OK Hans, thanks for the input. Then I know what I'm doing to do: MTL coupler boxes glued to the shell's underneath front and aft like I was thinking about 2 posts above, and snowplow forward and pilot aft (which I have to cut inside, allowing room for coupler box). I'll keep you guys advised of the process. BTW Hans, are you already able to say whether the coupler system is the same on the forecoming GP38-2? Dom
Yes: GP38-2 uses the same truck parts as GP30. GP38-2 will not come with extra parts, such as the front / rear plates, plows, or dummy couplers. This is our "entry level" product, so we are trying to keep our cost down. Regards, -Rob(A) AZL
Rob A, I hope you use a different pc board then the one you are using on the GP30. The board on the RDC is perfect, and its very easy to dcc. I dont know why it was redesing for the GP30.
Hi John, I have no idea why the PCB was changed from the RDC to the GP30. In fact, we told the factory to make it exactly the same. Then I was faced with a delima: send back all the GP30 because they changed the PCB and face a 6 month delay, or accept them. Since they were functional for DC, we decided to go ahead. They discovered that the old design was too tight for their manufacturing specs, so the needed to change the whole design in order to get it right. They are going to do yet another design for the next run of GP30. Hopefully it will get better. I'm a HUGE DCC fan, so getting a DCC friendly situation is very high on my "to do" list. Best, -Rob(A) AZL
Z scale magazine has an article on this in the new Sept-Oct 11 issue. Choice of plow or pilot depends on what road name you get. (DRGW get both, NYC only gets the pilot). I hope the plows/pilots can be another part to order in the future?
Rob, I find your statement very disapointing. Shipping a product knowing of faults that could have been fixed with just (in the Z world) minor time delay or at least informing the customers upfront about the DCC issue prior to purchase is just wrong. Quality seems to have a minor priority than profit in your organisation. For me that's really a blow and I have to consider future purchases :-(
Rob(A), I'm quite happy with my RDCs and my GP30 and I don't want to argue a business decision that had to be made. But I've been inside both units and frankly neither PCB design warrants a 6 week turn, let alone 6 months. Having done PCBs for a very long time, your PCBs are items that should be totally designed from scratch in 2-3 hrs and fabricated in a quantity of 100 or so in less than two weeks. Something to think about the next time you're negotiating. Mark
PCBs. Our original specs were good, and we got quite surprised that our manufacturer had changed the dimension of the board. The board itself is fine and to our specs, but as I said, the outside dimensions changed as did the size of the contact points. This has caused the PCB to not sit as tight as we wanted and has on occasion come loose. We saw this as a minor issue and we felt it did not warrant us holding back the release. The GP30s that were released are fully workable rest a sure. Future GP30s will have a tighter fit PCB, but all operational aspects of the locomotive will remain the same.
Dom, I am going to try the same way as with my GP35. I have glued a small piece of brass underneath the pilot with a threaded hole. To take off the shell I just unscrew the 905 couplers from the fromth epiece off brass and I can take the shell off. When the couplers are attached they will block against the loc frame.
Hi Gerd, I'm sorry you feel that way. I must say that I am confused by your message. Perhaps something was lost in translation. It is not overly difficult to convert our current GP30s to DCC. I have done it several times. We are working on solutions to make it easier. The GP30s that are shipping have no defects, but in the spirit of full transparency I disclosed that we had a more elegant engineering design that was changed by the factory without our knowledge. The current GP30s meet all of our specifications. I can authoritatively say that your supposition that Profits are more important that Quality at AZL is illogical and false. Our goal is to mass produce the highest quality Z scale models in the industry at a price point that delivers the best value for the dollar. When we compare the level of detail in paint, decoration, proportional accuracy, tooling details, running quality and sheer number and diversity of models we offer at the prices we charge, I can honestly say that no other group has come close to what we have achieved in the past 5 years. We do this because we love the scale, not to get rich. It is up to everyone to do their own analysis when making purchases and running companies. If you decide that you like our products, we will welcome your business. If not, we will continue to try to improve our products with every design and production run. We will be happy to welcome you back if you decide to return. best, -Rob(A) AZL
Hi Mark, I completely agree with you. This should have been an easy improvement. Unfortunately, our overseas supplier was unable to accommodate our request in less than 6 months because the GP30 met all of the specs and was not defective. We came to the same conclusion you did: they work great, so lets ship them to folks who have wanted them for a long time and we will make it even better with the next run. In fact, this is pretty normal for any group who cares about their products: we constantly look at our existing models to see how we can make them better. As you wisely suggested, we have already made some changes to our agreements, so hopefully we will have more flexibility going forward. Best, -Rob(A) AZL
My GN geep arrived when we were out of town last week at the Izaac Walton Inn (former GN hotel) in Essex, MT - but that's another train story. Inspection found it to be a very nice looking unit and I put it on my test track. It runs flawlessly. I plan to install the snow plow and convert it to DCC. I appreciate all of the new items coming on the Z market - especially if they are in GN colors :>) John
Hi David, We're pushing them as fast as we can, but it looks like April/May right now for the UP and ATSF GP30. Best, -Rob(A) AZL