BLI N&W Y6B sample

[ek2000]

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[Mark5]

Lookin good! 

The front driver set is derailed starting at about 2:08 

[mike_lawyer]

Wow, that looks awesome.  The fact that it is all die cast boiler and tender should make it able to pull very well.

Very impressed with the DCC motor control.  It really is one tie at a time.
 

[davefoxx]

Looks great and sounds good, until it went to plaid at the very end of the video. 😛

DFF

[MK]

What's the minimum radius?

[PJPickard]

Pretty sure audio of whistle is taken from on of Link's recordings.

[High Hood]

Looks like BLI did really good on these! I may be in for one or two, but that $599.99 MSRP...ouch!   

Didn’t Atlas get the Y3 tooling from Walthers? I’d love to see it make a comeback.

[Englewood]

I'll buy one. I'm a sucker for big steam, even though it doesn't fit my modeling location or era.

[kiwi_al]

Didn’t Atlas get the Y3 tooling from Walthers? I’d love to see it make a comeback.

I heard from an Atlas person that they did along with the Berkshire and the Erie Builts

[peteski]

I heard from an Atlas person that they did along with the Berkshire and the Erie Builts

I thought that all the Walthers N scale steam loco tooling was hopelessly lost.

[reinhardtjh]

I thought that all the Walthers N scale steam loco tooling was hopelessly lost.

I believe it was the 0-8-0 switcher that was lost along with the ALCo C-424/425 tooling.

[peteski]

I believe it was the 0-8-0 switcher that was lost along with the ALCo C-424/425 tooling.

Yes, you have jogged my memory.  Thanks!

[propmeup1]

Two been on order.

[peteski]

While it is a bit difficult to judge from the video, I think that the drivers do not have see-through spokes, and the railings (for the lack of a better word) "cage" seem to be a but thick.  One thing I disliked on the Life-Like/Walthers version was that "cage"  on that model it was made from a flat cross-section photietched metal.  It didn't look very realistic.  On this model it appears to have round cross-section, but it seems a bit on a heavy side.  Seeing drivers with solid centers always surprises me (especially on newly made models).

See-through spokes have been used in N scale drivers pretty since the beginnings of N scale.  It should be a no-brainer.  Usually the spoked center is molded out of plastic, but some recent models from Bachmann, Dapol and Arnold (last two are European prototype) have all metal drivers cast or forged as a single piece (tire and spokes).  So it is not like the technology is not there.

I'm also curious about the "increased capacitance" on the decoders. In an earlier TRW discussion about the Paragon 5 4 in an N scale steamer, the photos posted in the thread seemed to show the same size and same number of caps on the decoder as there are on Paragon 4 3.  I guess the only way I could find out for sure would be to buy a model with a Paragon 5 4 decoder.

[reinhardtjh]

While it is a bit difficult to judge from the video, I think that the drivers do not have see-through spokes, and the railings (for the lack of a better word) "cage" seem to be a but thick.  One thing I disliked on the Life-Like/Walthers version was that "cage"  on that model it was made from a flat cross-section photietched metal.  It didn't look very realistic.  On this model it appears to have round cross-section, but it seems a bit on a heavy side.  Seeing drivers with solid centers always surprises me (especially on newly made models).

See-through spokes have been used in N scale drivers pretty since the beginnings of N scale.  It should be a no-brainer.  Usually the spoked center is molded out of plastic, but some recent models from Bachmann, Dapol and Arnold (last two are European prototype) have all metal drivers cast or forged as a single piece (tire and spokes).  So it is not like the technology is not there.

I'm also curious about the "increased capacitance" on the decoders. In an earlier TRW discussion about the Paragon 5 in an N scale steamer, the photos posted in the thread seemed to show the same size and same number of caps on the decoder as there are on Paragon 4.  I guess the only way I could find out for sure would be to buy a model with a Paragon 5 decoder.

I think you probably mean the Paragon 3 and Paragon 4 (4 being the latest at this time) rather then 4 and 5.  I remember the photo and unless they used a higher capacitance component that happened to be the same size, I agree.

Also, the solid center driver is a BLI thing.  I have the first run version (P3) of both the Heavy/Light Pacifics and the Heavy/Light Mikados and both have the solid driver.  I assume the second run (P4) versions do as well. Both runs of the T1 also have solid center drivers, but my first-run M1A/b has see-through drivers. So they have done it at one time, just not recently.