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Post by markm on Apr 19, 2016 11:06:22 GMT -5
You won't see PRR in this release. The PRR heritage units are ES44ACs not the SD70ACes. This is the same locomotive type as the Monongahela loco you have have as your avatar. Rob Hold your horses. I was looking at the heritage units and caught a glimpse of a SD 70 ACe in PRR. It's not the real loco but a Lionel production. So I'm not really all that blind. Just in one eye .  I'll build you that loco! Of course it will only run on 3-rail track.  |
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Post by davestubbs on Apr 19, 2016 13:26:27 GMT -5
Hi Rob just checking will the TCS AZL4 decoder fit in the Ace?
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Post by ztrack on Apr 19, 2016 20:50:44 GMT -5
Yes, AZL has used their standard PCB in these locos. The Digitrx and TCS Drop-in decoders will work just fine.
Rob
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Post by davestubbs on Apr 19, 2016 20:57:55 GMT -5
Thanks Rob, can't wait get mine tomorrow
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Post by bloodynose on Apr 19, 2016 21:40:55 GMT -5
Yes, AZL has used their standard PCB in these locos. The Digitrx and TCS Drop-in decoders will work just fine. Rob Hey Rob, Any timeline or projected sequence of how often AZL will release the UP heritage units?? Thanks, Mark |
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Post by mgatdog on Apr 20, 2016 8:09:14 GMT -5
Hold your horses. I was looking at the heritage units and caught a glimpse of a SD 70 ACe in PRR. It's not the real loco but a Lionel production. So I'm not really all that blind. Just in one eye . I'll build you that loco! Of course it will only run on 3-rail track. Now I have to find 3 rail z track to run it on.  |
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Post by Rob Albritton on Apr 20, 2016 9:06:29 GMT -5
Yes, AZL has used their standard PCB in these locos. The Digitrx and TCS Drop-in decoders will work just fine. Rob Hey Rob, Any timeline or projected sequence of how often AZL will release the UP heritage units?? Thanks, Mark Look for us to release on average 4 road names per month. One NS Heritage, One UP Heritage, One eastern road name, and One western road name. That's an average, not a guarantee. We want to release the entire production run by Christmas 2016. Its a balance between too many items for our customers to buy, and us sitting on inventory for too long (because they all get produced at the same time, I actually have them all in the warehouse now.) |
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Post by modelwarships on Apr 20, 2016 13:29:22 GMT -5
Yes, AZL has used their standard PCB in these locos. The Digitrx and TCS Drop-in decoders will work just fine. Has the light pipe on the new models been adjusted to work with these decoders? |
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Post by davestubbs on Apr 20, 2016 17:28:51 GMT -5
I'm playing with mine right now and I can't see a light with the stock board (rob swears its there) so some work might be needed. It's a really nice model and I'm very happy with it. I'll pop it open after break in to see the light problem.
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Post by zman215 on Apr 20, 2016 18:53:57 GMT -5
Rob,
Are you considering a volume discount if one was to purchase all 20 of the NS heritage fleet? I am assuming you will be producing all 10 of the ES44ACes since you are already offering all 10 of the SD70ACes. This would be a substantial order. Maybe you could also offer advanced shipping ahead of the actual individual release dates. This may provide incentive for a few more takers not to mention a quicker conversion of inventory to cash. Inventory turnover is important.
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Post by Rob Albritton on Apr 20, 2016 21:25:42 GMT -5
Rob, Are you considering a volume discount if one was to purchase all 20 of the NS heritage fleet? I am assuming you will be producing all 10 of the ES44ACes since you are already offering all 10 of the SD70ACes. This would be a substantial order. Maybe you could also offer advanced shipping ahead of the actual individual release dates. This may provide incentive for a few more takers not to mention a quicker conversion of inventory to cash. Inventory turnover is important. We did consider selling them all in a super set, but in the end decided that the subscription method was best, and easier on folks budgets. If the ES44AC units had been ready at the same time, this would have been more of an option, but that project is still a ways off. Another GE locomotive will be released before the ES44AC. On the other hand, we are almost sold out of UP Western Pacific Heritage units, so it looks like this is going to be a very popular run. |
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Post by Rob Albritton on Apr 20, 2016 21:30:10 GMT -5
I'm playing with mine right now and I can't see a light with the stock board (rob swears its there) so some work might be needed. It's a really nice model and I'm very happy with it. I'll pop it open after break in to see the light problem. I was not especially happy with the headlight. I tried putting in an LED that is 3x brighter than stock, and it did not help much. Good news is there was zero light leakage around the cab or hood. There are two issues here: (1) the headlight hole is closer to prototypical than we normally make. This is just a little too small to let enough light through. and (2) the light pipe is a two piece design so we could direct the light to the headlights in either above or below the cab windshield configurations. This lowered the amount of light that the pipe could pass as the light has to jump between the two pieces. My solution was to go with fiber optics for the headlights. This worked exceptionally well and gave me great headlights, as well as ditch lights. |
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Post by bloodynose on Apr 20, 2016 22:19:13 GMT -5
Rob, Are you considering a volume discount if one was to purchase all 20 of the NS heritage fleet? I am assuming you will be producing all 10 of the ES44ACes since you are already offering all 10 of the SD70ACes. This would be a substantial order. Maybe you could also offer advanced shipping ahead of the actual individual release dates. This may provide incentive for a few more takers not to mention a quicker conversion of inventory to cash. Inventory turnover is important. We did consider selling them all in a super set, but in the end decided that the subscription method was best, and easier on folks budgets. If the ES44AC units had been ready at the same time, this would have been more of an option, but that project is still a ways off. Another GE locomotive will be released before the ES44AC. On the other hand, we are almost sold out of UP Western Pacific Heritage units, so it looks like this is going to be a very popular run. Rob, Thanks for the heads up on the planned release schedule and [THANK YOU] for not doing a bulk release! There are so many of us out here that just cannot afford thousands of $$$ all at once! One of the main complaints I hear about Z-scale is "how expensive it is compared to other scales". I can understand that it is more expensive because of low participation and demand and the cost of tooling demands an end price that keeps the manufacturers out of the red but on the other hand if you want to expand your customer base it needs to be affordable for us little guys. I have become somewhat of a collector of specific railroads and I have found if one does not purchase the limited editions shortly after release, they will no longer be available for a reasonable price and unfortunately for those hoarders out there I will not spend $5000 of my retirement to purchase a GS-4 that originally went for $1300! Again thanks for letting us know about your planned release schedule of the UP and NS heritage locos so now I can budget for them. And then there's the Amtrak Genesis... Best regards, Mark |
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Post by davestubbs on Apr 21, 2016 17:59:07 GMT -5
Hi Rob,
any trick to pulling out the stock light pipe? looks like its pinned in the bottom.
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Post by Hans Riddervold (AZL) on Apr 22, 2016 1:53:11 GMT -5
As we have gone through our inventory we realise that we will not be able to offer more than 25 NS Heritage subscription "sets". We also have to decrease the UP Heritage subscription sets to 40. Sorry about that, but that was what we received from our factory.
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