Atlas O F-7 UPDATE

SantaFeJim posted:

MELGAR posted:

Do these before and after photos show the defect that caused Atlas O to delay the sale of the Santa Fe F7s last December? In the 2016 pictures, the warbonnet was painted with the Farr grilles already on the model - incorrect. In the 2017 pictures the warbonnet was painted before the grilles were installed on the model - which is correct. I purchased an Atlas O Amtrak F7 which I received in December, and I like it very much. Now, I intend to purchase a Santa Fe F7. I have been buying Atlas O models since the brand began - and will continue to do so. Their models are beautiful and mine have been trouble free. I wish people would stop bashing them. The hobby needs them to continue as an O gauge manufacturer.

 

Take a closer look at the "before" and "after" trucks.  You will see a difference.

Personally, I much prefer the "BEFORES".

 

IMHO I think Atlas really shot themselves in the foot with this so called "decoration recall".  There would have been far less complaints, cancellations and damaged goodwill if they had delivered these last December as promised.  The December trucks are what appeared on the original order pictures and NOBODY complained about them.

I am VERY, VERY DISAPPOINTED in how this whole issue was handled.  NO MORE ATLAS for this guy.

 

Jim, what differences do you see in the trucks? After looking closely at both pictures the only difference I can see is the air line (I assume it is an air line but if it isn't I am sure HW will correct me ) that goes from piston to piston is routed above the pistons on the "BEFORE" shots and below the pistons on the "AFTER" shots.

The red paint on the Warbonnet seems very flat in the photos. Is it like that in person? 

Can the original F7 SHELLS be stripped and repainted for other railroads?

Hopefully those air lines on the trucks can be rotated back up to their proper position. I thought the problem was with the shells.....why in the world would they rotate the air lines downward to the center of the trucks?

Phil,  To move the air line up where it belongs, above the truck Cylinders, you may have to unscrew the side step from the bottom of the chassis to allow clearance when flipping the piping upward. I am surprised the Atlas O people did not catch this for their York Display.  All the Atlas O F7A and F7B units I just purchased in the last two months were correct. (Piping above cylinders)   As it is pictured on the new sample, the line could be damaged (if it was a real engine) when someone used the truck foot stirrup.  Important piping should be run out of the way of potential damage, above the Brake Cylinders.

That piping rotates easily.  I have Atlas UP F3s and on a couple of those engines that air lines had "fallen" down,  I guess I had to remove the step.  I may have rotated the air line without removing it, i don't remember, it was no big deal.

I stared at both pics.  Why is the 2016 version better than the 2017 version?  The 2017 versions look good to me.  I will be happy to pull my El Cap cars with them (after I fix the pilots and install scale couplers...of course!)

As T4TT points out, the piping flips up easily. When I received my Milwaukee Road F7's I pulled the shells to install the fixed pilots on the A units. Upon reinstalling the shell on that first unit I didn't happen to notice that the piping had rotated to the down. Back off and on with the shell and all is good.

On 10/21/16 I posted several pictures pointing out several problems that I spotted on the Atlas Santa Fe F7 A & B units.  It looks like Atlas chose to ignored most of my suggestions.  Please note the placement of the indian head on the B unit that David 2 days ago.

This picture, which I posted on this same forum last October shows the logo should not overlap the side panel seams.  The logo is in the correct location, however the side panels are configured for the LEFT side of the B unit and we are viewing the the RIGHT side.  

So, as near as I can tell, (since Atlas has yet to explain what they fixed in the last six months) all that changed was the grills on the A unit.

Seems like a heck of a long wait for such a minor fix.

FYI, If you want to review the whole thread from Last October titled:

Atlas-O Santa Fe F-7 October 2016 York Preview

Here is the link:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/t...66#66892351461552566

 

 

 

Aren't pre-orders closed for this locomotive?  How about quit parading the model around and Ship it to Dealers instead!

To reiterate what was posted at the beginning of this discussion, replacement F7A & F7B body shells and other assorted parts arrived at Atlas the week before the York Meet.  We must now begin the process of replacing body shells plus, in certain cases, other decorated parts that had incorrect or damaged paint.  In some cases there are mechanical issues which also need to be addressed.  In short, this is not a small task, especially for a company that does not have an assembly line in place.  Our hope is to have this work completed by the end of May.  Even if it is not 100% complete, locomotives should start shipping to dealers within the month as they are repaired and repackaged.

Note that the above process involves 100% of Santa Fe F7As, and a much smaller percentage of all other F7As and Bs on this production run.

Regarding RailSounds, we are unable to perform any upgrades to the sound system.  We currently offer the only system that Lionel makes available to us (as well as other model manufacturers). 

And for 2-Rail customers, I can report that all future 2-Rail locomotive production should receive ESU sound.  That includes the upcoming Dash 8-40CW locomotive.

The dash 8 has been upcoming for three presidents now. I think 9 years is a bit ridiculous. This is a sore point for me since I have 3 on order and they're still just talk