Bob Nelson
Don
TCA#09-63805
QUOTE: Originally posted by spankybird John, don't you know, at 15 you think you have all the answers ! !
I am a person with a very active inner child. This is why my wife loves me so. Willoughby, Ohio - the home of the CP & E RR. OTTS Founder www.spankybird.shutterfly.com
QUOTE: Originally posted by RR Redneck [i] Well it is MTH so,......either way you get a big piece of crap. I would sort of watch that kind of talk if I were you ! And you're only 14 or 15 years old ? Most of my friends on this forum have Lionel & MTH, & most if they have one or the other don't cut the other one down, or try get a flame war started. I also have all the brands. Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, May 14, 2006 8:45 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by TheTrainMaster I know there are several members here that own these engines. Well the other day in my local hobby shop they had an MTH 8-wheeled big boy that will run on O-31 curves that has the price for $699. I am seriously thinking about putting one on layaway, as it will be an excellent addition for my running collection. Do you think these big boys that can run on O-31 curves are realistic like the ones that only run on O-72 curves? Though I do have enough O-72 curves to run one, I think this one for $699 will look just as good on the layout, and therefore wont have to break the bank with the $1K+ model. What do you guys think? Chris Well it is MTH so,......either way you get a big piece of crap. Reply Edit jimhaleyscomet Member sinceDecember 2004 From: Southwest of Houston. TX 1,082 posts Posted by jimhaleyscomet on Sunday, May 14, 2006 5:59 PM To avoid the "overhang" look on my 031 layout I modeled a "scenic cut" around the curves about 6" tall. In the center of the curve are woods (furnace filter pine trees) or buildings. It completely obliviates the overhang look. A tunnel would also work fine except the height of a mountain looked off on my layout. One other trick is to have the outside curve a larger radius. Jim H Reply twaldie Member sinceJanuary 2005 91 posts Posted by twaldie on Sunday, May 14, 2006 2:17 PM Trainmaster, That sounds like a real nice engine. If you are concerned about how it will look on your curves I would ask the shop owner to run it (if he has a layout in the shop) and see how it looks. I have a GG1 that will run through 071 curves, but it just doesn't look right.... the front and back swing waaay out. I dont have room for bigger curves so I am going to downsize my rolling stock. Anyone need a GG1? Have fun with it! Tim Reply cmrj Member sinceJanuary 2004 From: morris il. 102 posts Posted by cmrj on Sunday, May 14, 2006 10:50 AM I have spoken with Kirstin in the past, She is very helpful and resourceful. I got more help from her than any of the other people I have delt with at MTH. Now I am more willing to consider purchaseing more MTH. MIKE Reply lionelsoni Member sinceDecember 2001 From: Austin, TX 10,096 posts Posted by lionelsoni on Sunday, May 14, 2006 10:31 AM I finally got a (favorable) result from MTH. I spoke to the repairman, who seemed to be unfamiliar with "zinc pest", but sent me a complete new boiler casting anyway. The new boiler is for a later model, 30-1287-1 and has a little more detail than the original. It also has a different cab number, 4017 instead of 4020. I was happy about this, since the prototype 4020 never had the distinctive railing-radiators of the model. (They also sent me the matching 4017 shield for the front engine.) I still have one problem, however. There is an unpainted rectangular area on the left side of the boiler, flush with the lower edge and just behind the second cylinders, that appears to have had something glued to it. It is about 1/4-inch high and 7/8-inch wide. I imagine that it might have been a nameplate. If it was simply an MTH brand label, I will just clean off the glue and paint it black. But if it is anything more important, I would like to get the missing piece from MTH. Can anyone who has this model (or the 4015 that seems to have replaced it in the catalog) help me to identify this? I do have an inquiry in to MTH; but they haven't responded yet. Bob Nelson Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 9:14 PM WOW! I thought this problem went out with the thirties Reply Edit Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 7:04 PM QUOTE: Originally posted by dbaker48 Now that is interesting !! Interesting that someone there is monitoring the forum, great ! Will be very curious as to their result. I hope it works out, (I would think they would be able to reduce the turnaround time. Once they confirm their is an issue resolution should be immediate.) Indeed interesting. Its great that some of the reps at MTH listens to their customers even if we dont always realize it. Kristin is quite a nice lady, as I gotten an email from her about a year or two ago regarding the PS1 battery issue and even sent me a replacement chip for one of the locos I had trouble with. Good customer service always makes a difference. Chris Reply Edit dbaker48 Member sinceDecember 2005 From: Sunny So. Cal. 3,784 posts Posted by dbaker48 on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 3:38 PM Now that is interesting !! Interesting that someone there is monitoring the forum, great ! Will be very curious as to their result. I hope it works out, (I would think they would be able to reduce the turnaround time. Once they confirm their is an issue resolution should be immediate.) Don Reply lionelsoni Member sinceDecember 2001 From: Austin, TX 10,096 posts Posted by lionelsoni on Tuesday, February 14, 2006 12:54 PM I got an e-mail from and talked today with Kirstin Martinez at MTH. She says that they have not seen this problem before. They want me to send in the locomotive (actually just the boiler casting) for evaluation. I probably will, although they estimate a 4 to 5 week turnaround time. Bob Nelson Reply lionelsoni Member sinceDecember 2001 From: Austin, TX 10,096 posts Posted by lionelsoni on Monday, February 13, 2006 7:49 AM I had intended to give MTH more time to make amends before posting this, even when tempted by the recent MTH-quality topic. But it seems that it could help Chris and others. I have the 30-1129-1, which I think is the immediate ancestor of the current Rail King Big Boy. The other day I noticed that all the hatches (about ten of them) on top of the boiler are disintegrating. They are apparently separate zinc castings applied to the main casting, perhaps glued on. Several have lost a substantial portion of their size. All the others are visibly cracking under the paint and I'm sure will be gone soon. This is obviously a case of "zinc pest"--contamination of zinc castings by lead. It is common in prewar trains, particularly Dorfan, which was ruined by it. The only modern instances I have seen until now are in K-Line trains, which I have described on the forum in the past. I would hesitate to pay so much money again for a cast-zinc locomotive from MTH until I had some assurance that they had recognized and solved this problem and were willing to replace any castings that turned out to be contaminated. Bob Nelson Reply laz 57 Member sinceOctober 2004 From: Millersburg, Pa. 7,607 posts Posted by laz 57 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 8:48 PM Oh yea shipping is free. laz57 There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; Robert Service. TCA 03-55991 Reply laz 57 Member sinceOctober 2004 From: Millersburg, Pa. 7,607 posts Posted by laz 57 on Sunday, February 12, 2006 8:46 PM I agree with everything that ROY said. Check out Just trains they have it for $589. http://www.justrains.com/MTH2005VolIIEngines.htm laz57 There's a race of men that don't fit in, A race that can't stay still; Robert Service. TCA 03-55991 Reply wrmcclellan Member sinceJuly 2003 From: North Texas 5,707 posts Posted by wrmcclellan on Sunday, February 12, 2006 6:08 PM Trainmaster, The MTH Railking Big Boy and other RK articulateds (as do the Lionel versions of articulated locos) has the front and rear set of drivers swivel so it can track around 031 curves. This feature minimizes the extensive overhang as the loco goes around small radii curves, but it does overhang quite a bit. The news here is if you run it on 048 and larger curves (particularly 072), these units look really good. I have the Lionel traditional size Challenger and a buddy of mine has the MTH RK BB and Challenger. Regards, Roy Regards, Roy Reply Anonymous Member sinceApril 2003 305,205 posts MTH Big Boy Steam Engines Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, February 12, 2006 5:44 PM I know there are several members here that own these engines. Well the other day in my local hobby shop they had an MTH 8-wheeled big boy that will run on O-31 curves that has the price for $699. I am seriously thinking about putting one on layaway, as it will be an excellent addition for my running collection. Do you think these big boys that can run on O-31 curves are realistic like the ones that only run on O-72 curves? Though I do have enough O-72 curves to run one, I think this one for $699 will look just as good on the layout, and therefore wont have to break the bank with the $1K+ model. What do you guys think? Chris Reply Edit Join our Community! Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account. 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[i] Well it is MTH so,......either way you get a big piece of crap.
QUOTE: Originally posted by TheTrainMaster I know there are several members here that own these engines. Well the other day in my local hobby shop they had an MTH 8-wheeled big boy that will run on O-31 curves that has the price for $699. I am seriously thinking about putting one on layaway, as it will be an excellent addition for my running collection. Do you think these big boys that can run on O-31 curves are realistic like the ones that only run on O-72 curves? Though I do have enough O-72 curves to run one, I think this one for $699 will look just as good on the layout, and therefore wont have to break the bank with the $1K+ model. What do you guys think? Chris
QUOTE: Originally posted by dbaker48 Now that is interesting !! Interesting that someone there is monitoring the forum, great ! Will be very curious as to their result. I hope it works out, (I would think they would be able to reduce the turnaround time. Once they confirm their is an issue resolution should be immediate.)
Regards, Roy
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