Model Railroading > SD70M Flairs and Phase 2 cabs

Ever since http://www.mpp-models.com/ bought the person out who made the flairs and cabs I have been stuck scratch builing them but about a week ago on one of the yahoo groups im subscribed to found some one who does have them.

I recived them today and there amazing, I dont have any pictures but I would highly recomend these to any one whos modeling these.

So now that I sparked some interest the website is www.dlhloco.com The site doesnt look all fansy but take my word this is one honest guy and I will be ordering more of these kits in th future my self.

Can you post some pictures. And how much were they?

Thanks,

Sean

I dont have any way to take the pictures really wish I did, but the cabs are 26.95, and the radiators are 15.95 but they also came with the radiator grills from dlh

but if you look http://cgi.ebay.com/Athearn-Genesis-kato-SD70M-flared-UP-NS-CSX-Conversion_W0QQitemZ6028650037QQcategoryZ19130QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem you will see what they look like.

now those may not be the exact ones i recived but its a general idea.
also the prototype http://www.brickshelf.com/gallery/jbaakko/PNR/8-wideLoco/SD70M/proto_sd70mflare.jpg

The above site belongs to Dave Higginbotham.
A regular vendor at the June Timonium shop.
I've been doing business with Dave for several years now.
In fact I usually get my locos thru him.

I encouraged Dave to become a Tower55 dealer back in June.
He has custom painted a number of my BNSF H2 units.

I highly recommend Dave.


Bill French

Looks like a good deal overall. The eBay offer looks cool, but he says he uses 'Cannon Co. "Q" Fans' in the radiator conversion. Since when has had "Q" Fans? Gordon hasn't done a "Q" Fan, unless he didn't announce them but just sent them out.

You are correct Cannon does not make Q fans.

Joe

you can buy q fans from athearn

Here are some pictures of my SD70M-2 that the person from Ebay (link above) did for me. Please note. the photos don't do this model justice!

Sean

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Afbombers Wrote:
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> you can buy q fans from athearn


You're right, I was saying that the person in the eBay auction offering to do custom "Flared" SD70M's says he uses "Cannon Q fans", but they don't exist, so he is making a false statement. If he is using an Athearn fan, or from any other manufacturer, he should say so. I don't dispute his great work, I've seen alot of pictures of his work, and the man is an artist. I only think he should list the correct manufacturer of the fans, there's nothing wrong with using Athearn or P2K fans.

I am not one to "bash" anyone but this time I can't hold my breath. I sent this guy 2 Athearn SD-70's to be converted. I conversed with him on a monthly basis and he kept giving me updates telling me that they were in progress and the painting was comming along just fine. About 6 months later I asked him for a progress report and he did not return my emails. Finaly I got fed up and with 7 months approaching I said please return the models and I will pay you for your time and materials. A month later I recieved both engines back. Lets just say that my two SD-70's are DESTROYED! Hacked apart, not paint; just plain f****d up! It looked like they lost a battle to a Mack truck. Both units went in the garbage. That's what I got in 8 months. To put it plainly, he is lucky that I don't live in Ohio. He is a lier and a theif. I would not recomend him to anyone.
James

Hi James,

Sorry to hear that your experience was horrible with this guy. When was this? My SD70M was completed earlier this year in about three weeks! I dealt with him off ebay. He had an undecorated SD70M on him, and he just started with that.

My model was damaged during shipment, but after emailing him, he took it right back and fixed it all up. My experience was great with him.

Sean




chessiegp39 Wrote:
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> I am not one to "bash" anyone but this time I
> can't hold my breath. I sent this guy 2 Athearn
> SD-70's to be converted. I conversed with him on a
> monthly basis and he kept giving me updates
> telling me that they were in progress and the
> painting was comming along just fine. About 6
> months later I asked him for a progress report and
> he did not return my emails. Finaly I got fed up
> and with 7 months approaching I said please return
> the models and I will pay you for your time and
> materials. A month later I recieved both engines
> back. Lets just say that my two SD-70's are
> DESTROYED! Hacked apart, not paint; just plain
> f****d up! It looked like they lost a battle to a
> Mack truck. Both units went in the garbage.
> That's what I got in 8 months. To put it plainly,
> he is lucky that I don't live in Ohio. He is a
> lier and a theif. I would not recomend him to
> anyone.
> James

I can not comment on this guy's work but I can tell ya that I guy (friend of mine) that I use, Matt Arentzen, does a great job with these kits. He has built a UP SD70M and a CSX SD70MAC with the flare kits for me. He has also done a NS SD70M for a friend as well. Pics of all of these units are on his web page...

http://www.northeastrailworks.com/index

He is really good painter and his prices are great. There are other pictures of his custom work on Kato's web page and at...

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/mattarentzen


Brian
www.srnjrr.com

Hey Brian, thanks for the info on Matt. His site looks good and the models look very professional. I will drop him a line. Thanks again.

Sean. I had sent him the models late in Oct. of 04 and by May or June of 05 I recieved my junk. Very disapointing. I know other people have had good experiences with him but also a few have not. I guess that I am one of the lucky one's who have not.

I custom paint and decal most of my models myself. I just enjoy it but some of them I send out. I didn't have time to kitbash the flairs so I had hoped to have them done. Oh well, live and learn.

Thanks again everyone.
James

chessiegp39 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hey Brian, thanks for the info on Matt. His site
> looks good and the models look very professional.
> I will drop him a line. Thanks again.
>
> Sean. I had sent him the models late in Oct. of 04
> and by May or June of 05 I recieved my junk. Very
> disapointing. I know other people have had good
> experiences with him but also a few have not. I
> guess that I am one of the lucky one's who have
> not.
>
> I custom paint and decal most of my models
> myself. I just enjoy it but some of them I send
> out. I didn't have time to kitbash the flairs so I
> had hoped to have them done. Oh well, live and
> learn.
>
> Thanks again everyone.
> James




James, I am in the same boat as you. I also like to build, paint and decal my own but am running short on time as of late. I send my overflow to Matt and one other friend, John Binford. The work of both of these guys is very good (better than my own).


Brian
www.srnjrr.com

Not 100% sure if there's confusion in identities here. But the Ebay auction you list actually goes to a guy by the name of Rob Casselberry. I sent him a CSX SD70M for a conversion, and I've got to agree with the James (chessiegp39) from several previous posts.

He did a horrible job, the flared radiator section was too far back on the long hood, and all he did after adding the flared radiator was airbrushed a thick nasty coating of black enamel all over the top of the engine. He did not put the "Phase II" cab on, but if I'm right CSX doesn't use the PHII notch nosed cabs anyways. So no harm, no foul on the cab thing.

It took him just over 3 months to finally send it back and as he "promises" in the Ebay auction he says he will renumber the engine to a prototypical RN. It came back as the #4678 that it was sent as. He rarely returns e-mails, I finally had to harass Ebay to send me his phone number so I could call him. DO NOT USE THIS GUY!!!

Nevertheless, I seeked out another person who could do the SD70M conversion and I came across Matt Arentzen, now I haven't actually seen the SD70M, but the job he did on the SD80MAC #800 was outstanding from the looks of the photos he's provided to me. I expect to have them back in the next week or two and I'll try to post some photos.

Matt has been a consummate professional and had the 80MAC done inside of a month, he works as quickly as his workload allows, but he's excellent at keeping in touch and letting you know what is going on with your models. I will definitely be keeping Matt "gainfully" employed over the next year as I "modernize" my CSX fleet.

Matt has definitely set the standard by which I will judge future "contracted" modeling work.

Cheers!
Sean

sean,

i just wanted to thank you for all of your great comments and promo's. you are a valued customer like all of the others i have been doing work for. i am going to back you up on that bad sd70m "casselberry" guy. i have sean's 4678 and i can tell you it was a rather sloppy model. this guy tried to claim this unit as a custom. heh. there was csx blue overspray on the nose, rear of the longhood, and hood logos. the flare kit was done wrong and placed too far back, leaving the rear of the long hood with moderate damage, and uneven cuts and sanding. the white rooftop has more blue spray on it. sean asked me to fix it best to my ability. it is now csx #4800 with all new decaling, and hood data decals. all the blue spray is gone, and re-painted. the gold paint on the rear has been re-painted too. this is an sd70m, but that's how sean ordered it and so that is what he got. the engine actually looks like one of the newer sd70macs. i will send sean a pic ASAP. thanks again, sean!



matt arentzen

northeast railworks

As Matt promises in his prior post, he sent me some photos. Most of these are still in mid process of "fixing-up" a poor quality job and Matt assures me that the issues will be corrected prior to his returning it to me. I have no reason to believe otherwise.

First up: Overall picture of the 4800. Notice the radiator section is much too far back on the long hood. It's almost flush with the end. I've told Matt not to worry about this as it would be too destructive to try and relocate the radiators.

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