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Ok, OK, I know there are a couple of threads out there already on the new Lionel AFT cars. It's just that I don't see train items like this very frequently and I thought I would add my $0.02. This is a heads up for everyone on the fence about the AFT cars from Lionel. Get off of the fence. This sound car is, in a word, "Fabulous, Fabulous." That's two words because one ain't enough. There are so many reasons this car is going to take off and go into the stratosphere. I have not really seen a breakaway product often recently. Lionel has had a couple. The EVO GEVO, the die cast diesels, the Milwaukee Road S-3. They have another. I'm telling you, when people hear this car (it's very pretty also) they are going to get friction burns on their credit cards. Take it from Scrapiron. Get it now while it's still affordable. It won't be for long.

Now, you might ask, aren't there flaws? Of course there are flaws. It's Lionel for goodness sakes. Lionel makes an art out of producing something amazing and then doing things that boggle the mind. The little things . . . . . very small paint flaws. If the car was not so amazing, the little ticky tack paint issues on the roofs and sides would probably rankle me. The big one is this. You can see the sound module and wires from 15 feet away. They did a good job with the windows and the PUT DIVIDERS into the other parts of this car. WHY NOT put a divider around the sound module ? ? Aaarrrggghghhhhhahhhhhrrrghghghg

Still, it is an absolute A+ snd I never give anything an A+ when it has flaws but this car is an A++.

1) Many different sounds

2) Crystal clear sound reproduction. Soooo good, that my wife heard it upstairs and thought I had the stereo on !!

3) National anthem, Stars and Stripes Forever . . . . .  Ohhhh man, put this car in front of an American flag and you will be saluting. I did !!

Last edited by Scrapiron Scher
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I have e-mailed Dave and Dean.

I looked at the opposite end of the car and you cannot see more than 1/2" - 3/4" beyond the dividers. I do NOT know, but I have the feeling that if the shell is reversed, all of the wiring harnesses. etc will be hidden. I will e-mail Dave Olsen. I sure hope this is not the case. I do NOT want to mar my car by not reversing the shell properly.

Last edited by Scrapiron Scher
Train Nut posted:

This was the last entry on that post-  

Shell is on backwards. Was told this by Lionel. Needs to be reversed to hide the electronics. 

I guess I missed this, as I still don't see that note in this thread.... unless you're referring to the Pennsy thread. 

In any case, I took a look at my AFT StationSounds car.  And upon a quick inspection, it does NOT appear that rotating the shell will help our cause here.  There are windows on both sides of the car that run the entire length of the car.  So rotating the shell 180-degrees will still place windows in front of the electronics.

As delivered the electronics are "hidden" from view on ONE side of the car only with what appears to be a solid piece of light-color plastic.  The other side of the car has no such plastic to obscure the view.  Not sure why that's the case.  I haven't opened the car to really see what's inside -- due to hearing it's a bit of a project to pop the shell off these cars now.  Will take a more detailed look when I have the time.

David

Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer

Hi Eliot. Thanks for the kind words. We were very excited about the sound set for this car. It adds a lot of customized fun.

To answer the question on the exposed electronics:

Turning the shell around will not work. The interior has the same insert on both ends. It was from the UP car that did not have the windows on that side of the car. We requested that the windows were to be blocked out or frosted, but this was unfortunately missed.

What you can do is block the windows with whatever method you feel comfortable with. I've used electrical tape on the inside of the shell. You could also use a sheet of styrene or even paint if you're feeling dangerous. 

Hope this helps.

Last edited by Dave Olson
Dave Olson posted:

We requested that the windows were to be blocked out or frosted, but this was unfortunately missed.  What you can do is block the windows with whatever method you feel comfortable with. I've used electrical tape on the inside of the shell. You could also use a sheet of styrene or even paint if you're feeling dangerous. 

 

Sounds like maybe a piece of Scotch Tape (the frosted kind, not the crystal clear kind) applied to the window (probably inside, but could be cut/trimmed and applied to the outside) would prevent the wires from being viewed but still let the windows look like windows.

Stu

Last edited by NOT LionelLLC

Odd that the factory missed the window-block on the AFT sound car, but got it right on both the Amtrak and Penn Central sound cars (the other sound cars I purchased from this batch of production).  On both of those cars, a plastic bulkhead hides the electronics on one side of the car, and they're set back from the window a bit -- just like on the AFT sound car.  However, on the other side of the Amtrak and PC sound cars, it appears either a piece of  thin plastic or opaque tape has been applied directly to the inside of the windows.  Can't say for sure until I look inside (which I probably won't do anytime soon).  Take a look below at these quick iPhone photos below...

2018Mar13A_iPhone_AmtrakSSD_24182018Mar13A_iPhone_PennCentralSSD_2419

Whatever the factory did for these two cars is what should have been done for the AFT (and presumably the Pennsy BL) sound cars as well, but unfortunately that wasn't the case here. 

David

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Last edited by Rocky Mountaineer
uality t's Scrapiron Scher posted:

Ok, OK, I know there are a couple of threads out there already on the new Lionel AFT cars. It's just that I don't see train items like this very frequently and I thought I would add my $0.02. This is a heads up for everyone on the fence about the AFT cars from Lionel. Get off of the fence. This sound car is, in a word, "Fabulous, Fabulous." That's two words because one ain't enough. There are so many reasons this car is going to take off and go into the stratosphere.Aaarrrggghghhhhhahhhhhrrrghghghg

Still, it is an absolute A+ snd I never give anything an A+ when it has flaws but this car is an A++.

1) Many different sounds

2) Crystal clear sound reproduction. Soooo good, that my wife heard it upstairs and thought I had the stereo on !!

3) National anthem, Stars and Stripes Forever . . . . .  Ohhhh man, put this car in front of an American flag and you will be saluting. I did !!

 

Eliot, will you please add a video clip of the car playing the National Anthem. I'd love to hear the rendition they used to compare its sound quality to the Star and Stripes Forever clip you posted. Thanks in advance.

Last edited by ogaugeguy
ogaugeguy posted:
uality t's Scrapiron Scher posted:

Ok, OK, I know there are a couple of threads out there already on the new Lionel AFT cars. It's just that I don't see train items like this very frequently and I thought I would add my $0.02. This is a heads up for everyone on the fence about the AFT cars from Lionel. Get off of the fence. This sound car is, in a word, "Fabulous, Fabulous." That's two words because one ain't enough. There are so many reasons this car is going to take off and go into the stratosphere.Aaarrrggghghhhhhahhhhhrrrghghghg

Still, it is an absolute A+ snd I never give anything an A+ when it has flaws but this car is an A++.

1) Many different sounds

2) Crystal clear sound reproduction. Soooo good, that my wife heard it upstairs and thought I had the stereo on !!

3) National anthem, Stars and Stripes Forever . . . . .  Ohhhh man, put this car in front of an American flag and you will be saluting. I did !!

 

Eliot, will you please add a video clip of the car playing the National Anthem. I'd love to hear the rendition they used to compare its sound quality to the Star and Stripes Forever clip you posted. Thanks in advance.

Kindly add a video clip of the car playing the National Anthem to compare its sound quality to the Star and Stripes Forever clip you posted.

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