BLI RSD15 & PRR P5a

[randgust]

OK, so I bought an RSD15 after a long, long, long 'out of stock' and finally got it.

Looks great.  Put it on the straight and flat test track, sounded great stock.   Tested tractive effort, not great but acceptable.   Hmmm.  May get three more if the price was right.

Took my unit to Altoona to run it on the T-trak layout.

OMG.  OMG.  It couldn't handle it.  The problem was ANY, repeat ANY minor vertical change in the track.  The fuel tank hits the railheads.  Any vertical curve, high rail joint, module joint....it teetered on the peak and sat there and spun.   There is ZERO clearance under the fuel tank, and the speaker is right there.   So 'out of the box' this is a major issue.   No idea how to fix, but it looks kind of major as the speaker housing is the lowest spot.

Scaletrains at least admits they have a similar problem with the SD40 and have instructions on how to deal with it.  I saw one of these pile up on the same spots the RSD15 was.  https://www.scaletrains.com/blog/time-to-model-correcting-fuel-tank.html

I went there with the idea of testing it, and maybe buying three more.  Now I think I may just sell it.

Every BLI I've seen or tried, with the possible exception of the M1, seemed to have a built-in major performance glitch.   But I tried anyway.

[MK]

Sorry to hear that Randy.  I have been avoiding BLI like the plague, even stealth versions.  I'm just too busy for surprises out of the box! 

Hopefully the new throttle you got at Altoona made you happy enough to overcome this realization. 

[randgust]

Hey, my rebuilt Trix decapod worked like a charm on that new throttle, and my ancient Life-Like PA with a DZ126T in it also ran like a champ both days, so this was one of the very few !!@#$%!! moments other than how long it took me to break down and buy a proper throttle.

This RSD15 went right back in the box, couldn't make a lap.

[squirrelhunter]

Their F units and USRA 2-8-2 and 4-6-2 run well, but their running characteristics can be masked by iff decoder behavior, especially on the pre Paragon 4 versions.