Athearn-Roundhouse NEW HO Scale F7A Review!
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- Опубликовано: 21 ноя 2024
- The old Globe molds finally wore out, and Athearn's created a new shell to replace it! And yet, I've seen very little about these, so I thought I'd get one and do an in-depth review of it!
Thank you for your in-depth comparison and review of our newly re-tooled Athearn Roundhouse F7A.
@@AthearnModelTrains You’re welcome, it’s a great model!
Hi Darth, another great start to my day and something a little bit different, I look forward to the next comparison.
It's a nice budget model, but I would like to have seen a basic cab interior and crew for the price, especially in 2024. I do love the more compact packaging as I find a lot of the more detailed locomotive packaging far too big for storage etc, but I do understand the fine details need protecting.👍
It was interesting that the cassis number was the same on both models (42005). Great review and video, Jersey Bill
Nice review. Athearn really has done quite a bit to refine and retool their models over time. I noticed the rear of the heavy weight has a small space over the rear truck assembly. You can easily place a cube speaker in that space and secure it with sticky tape or hot glue.
My first Athearn F is the Hi-F version with the rubber band drive bought about 60 years ago. Have, but never installed, the Walthers detail kit.
@@AllenCNW441 I installed one of those kits before. Turned out pretty nice!
Thanks for the good review. I'll be looking for the comparison to the other models. 👍
That is one fairly nice looking ready to run loco. A major step up from the old Tyco, Bachman and Life Like units of my childhood in the 1980s.
Thank You for this REVIEW. I certainly like this model, ❤
Excellent review and history on this model. Thank you for sharing.
Thats a nice entry level loco.21 pin as well.Access to gears and motor for maintenance.
Looks like a really nice model for the price! Might have to pick one up when they come out with one of the roadnames I like.
Very good review and comparison to the Athearn blue box. For that price I'll buy brass. Cheers from eastern TN
These literally cost less then $100 from some retailers lol
As a person who upgrades these entry level locos often, I recommend a econami by soundtrack and a singular sugar cube speaker. It's a perfect simple set up that offers great features and sound.
With the sugar cube you have plenty of room to install it in this loco with little to know modifications.
Nice locomotive. Gonna have to get one in Santa FE warbonet!
So did the Blue Box Athearns ever dome with windows? I always thought they didn't. Also when did they change the electrical pickup from the old setup with the clips for one rail and the frame for the other rail?
Yes, starting in the mid-2000's or so, Athearn installed glass in the old shell. The shell itself wasn't changed, so the glass matched the shape of the old windows.
I'm not sure when direct wiring started. The 2000's era one I got as part of a train set still had the steel contact strip.
The Jumper doesn’t have the light resistors in it the board itself does you can use any 21 pin decoder you want
I did notice the change in headlights, exhaust stacks, and the lack of steam generator. Curiously, I wonder if they will offer this in a single headlight version in the future.
Also, I don't buy new too much these days. So, I take it that the Roundhouse series is the entry level models from Athearn with improved upgrades and details.
@@casstelles Yes, Roundhouse is now used as the entry-level name for Athearn trains. The F7 does also come in a single headlight version for certain railroads.
Athearn had bought out Globe, which had produced a line of metal freight cars similar to their own. The Globe name, being already owned, was applied to provide separation when market acceptance of plastic items was not certain.
Almost makes me want to get back into American modeling....would love to strip these down, redetail, and repaint CGW.
I think it would've been a smart idea to get rid of the super weight and modify the the walls on the unit to have em taller like they did on the genesis ones.
Athearn continues to choke on using Kadee couplers. I don't get it. Plastic couplers. Ugh! At today's prices, metal couplers should be standard.
Right, I just ordered 50 of kadee #158 magnetic couplers to replace the damaged plastic ones on my Athearn locomotives.
@@ICUNA22 A lot of the plastic couplers are pretty terrible, but the McHenry scale couplers are actually very good. They have a metal knuckle spring that doesn’t wear out, and in Model Railroader’s review a long time ago, it took the force of pulling the equivalent of over 1,000 freight cars before it finally deformed and came loose, only to go back to its original shape and still be usable. Outside of Kadee metal couplers (Kadee also makes some plastic couplers, by the way) and Sergent (out of business), these are probably the best you can get.
I understand that. KD couplers are getting real expensive.
Right, and since they’re US made, they have to be shipped to China which adds more cost. McHenry couplers are produced in the same factories making Athearn’s trains, so they have them on hand for next to nothing.
@@DarthSantaFeA lot of companies opt for Chinese made metal couplers on some of their models such as Atlas, Bowser, Rapido, ScaleTrains, and Walthers. Not genuine Kadees but still an improvement over anything plastic
That motherboard is designed for the 21-pin decoders. They really are plug and play, even sound decoders.
Great! I don't do much with DCC, so I wasn't sure what all the latest standards were.
the reason those are not straight is they would hit the steps and bind up the trucks. Found that out the hard way with one of mine.
@@wolfen216 That was a potential problem with the older shell, but the new one has thinner, better scaled steps that have more clearance, so they should be able to install them straight now without causing problems.
All good except for the brake cylinders. Would drive me batty. 😮
Standard ice cube packaging.
This shell is a less detailed (basically no details other than horns) version of Athearn's Genesis, former Highliner F unit body. This shell shares nothing in common with the old Globe/Athearn F unit in any way.
@@dave6695 Yup, the shell is new tooling! I thought they would have simply copied the Genesis/Highliner shell too, but when I placed them side by side, there are actually enough differences that it couldn’t have come from the same molds.
😗👌👌👌
I would have to straighten those brake cylinders up or jerk them off and make a permanent fix to that. Could NOT put up with that huge error. Just no way at all. Way too much money these days for such shoddy apearance.
Does this athearn have the nickel silver wheels or the old sintered ones
@@kensbackshop6399 This has nickel-silver wheels. They stopped making the sintered wheels a while ago.
Good question. One of the first things I thought. I'm glad you asnaked the question