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Post by railtwister on Sept 2, 2017 7:44:58 GMT -5
in browsing through the available AZL locos, I'm seeing a wide spread of pricing. I'm wondering why are all of the other AZL locos so much higher priced than the AZL GP-38's, is there some big unmentioned difference in the quality of their drive or operating capabilities?
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Post by dave on Sept 2, 2017 9:04:38 GMT -5
The GP38s are the lower end priced locomotives. They utilize the same motor and running gear from what I have been told. Some of the early run GP38s suffer from some chassis issues. The main difference between the GP38 and say, a GP30 is the shell details including the handrails. I was torn between getting a GP38 and a GP30 and ended up getting the GP30. It was about $45 more but I wanted the better detail. I don't have any GP38s so I haven't seen them in person.
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Post by ciccino on Sept 2, 2017 11:48:16 GMT -5
in browsing through the available AZL locos, I'm seeing a wide spread of pricing. I'm wondering why are all of the other AZL locos so much higher priced than the AZL GP-38's, is there some big unmentioned difference in the quality of their drive or operating capabilities? GP-38s are the entry level locos of AZL. I myself have none, but I get they are lower priced to "tempt" new customers and introduce them to the AZL fantastic collection of products. The motor should be the same of like, more expensive locos. The price difference is due to the lesser details of the chassis |
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Post by markm on Sept 2, 2017 12:23:55 GMT -5
A GP-38 was an earlier project of Hans. AZL was able to reuse the locomotive shell, saving the mold cost and passing the savings on to us. See Ztrack J/F 1997 pg 11 for some of the details.
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Post by domi on Sept 3, 2017 18:27:54 GMT -5
Indeed GP38s were first produced 20 years ago by AZL's ancestor, Rogue Locomotive Works. Very few were produced, and their running performances were less than average. When AZL decided to release a GP38, it decided to reuse RLW's shell. Only the chassis was made with new tooling. Thus its lower price.  Dom |
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Post by boxcarwilly on Sept 5, 2017 10:44:36 GMT -5
I wonder, would that explain why, of the 3 GP38's I have, one runs painfully slower then the other two? Could this one have been an earlier version that had problems? I got my GP 38's about 4 years ago if that means anything.
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Post by zdave on Sept 5, 2017 10:57:22 GMT -5
I wonder, would that explain why, of the 3 GP38's I have, one runs painfully slower then the other two? Could this one have been an earlier version that had problems? I got my GP 38's about 4 years ago if that means anything. I had one GP38-2 that was kind of a slow runner. I opened it up and cleaned-up the gears, in particular the brass drive gears. I used a dental pick to gently get some gunk out of those gears and then lubed them with a tiny drop of Labelle oil, suitable for Z. Wow, like a new loco. Love the Labelle, you don't need much and the gears have to be clean, too. Just one possibility to try. |
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