Greetings -
I've read numerous times here on the forum how good the motor/drivetrain is on Kato diesels. There's an undecorated one on eBay right now that I've been looking for. I was just curious how good is the shell quality/detailing along with the motor?
Thanks for the input.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
Tom,
According to the MR staff and reader product reviews, Kato Diesels are nicely detailed as well.
Pictures from a MR staff product review of the Kato HO scale GE C44-9W.
My own experience with Kato is limited to N scale products and I was quite happy with the quality.
I have a few Kato's, and I think the detail is good, but then, I don't hang out at the rivet counter, so I miss a few things that the detail fanatics would insist on.
My only problem is adding the detail parts, such as grabs and railings. They are a hard slippery plastic, and it takes a lot of patience to get them into the pre-drilled holes.
As far as operations, I think they run great, nice and smooth, great pullers, and are easy to maintain and work on, once you see how they are put together.
Good luck !
Mike.
My You Tube
I hack up Kato NW2 locos to build into HOn3 "NW2M" locos for motive power. The shells are well made, very detailed. What Kato doesn't usually have is the sort of unit-specific detail that folks like Athearn and others now do with many models, although Kato is moving in that direction with recent releases.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
tstage Greetings - I've read numerous times here on the forum how good the motor/drivetrain is on Kato diesels. There's an undecorated one on eBay right now that I've been looking for. I was just curious how good is the shell quality/detailing along with the motor? Thanks for the input. Tom
Which model are you looking at? It could matter. I haven't followed the recent Kato offerings because I'm not into modern wide beast cabs, although I do own some older Kato's like the GP35, F40PH and SD40-2. I sold off my Kato SD45's because Athearn offered theirs with road specific details and better paint.
Yes, the drives are legendary but many claimed Kato lost the top body/shell status 15-20 years ago as others continued to improve while Kato remained static (Proto 2000, Atlas, Athearn Genesis, etc.).
So it really depends on what Kato model. I see someone put up a wide cab beast but if that is not your model of interest, that may be of little help as Kato has a variety of models and not all the same.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Tom, which models are you interested in?
This is another one of those issus where every product from one manufacturer is not the same.
KATO is great company with great products, locos have great drives. But road specific, or variety of offerings in HO, not so much.
Detail, cutting edge years ago, average today.
They are primarily an N scale company who just dabbles in HO from time to time - they have never offered much in my era, so I have skipped them for the most part.
Sheldon
Sheldon probably summarized Kato much better than I did. Kato is by far an N scale company and HO is only a small side part. What he said about detail being cutting edge years ago but surpassed by others year ago and now just average - which is why some have been critical of Kato - remaining relatively static in time rather than improving. The shells that is. Their drives really didn't need improving once they reached the pinnacle.
I appreciate the input, everyone. The model I'm interested in is an undecorated NW2 switcher. It comes in black (great for NYC) but I'm assuming that the black is the color of the styrene they used and that it's unpainted. That being said, I'd paint and detail it for the NYC.
With a magnifier and a razor blade, you can cut 30 degree angle at the very tip of the Kato grabs and they will slide in more easily -- even the dual axis grabs on the older Alcos.
tstageThe model I'm interested in is an undecorated NW2 switcher. It comes in black (great for NYC) but I'm assuming that the black is the color of the styrene they used and that it's unpainted.
You'll probably have to hunt far and wide for an undec NW2. They seem to bring a premium on ebay and Kato hasn't had them in stock whenever I needed to buy.
They have had the Rio Grande shells in stock and that's close enough for me
Yes, Kato does use the plastic color as the base black, at least on my Rio Grandes. I'd expect similar for similar NYC units.
I have several Kato HO engines (AC4400, SD70, C-44-9W, SD-40-2) and as far as I can see all are very well done. One nice thing is that the holes for the handrails etc. are all predrilled, you just have to put them in place (unless you're buying one with everything already installed) rather than having to drill them at each "dimple" like other manufacturers.