Just opened my AC9, it is a great engine! The Lionel team deserves credit for the significant improvement of the smoke unit! The unit makes voluminous smoke from the stacks and whistle! It is great that the smoke comes directly out of the whistle, not from a hole in the boiler. Thank you Dave Olson.
The only knit I will pick with this engine is the treatment of the pilot. I have a Legacy GS4 that has metal bands inset in the pilot and it looks georgous. I had hoped this engine would have the same treatment, looks like the prototype had something similar...
I assume none of the 3805 engines have this treatment, or better said, the factory just didn't happen to forget to trim mine with the metal bands. Has anyone painted their pilot? Overall, this is a great engine and I am very pleased to have it!
edit: Looks like the Daylight and 3800 each had cowcatchers with the metal bands (or perhaps painted silver, hard to tell in the pics)...
I watched Scrap Iron Sher's videos of his 3805 and could not tell if his engine had the same cow catcher as the daylight AC9 pictured above. I think his is solid black, like mine. So I am betting all the 3805s do not have the metal bands in the cow catcher. Hopefully someone else with a 3805 can chime in. To reiterate, overall this is an excellent engine!
