Model Railroading > Athearn new HO SD70ACE overview

Well I got my first Athearn ACE in the mail yesterday and I wanted to show you this new model. I knew going in that this unit already had issues with low sound volumes. I really could not understand what was needed to fix this but after taking it apart, I quickly found the problem. After seeing what was needed to be done, I was pretty sure it would not make a difference but it did indeed. The sound chamber is open at the bottom in one area.

Here is what you need to do.

Remove coupler boxes
Remove 2 screws underneath at both ends of the fuel tank.(one at each end) There are other screws but leave them alone
Lift off shell carefully. All the wires are attached to the board so set shell on soft pad next to drive
Remove 2 screws holding speaker on
Remove screws inside speaker chamber(2)
Remove screw at back of speaker chamber
Carefully remove the 2 halves one at a time to remove the chamber from the chassis
Reassemble them in your hand and you will see the opening at the bottom of the chamber that needs sealing
I used duct tape to do this.
Reassemble and you will be golden

The process actually doubles the sound output. One big caveat. This unit is incredibly fragile and parts are just going to come off regardless of how careful you are. I was incredibly careful and 3 parts still came off.

As for the unit, from a distance she sure is a beauty but when you look closely at the unit, it has quite abit of sloppy work. In fact the most I have seen from an Athearn unit. Allot of the detail parts are poorly installed, and sit at angles to how they should be. So many parts were not flush, it was scary. Inside, Athearn continues to use cheap bulbs. If you look at the pictures, they still use that archaic tab system of attaching the wires and you can see many of the black plastic tabs are forced on and are mangled. Also some of the wires are just sitting in their sockets. Athearn's designers just do not get it. With so many wires from the cheap bulbs, removing the shell and working with the unit is almost impossible.

The good news is the handrails were not wavy so not sure if they made some changes or I lucked out with a unit. Also, there are massive sanding hoses coming off the body as long wires and these interfere with the trucks so mine derailed a few times until I moved them out of the way. If I keep this unit, I will be cutting them off as they look stupid and cause derailments. I was also surprised how light the unit was. Too light.

Anyways, the unit has allot of wonderful detailing in fact maybe the best yet but it is very flawed by lack of execution in installing them. Paint application is excellent and it ran fine. Sound was very nice once I fixed the low volume issue. Until Athearn cares about quality control, their models are questionable.

Be well.

Bruce

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Air hoses on crooked, screen not even flush with body and bulbs sticking out of the headlight casings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/10 05:08 by brfriedm.

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Pictures showing some of the poor work. Horn looks like it was dipped in chocolate. Athearn could of saved the money on the brass horn.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/10 06:58 by brfriedm.

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Some good detail shots. Some of the work is outstanding and some is installed not level with the body.

Bruce



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/10 04:59 by brfriedm.

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Some shots from above.

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Some shots showing the sound repair process and the electronics.

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More inside shots. Notice all the junk inside the flywheel and they even squirted tons of lubricant inside the flywheel where the shaft goes in. Huh? The 2nd picture shows the small opening in the chamber sealed with duct tape. Half moon at the bottom. Notice the wires in the tabs. Sloppy and will lead to unreliable running. If I keep this unit, I will solder all these connections. Would take about an hour to do.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/10 05:07 by brfriedm.

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Bruce,

Awesome pictures and information. You should let your local hobby shops know about that problem. I can see a lot of returns with that problem. Athearns is getting this reputation of putting out great detailed models but with no pulling power.

Eugene Brichacek

Glad I am an n scaler and can deal with Kato 70ace's

I am surprised at the paint in pictures 1 and 2, the black paint that is on the vertical part by the door looks like it is just over-sprayed. The yellow on the front anti-climber is not well done either. In photo 3 the stripes do not line up as they go around to the end of the engine.
I still see the end handrails are all warped, not as much as some other models but still warped.

Just more junk from Athearn.

MilwMike

Thanks Bruce for posting this information on the speaker baffle problem. I saw it mentioned somewhere else but your photos will help me fix this issue handily.

I have two on order.

I've got to say that the MTH interior is way better put together than what I see inside the Athearn. (And I'm not a fan of MTH.)

MTH used SMT LEDs and light channels which work great in terms of lighting. Yes the ditch light housings are way too big and all the other MTH issues come with it. But those Athearn bulbs are going to be a huge problem. Also the MTH unit is quite heavy and a great puller. It sounds like the Athearn is too light?

I spent at least 3 hours taking the MTH apart and installing a Tsunami so I guess I can take a couple hours per Athearn and do all the soldering you recommend and replace the bulbs with LEDs. Amazing that we have to do so much extra work on such expensive units.

Thanks

Great review Bruce! I have operated one of these on the hobby store test track and have seen two others operate pulling a train on a modular layout. Overall I was not impressed with the way they operated. I then got to thinking about Athearn and those black tabs holding wires to the circuit board. Gotta be the bulk of the problems. The sound was also weak but now makes sense as to why. Seems to be an easy fix for all of it. The guy that was operating his 2 on the modular layout said his didn't track well at first and he found the wheels to be out of gauge. Any similar findings Bruce?

Anyway, it's a decent model to look at I suppose, and with a little work can be made to sound and run well. Seems like every one of them is different as far as how well (or how not well) the details are applied. The ones I've seen, about 10 different ones so far, were all slightly different in quality of paint and detail application. Guess it's just luck of the draw.

Still makes me glad that I purchased my 13th MTH SD70ACe over the weekend at the local train show. I'm very happy with my MTH ACe's even though they may have some inaccuracies here and there. I have many Athearn Genesis and RTR products but for me the MTH ACe is better than the Athearn ACe. The lack of DCC functions in the MTH doesn't bother me. I know how to compensate for that stuff.

You guys enjoy your Athearn ACe's and I'll enjoy my MTH ones.

Rio Grande Fan
Denver, CO



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/10 08:33 by RioGrandeFan.

this is just unbelievable... the problems in some of these images i just couldn't live with. id have to give these a very thorough inspection before any purchase was made. what seems odd is that i have seen some of these at hobby stores and do not remember so many terrible flaws in them... maybe i was just excited to get a look.

that horn is crazy!

Justin Cornell
Brooksville, FL
JointedRail Productions

...never did I ever think I would find myself capable of saying this, but after seeing what Bruce has shown us I'm going to stick with my single MTH unit, and I'm not in the least bit a fan of MTH, the one I bought was an impulse buy as I wanted one of the heritage SP units and there it was in front of me in a store I frequent. Until Athearn can get a better handle on their QC and find something else to stick in the holes where the lights should be, I won't be buying any more loco's from them...

cheers,

Lorne Miller

A BNSF SD70ACE just went past under my office window, and the cab roof is painted white/light grey. Likewise, last week another unit also had a white cab roof. Does anyone know if the white roofs are limited to select units, or are all painted white?

Better beware, Athearn, cause MTH is gonna run over you like a freight train if you keep up this shoddy production. Seems like MTH is getting progressively better in HO while Athearn is sinking into the mud. Just my observation. As another poster stated, tight QC is the name of the game these days, especially with a unit that has a hefty price tag.

It'll be interesting to see how well Athearn's Ready-to-Roll U50 is put together compared to its Genesis ACE.

leroystew Wrote:
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> A BNSF SD70ACE just went past under my office
> window, and the cab roof is painted white/light
> grey. Likewise, last week another unit also had a
> white cab roof. Does anyone know if the white
> roofs are limited to select units, or are all
> painted white?

This is why top view photos are so important to us modelers. Many unusual things are done on the prototype with anti-slip paint, etc. Get pics when you can from your office. That's what will make your modeling more interesting and accurate.

Just a thought (scary I know right?) This should apply for everyone including myself, its hard for a company to fix issues if no one actually tells them and expects for said company to read forums.

On a side note, every time an athearn loco comes out everyone acts like its the most horrible product ever and the only piece of equipment that has ever had an issue.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/09/10 13:38 by Afbombers.

The one I ordered came in with just about all the above mentioned, 3 more. The handrails varied in thickness, and the fuel tank was BOWED UP where the screw holds the fuel tank in place. Ends are lower than the center of the tank. Also fingerprints in the paint! Overall quality POOR at best. No more locomotives for me from Athearn.

Athearn people are ON this forum and have been for years....

Afbombers Wrote:
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> Just a thought (scary I know right?) This should
> apply for everyone including myself, its hard for
> a company to fix issues if no one actually tells
> them and expects for said company to read forums.