Athearn 25th Jan 2019 Announcements

[cfritschle]

According to Athearn, these are "Clippers" which pre-dated Visicoaches. http://www.athearn.com/Products/N/  The particular model looks like the post WWII variety, so 1946 or after.  But the question is whether Santa Fe had any Clippers.  And from photos of Clippers (or so identified by the poster of the photo), I think they were available with various window arrangements.  Still, it is pretty.  And given that I still use some Kato Budd coaches as stand ins for ATSF chair cars, I should be able to have a Clipper as a stand in for a Visicoach.

Tom,

The artwork matches the Visacoach, but maybe Athearn is going to cut some new tooling to make the Clipper, and they just updated their old artwork for this announcement.  Here is a photo of an Athearn first run Visicoach.   http://nscalevehicles.org/vehicle_of_year/2010.php

And this link is to a Santa Fe Trailways Clipper.  http://www.flickriver.com/photos/etmccaus/2685308913/

Edit:  I found a photo in my Railimages gallery showing the left side of the Visicoach. 

[wazzou]

What in the hell is that on the left @cfritschle ?

[thomasjmdavis]

Tom,

The artwork matches the Visacoach, but maybe Athearn is going to cut some new tooling to make the Clipper, and they just updated their old artwork for this announcement.  Here is a photo of an Athearn first run Visicoach.   http://nscalevehicles.org/vehicle_of_year/2010.php

And this link is to a Santa Fe Trailways Clipper.  http://www.flickriver.com/photos/etmccaus/2685308913/

Edit:  I found a photo in my Railimages gallery showing the left side of the Visicoach. 

@cfritschle ,

Thanks for the correction.  I just went with what Athearn told me it was.  It appears to be a common confusion.  Found this "spotters guide"

http://flxibleowners.org/breeds-of-flxibles/

where they say "In 1950, Flxible updated the clipper-style bus into a new version that is known as the Visicoach (but many people still refer to as a clipper since it shares the same general body design as the previous model)."

So, I guess we will see whether Athearn make new tooling for a Clipper, or is just painting clipper paint schemes on its Visicoach.  And meanwhile, now that I have this straight, I will work on trying to find out if Santa Fe owned a Visicoach.
Sorry if I caused confusion for anyone. 

[cfritschle]

What in the hell is that on the left @cfritschle ?

Bryan,

It came from a Hawk Models De Havilland Comet airliner kit that I got in 1959 or 1960.  https://www.minimodelshop.co.uk/diecast-model-car/de-havilland-comet-plastic-model-airplane-kit-hawk-models-ln512

Here is the fuel truck that was also in the kit.



You may recognize the cab of the Studebaker fuel truck as the master for the Ultimate N Scale Studebaker truck.  https://www.trainz.com/products/ultimate-n-scale-2509-n-1949-53-studebaker-17-ft-smooth-box-delivery-truck?variant=50138042517

Edit:  This link is to the original kit (the one I have)  https://www.oldmodelkits.com/index.php?detail=25812&page=325

And here is a link that shows the actual contents of the kit.  https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.ipmsusa3.org%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Freviews%2Fde-havilland-comet-airliner%2Fcomet_box_back.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fweb.ipmsusa3.org%2Fcontent%2Fde-havilland-comet-airliner&docid=x7kf2XOhvHsWuM&tbnid=c5gTciTn9BuxFM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjZhKyW-JbgAhUzNX0KHRrLA5gQMwhJKAswCw..i&w=1600&h=1047&bih=873&biw=1871&q=hawk%20models%20de%20havilland&ved=0ahUKEwjZhKyW-JbgAhUzNX0KHRrLA5gQMwhJKAswCw&iact=mrc&uact=8

Obviously I did not do a very good of job of assembling the models 60 years ago.   

[peteski]

Bryan,

It came from a Hawk Models De Havilland Comet airliner kit that I got in 1959 or 1960. 

So is that a 1:144 scale bus?

[cfritschle]

So is that a 1:144 scale bus?

The original kit (from the late 1950s) stated the scale as 1:153. 

[peteski]

The original kit (from the late 1950s) stated the scale as 1:153.

Hmmm . . . seems a tad large (especially the wheels) for being that close to 1:160.  Interesting.

[wazzou]

I've got a lot of Ultimate N Scale kits still and I knew Chuck Short.
I believe all of his kits were close to 1:144.
Back in the days they were produced, they were head and shoulders the best available truck and/or trailers.

[nkalanaga]

What I was afraid of.  The GBW car looked interesting, but the model is the wrong prototype.  Oh well...

[sirenwerks]

What I was afraid of.  The GBW car looked interesting, but the model is the wrong prototype.  Oh well...

??? The car side and door is spot on, is it the ends or rood that are wrong?

[Mark5]

Tom,

The artwork matches the Visacoach, but maybe Athearn is going to cut some new tooling to make the Clipper, and they just updated their old artwork for this announcement.

This is possible - Athearn sometimes gets lazy with the artwork. The last run of the MDC open hoppers used the HO car for the artwork - the HO car is a different model.

[cjm413]

??? The car side and door is spot on, is it the ends or rood that are wrong?

Prototype has PS-1 ends, model has non-terminating ends

Prototype sides have 12 posts, model has 10.

[Mark5]

Prototype has PS-1 ends, model has non-terminating ends

Prototype sides have 12 posts, model has 10.

Good eye. At a glance I had thought it was the only one that matched the model.

[cjm413]

Good eye. At a glance I had thought it was the only one that matched the model.

None of the paint schemes from this release are correct.

L&N's cars that do match the ex-MDC model were delivered in Family Lines paint.

[Mark5]

None of the paint schemes from this release are correct.

L&N's cars that do match the ex-MDC model were delivered in Family Lines paint.

I guess its time to lobby Athearn http://canadianfreightcargallery.ca/cgi-bin/image.pl?i=ln480201&o=ln