks odd pulling the Super Chief, but the little N scale Santa Fe passengers aren't complaining, as they're getting a quiet smooth ride. My trackwork isn't quite complete yet--there are still some rough spots--but the G handles it all with ease. Actually I was kinda hoping it might give me a little trouble tracking wise, so I could better find the places that need adjustment, but this thing takes the bad with the good. No problems whatsoever.

[Bob Bufkin]

I know mines on the way.  Hopefully, I'll get it today.  Let us know how well it pulls a long train.
Bob

[Bob Bufkin]

Received mine today.   One beautiful put together model.  Haven't tested it yet. 

[ryourstone]

One of mine has part of a wheel missing  >

Great looking model otherwise. One issue I see is the tension on the contact strips seems too much. Enough that it lifts the whole body (sort of like leaf springs) and leaves it sitting uneven. Should be easy to fix though, but I'm not sure if it's like that on purpose, better tracking or something? I know the center driver is supposed to be sprung, but never saw an entire carbody sprung like this.


 

[Bob Bufkin]

Just rechecked mine.  One of the pantographs was handing loose.  Easy fix.

[ryourstone]

Here's the messed up wheel, make sure you check yours:



I'm sure the retailer or Kato will take care of this, waiting to hear back. Didn't even take this one out of the box when I saw it. I'm not too worried, looks like it's just some kind of insert that's missing. At worst case I'll get out the Pour-A-mold and make a resin copy of one of the other ones. Eventually, Kato USA should have parts available too.

Also, regarding the Leaf Spring Contact Strips, I found one was off which was making the opposite corner push up too far. Snapped it in place and it rides much better (and evenly). Still, I'd like to take some tension off those and drop body some, it can go down at least 1/32" and would look much better. The extra play is probably for rough trackwork.

Edit: Since I mentioned I bought some from Klein's I should add this wasn't one of them. Those 2 were in perfect shape  But because of the bubble sheet you can't notice this until taking the lid off the box, so can't blame the retailer anyway.

[Nato]

   Yes there is some trouble in River City with the G's. Worst report is on the Yehaw N Scale list someone recieved two that had their trucks loose in the boxes along with the flywheel and other mech parts.        Now for my Test Results,first off I didn't try running mine on my branchline which has a pretty good grade eventhough I figured it might track on the sharp curves. The test train was run on my gradeless mainline. I pulled 19 cars easly might have pulled more but I didn't want to add more . Seven Intermountain PRR cars 3 coaches 4 sleepers, then 2 Walthers PRR sleepers,(nine cars) then 10 more Walthers sleepers mixed roads. Nice and quiet, no wheel slip,I will have to try a train of all Kato cars next to simulate the coming Broadway set. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[ryourstone]

So the reply from the retailer is they don't see what the problem is (I sent the same image posted above). Not going to even get into that, is it really hard to tell??? And to contact Kato about parts, if they can't help I can return for replacement. So I sent feedback through Kato's website, don't know if that actaully goes anywhere to get read. Does anyone have an email address for them?

Last time I had an issue like this was when I bought 4 Atlas roundhouses and they were all missing the roof vents. I had a package from Atlas in 3 days. Let's see if Kato does as well.

Good thing I bought the extras, I have a bad feeling this one will be sitting in the box for a while.

[CVSNE]

Rich,

Why I can't help you much with the wheel issue if anyone ends up with a shell that's not up to snuff let me know - I got two of these - one I'll keep for old time's sake - the other I just want the mech and pants for - I'm going to try and build a New Haven EP-3 out of it.

Marty

[160pennsy]

So I sent feedback through Kato's website, don't know if that actaully goes anywhere to get read. Does anyone have an email address for them?

Here's an email address from their reply to a feedback msg I sent to same Kato website:

Kato Customer Service [katocs@katousa.com]

[NorsemanJack]

So the reply from the retailer is they don't see what the problem is (I sent the same image posted above).

And to contact Kato about parts, if they can't help I can return for replacement.

Two suggestions: get yourself a new retailer and just send the whole thing into Kato.  I'm sure they'll make it right.  They probably don't have individual parts available yet, but I'm sure they have extra units to cannibalize for warranty support.

[ryourstone]

Kato responded within a few hours with a shipping address for warranty support. So it'll all be good soon.
 

[nscalesteve]

So the reply from the retailer is they don't see what the problem is...

Dear Mr. Yourstone,

we have your money so we really can't see where the problem is.

Sincerely
.....

[CONRAIL FAN]

NIce GG1, Katos models alway impressed me now i want one, but the funds need to be saved for the atlas c40-8s, i thought that they are suppoesed to be released this month as well