Author Topic: Fox Valley N scale Loco's  (Read 3753 times)

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Car17

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Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« on: December 17, 2013, 10:01:42 AM »
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Anyone have any experience or links to other threads about the FVM Locos? Hows the quality and detail overall?

davefoxx

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2013, 10:20:39 AM »
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Any particular locomotive?  The only FVM locomotive model that I have is a GP60M, which is really nice.  It runs well and looks good.  There was a problem with the fuel tank being too far aft on the GP60M, but you can find a fix online.  It hasn't bothered me enough to date, so I have not attempted the fix yet.

Here's a GP60M thread: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=28977.0

Here's a video of the Hiawatha 4-4-2, which was a preproduction model.  Production models have received rave reviews to the best of my knowledge: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=22508.msg213775#msg213775

You can do a search for more FVM threads.

Hope this helps,
DFF

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Car17

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2013, 10:32:35 AM »
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Any particular locomotive?  The only FVM locomotive model that I have is a GP60M, which is really nice.  It runs well and looks good.  There was a problem with the fuel tank being too far aft on the GP60M, but you can find a fix online.  It hasn't bothered me enough to date, so I have not attempted the fix yet.

Here's a GP60M thread: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=28977.0

Here's a video of the Hiawatha 4-4-2, which was a preproduction model.  Production models have received rave reviews to the best of my knowledge: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=22508.msg213775#msg213775

You can do a search for more FVM threads.

Hope this helps,
DFF

Hey yes it does, Im not really set in any Loco set yet. But the GP's look nice and I would go for the Santa Fe. But I also like the Canadian Nation N ES44AC.

Jeff AKA St0rm

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2013, 10:40:25 AM »
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Fox Valley is right up there with Kato. They run great and look even better. I have 15 of the ES44 and 4 of the GP60. The only thing I find is they are a little louder then Kato with motor and gear noise. They have great slow speed movement and the detail is better than kato.

Scottl

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2013, 10:50:50 AM »
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I have a few of the GEVO units and agree with Jeff's comments.   The finish detailing (small labels, stickers, etc.) are much better than Kato, but the Kato units run with less noise.  Both are my favorite brand of locomotive for the modern models.

jdcolombo

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2013, 09:32:39 PM »
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The Hiawatha is superb.  Just a terrific-running steamer and the whole set is about as impressive a passenger train as anything out there.

My NKP NS Heritage GEVO also is superb.  Way out of my 1957 time frame, but a delight to run when I'm in a time-warp mood.

FVM's service is great, too.  When I got my GEVO, the light board had a short.  E-mailed FVM and had a replacement board in 2 days.

Great company with great products.

John C.

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FloridaBoy

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2013, 06:03:26 AM »
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I have my first NS SD70ACe Heritage in PRR and I will vouch for it all day long. It runs like the wind.  Right now it is pulling my PRR Kato passenger set full of tourists.

Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman

jereising

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2013, 09:58:44 AM »
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The FVM Diesels use a chassis much like the Kato "unsprung" chassis, and because of that simplicity they are and will be excellent runners.

Kato has overcomplicated things with their sprung chassis as found on the SD40-2 Mid Production and the SD70ACes.

The detail and finish level are, IMO, superior to the Kato, and they use a slower speed motor instead of a rocket sled.

And let's not forget that lovely little bag of details with every one!

I can hardly wait until FVM brings out their ACes in UP and BNSF.  Bye - bye Kato...
Jim Reising
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jdcolombo

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2013, 07:35:43 PM »
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I can hardly wait until FVM brings out their ACes in UP and BNSF.  Bye - bye Kato...

I switched my pre-order at an e-tailer from the Kato ACe's to the FMV ones, partly because of the simpler design, partly just because I want to support a smaller, U.S. company.  Not to denigrate what Kato has done for the hobby, but I'd rather my money support a "local" business.

I'm putting a sound decoder in my NKP Heritage GEVO; will post results when I'm done.  It looks to be a pretty easy conversion.

John C.

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2013, 08:56:31 PM »
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I went all in with GP60's and the 4-4-2 and although I had some quality issues FVM stood behind them and I am very satisfied.  Right there with IM, Kato and Atlas.
Brian

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chicken45

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2013, 09:54:01 PM »
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FVM locos come with all the grab irons, but in a bag, not installed. I think that's great! Instead of having to shave off molded on stuff, they just let you take it the last mile. I'm sure they do it because installing separate grab irons is tedious, costly, and fragile to ship. Chances are, if you don't care enough to apply the grab irons they provide, you won't miss the molded on parts anyways. It's great they give us that option.
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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #12 on: December 19, 2013, 12:47:57 AM »
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I purchased my first FVM loco over the summer, CR heritage unit, and the model quality is outstanding. I have not had a chance to run it yet so I can not comment on that.
I WANNA SEE THE BOAT MOVIE!

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wmcbride

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2013, 01:07:13 AM »
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I switched my pre-order at an e-tailer from the Kato ACe's to the FMV ones, partly because of the simpler design, partly just because I want to support a smaller, U.S. company.  Not to denigrate what Kato has done for the hobby, but I'd rather my money support a "local" business.

I'm putting a sound decoder in my NKP Heritage GEVO; will post results when I'm done.  It looks to be a pretty easy conversion.

John C.

John,

I'm looking forward to that.

Bill McBride
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Big Train

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Re: Fox Valley N scale Loco's
« Reply #14 on: December 20, 2013, 08:16:46 AM »
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Car17,

I have two of them,  a CN ES44DC and a CP GE-ES-F, and I like them a lot. They get a lot of "run-time" on the layout.

The build quality is equal to the Kato and Atlas products, but if really hard pressed....like after a few Guinness....I would admit the FVM are more Atlas-like than Kato. By that I mean when an Atlas locomotive disassembled and put it back together, the Atlas have a tendency to be noisier than Kato's. For the Atlas units, it could be problem if you want to install a DCC board at some point. I took My ES44DC apart while trying to troubleshoot my brother's ES44DC (more about that later...) and it was noisier after being assembled.

But here is the beauty of the FVM locomotives: on these two models, DCC is easily installed. Pull off the radiator fan cover and replace the pc board shorting plug with either the DZ125IN or EUN651 decoder. There is no need to remove the body shell.

It's a great solution I wish Kato and Atlas would use for their products. I think that was the prime reason I bought the FVM units.

All that being said, my brother had a non DCC equipped FVM unit with some sort of weird electrical glitch that would cause the locomotive to intermittently stop dead on the track for no apparent reason at any time. And despite all the troubleshooting we did, no cause was found. The locomotive was returned to the hobby shop and was exchanged. The replacement is running fine.

They are strong pullers with excellent paint, details and markings.

You should get one....