Model Power HO ALCO RS-2 review

[Darth Santa Fe]

This review is on Model Power's ALCO RS-2 in the Burlington Northern paint.[:D]



Model Power's RS-2 uses the same shell that was used on the 1970's AHM RS-2, but with a better drive. The walkway going around the sides has safety-tread detail, but the tread is over sized. But it's nice that it was included instead of having a smooth walkway. The molded-on grab irons on each end are upside-down for some reason, but that can be fixed if you're good at super-detailing.[:D] I tried putting wire grab irons over the originals to make it look better, but it didn't really work.[:I] The paint looks good from a distance, but if you look closely the colors don't have very straight seperation lines. The printing looks good, but it's not excellent. The window glass is a one piece arch that's only in the side windows, so the front and back windows are open holes. The pilots are open so the truck mounted couplers can swing back and forth, so there sin't much detailing, except for a very simple lift bar and some spots for MU hoses. The vents on the long hood look good, even if they aren't see-through. The headlight lenses don't look all that good, because the glue they used to mount them created a white circle going all the way around them. The horn is a seperate piece that looks OK. The railings are cast onto the plastic frame and are very thick and brittle, so you have to be careful with them. The fuel tank is a one piece casting, but it looks decent enough. The truck sideframes have all the detail molded on, but they actually look pretty good.[:)] So except for a few detail problems, the engine looks fairly decent.



The RS-2 has all wheel drive and very quiet gearing, but only two wheels on each truck pick up electricity, so it has to be kept real clean to run well. The engine started moving at around 3.5 volts, and I could keep it running at 3.3 volts at a steady 10.62 scale MPH. At 12 volts it ran at 88.98 scale MPH and drew 0.25 amps. When I stalled it at 12 volts it drew from 0.85 to 1.1 amps, depending on where the motor's armature was stalled. It ran very smoothly and quietly through it's entire speed range, except the drive shafts make a lot of noise on curves less than 24". I only have 18" and 22" curves, but the noise isn't there very much on 22" curves, so I'm pretty sure it would be very quiet on 24" and up.[:D] The wheels are nickle plated brass and have over-sized flanges, but not AHM/Rivarossi over-sized. There are lead weights in the fuel tank and on the top of the motor, but they are small, so it only weighs around 10 ounces. There's plenty of room in the shell for adding more weight. The drawbar pull is enough to pull around 15 free-rolling cars. It comes with horn-hook couplers installed, but there may be a replacement from Kadee for them. The light bulb is mounted on top of the front truck and is wired directly to the motor. The motor has a 3-pole armature that isn't skewed, so that's why the low speed isn't great. A DCC decoder can be easily hard-wired into the engine, and there's plenty of room in the rear hood for an average sized decoder.[:D]

I'd say that Model Power's version of the RS-2 is a great engine for starters. The detail and over-all quality isn't the best, but it runs well and looks decent.[:D][:D][:D]

[Anonymous]

Thans for another great review[tup] I think you could review engines for MR. I've been meaning to post a review of my Atlas GP40 but I want to wait until I get my MRC power pack fixed because the one I use now has 2 speeds- stop & go. My MRC would make it run slower.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for another great review - it looks like the same drive as their C430. I bought one of those planning to convert it to a dummy but it runs rather well after a few hours on the test track so it'll probably get a detail job (mainly filling in the pilots and fitting proper coupler boxs), a repaint, and a decoder. They're not too shabby for £20!

Edit: one suggestion that might be of use. I discovered that by putting a drop of oil on each motor and worm bearing and a dab of grease in the trucks it improved the slow speed operation noticably. Mine had no grease or oil in it from new.

[Darth Santa Fe]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Railroading_Brit

Thanks for another great review - it looks like the same drive as their C430.

one suggestion that might be of use. I discovered that by putting a drop of oil on each motor and worm bearing and a dab of grease in the trucks it improved the slow speed operation noticably. Mine had no grease or oil in it from new.

It is the same drive used in the C430.[:D]

Mine has been oiled, but the motor gets to a certain point and jerks to a stop because of the 3-pole unskewed armature. If you turn it slowly by hand, you can feel how much it jerks.

[modelmaker51]

It's also almost a 1/2 inch shorter than the prototype specs and the other (much better) models by P2K and Kato.

[jimnorton]

Has anybody succesfully altered the thick railings on these RS-2s to look a little more realistic?