Athearn Genesis SD70M - Basket Case!

[John]

I recieved my latest purchase in the post today, a set of three basket case engines in CSX/Conrail Livery, including my first ever Athearn Genesis engine, an SD70M along with an Athearn SD50 and a Kato SD70Mac.

These locomotives are in pretty bad shape, two of them are dismantled and the Kato engine seems to have some decoder trouble. All of them are missing parts or otherwise in need of attention.

The SD70M is an original Athearn release from back in 2002, and although it is in pieces it still has it's original bag of detail sprues untouched and the locomotive looks as if it was either dismantled before use, or had very light use before being taken apart for weathering. The detail on this engine is amazing, it even has a cab interior and see through grilles and fans. This is my first modern SD unit, and I'm surprised at just how flimsy the plastic shell is compared to the old Blue Box engines I'm used to.

So, I'm going to start piecing it back together and with a bit of luck it should be a straighforward enough task.

Biggest issue will be tracking down which pieces are missing, which requires an instruction sheet. If anyone can help me with a scan for this engine and the SD50 it would be much appreciated.

[torikoos]

That's a good purchase none the less, where did you find these? Evil bay? :-)

Koos

[John]

Good call Lance, I didn't realise Athearn could do that.
Yes these are from ebay, I seem to be making a habit of picking up 'project' locomotives. I've now got 8 different engines waiting for a turn on the bench!

[sd45longhoodfoward]

well you have the American made Genesis line of sd 70ms then i have 6 of them and bought them all at train world about 3 years ago 49.99 each and now i have the made in china models that dont even compare to the American made models that have more detail parts and compare the motors are also diffrent I have 8 china sd 75's atsf &bnsf they are still good looking and running models but not as well as the American made I had noticed this a year a ago when i had replaced several decoders in the diffrent units and if you want to detail them now is the time get the sd 70 kits from details west for what ever road you are go model and the AU 300 or 600 set auxillary detail set and when done they are masterpieces Congrats!

[John]

That's interesting, I would have expected the newer models to be more detailed, especially as the lower manufacturing costs in China would allow more detail components. Does that mean a brand new SD70 is lower detail than this old one? Weird.
Good news is that thanks to Raeder I've got the instruction sheets for both athearns, so I can begin figuring out how they go back together.

[bedstadt]

Unlike on the Chinese models you had to add the details to your American models by yourself, and I hated it. My old CN SD70I will be the first from that line, that will get a complete rework.

[John]

I've ordered the replacement parts I need for this locomotive direct from Athearn, one of the missing pieces is a drive wheel axle gear, so I can't make too much progress until the order arrives.

I'm going to remove the previous owners hard-wired dcc decoder and fit an MRC 1801 Sound Decoder which seems to be the right model for this engine and is fairly cheap.

I discovered that the heavy weathering on the shell has been done with acrylics, and it seems fairly easy to wash/scrub off, so I plan to spend an hour or so removing most of the weathering so I can start over on it.

I'm going to renumber and detail the engine as CSX 4682



and I'm aiming for a subtle weathering job like this Jim Rinker unit:



I don't know if I'll be able to reach the same quality, but I will certainly give it a go!

[poweredby251]

My only suggestion would be to skip the MRC sound decoder, and save for a Tsunami. You'll be glad you did.

[John]

I do hear good things about the Tsunami decoders, but they do seem so much more expensive. I'll definitely try to get hold of one at some point. Thanks for the tip.

[Raeder]

I'll agree with the comment about the Tsunami sound decoders, they are nice. You wouldn't go wrong having one in the unit. On the other hand, the newer MRC decoders do support feedback, finally, so they aren't as bad as they used to be, either. The 18xx series like you are looking should be fine. Let us know what you think of it, as I'm considering using them in a future build.

One thing I will recommend you do is find a way to fit a high-bass speaker into the unit. The improvement in sound quality is very nice!

[John]

That's a great suggestion, any particular brand or model of speaker you'd suggest for this engine?

[John]

My box of Athearn spare parts has arrived! What fantastic service! I'm really impressed with the fast shipping and the friendly staff there.

I now have all the parts I need to fix up both the SD50 and the SD70M, including drive wheels, q-fans, window glazing and replacement handrail sets.

[John]

Close up showing the original 'weathering' that was heavily applied to the entire shell.


The shell after cleaning off all the black paint.


The reassembled chassis, with rebuilt and cleaned trucks and the temporary DC board for testing.

I've started putting my basket case SD70M back together, the shell has been washed off to get rid of the weird 'weathering' applied by the previous owner, and I have reassembled and cemented the various parts including the drive train.

I've got a detail kit on the way for the locomotive, and an MRC sound decoder and bass speaker, so for now the engine is fitted with a temporary DC board so I could make sure it ran okay, which it certainly did!

The rebuild wasn't all plain sailing, I had to bend the copper frame pick-ups to straighten the trucks, and remove some tiny unidentified pieces of plastic from jamming the gears, but the new wheelset worked a treat, and also had the added bonus of being blackened wheels instead of the shiny original type.

Next task will be the detailing and number change, once my detail kit arrives

[icghogger]

Excellent progress, AJ, keep us posted!

[railfan1354]

That is some excellent work you have done.
I am not real up on all the new electronics for the running locomotives because most of my stuff is old school Athearn equipment that I have had for years and some are replacements for ones I had as a kid which are all now shelf models.
You are much more advanced than I am but I do know good work when I see it and appreciate all the time and effort that went into this project to get it to look this good. The subtle weathering is the way I like them as well and as she sits right now it looks fantastic!

Great job!

Paulie

[John]

I appreciate the kind words Paulie, but I think you are talking about the example picture of the Jim Rinker engine I posted. That's what I hope to make my engine look like, not what it looks like right now...

The engine had been badly weathered and dismatled by the previous owner, I'm simply putting it back together and cleaning it up. The reassembly was fairly straightforward once I had the parts list and instructions, and the shell has been cleaned back to stock ready for extra detailing.

It's already a nice looking engine as these Genesis locomotives are beautifully put tgether anyway

[John]

I thought I'd update on this project, I bought an MRC 1801 sound board for the engine, and imediately discovered that the large round speaker it comes with is way too big for an Athearn shell.

So I bought a rectangular speaker housing to place inside the long hood. It fitted fine, but then I realised the speaker wouldn't fit on top of the frame with the shell in place as there wasn't enough vertical clearance.



The engine went back into a box until I could think about what to do with it, originally I had thought I would need to buy a smaller speaker, but then when I looked at the engine again recently I realised that the frame could be cut down to size without affecting the driveshaft clearance and there would be room to fit the speaker.



I had to cut about a centimeter off the top of the rear chassis weight (I dismantled the engine first to prevent the metal filings from ruining the motor).



With the chassis reassembled, I was able to tape the speaker enclosure in place and re-wire the connections before giving everything a test run to make sure it was fully functioning.

Predictably the lights were connected for 12v instead of 1.5v

The bulbs burned out instantly when I applied the power. So much for my electrical skills! I will need to invest in a new set of bulbs or a set of led lights for this locomotive.



I have a spare set of SD70 handrails ready to paint in CSX colours for the pilots, and I still need to number and weather the unit, but at least it's back together and running once again. Not bad for an engine that's been in pieces for years.

I'm pleased with the sound from the MRC 1801, it sounds just as good as the factory fitted sound board in my Genesis SD60m, I guess it may be the same board.

So, does anyone have a recommendation for replacement lights for these Genesis units?

[Raeder]

A couple of options for LEDs, which is what I would go with. Richmond Controls and Railflyer both sell very small, pre-wired LEDs that would be suitable. If you are a glutton for punishment and want to wire your own, Digikey also sells some very small LEDs that I have used in the past, p/n P13483CT. I used the Ngineering 36 ga. magnet wire for the leads.

You'll want to take a look at the colors of the LEDs to see which ones you like, as the LEDs are available in warm, and cool white. The "warmer" colors are typically in the 3000 Kelvin range, and the cooler ones are in the 6000K to 8000K range.

The ones from Digikey are slightly cool, with a little blue to them, but not bad. The warm ones are closer to an incandescent lamp, but appear too warm for modern locomotives for my liking. This would be a matter of personal preference.

All of these LED are the 0603 size, which is .060" by .030". They are small, and will fit in the Athearn Genesis ditch light castings with little trouble. The headlights will also work, though I've taken a piece of styrene strip, glued the pre-wired LEDs to it, and then glued it in behind the headlight housing to hold the LEDs in place.

Here are some links for finding these items.

Digikey P13483CT
www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/LNJ026X8BRA1/P13483CT-ND/970612

Richmond Controls
www.richmondcontrols.com/
Look for the LEDs link on the left side

Railflyer
www.railflyermodel.com/collections/frontpage/products/smd-402-led-10-pack
This is their "bulk" pack, which would be well worth getting, with all the lights on your unit.

[John]

Thanks for the info Kevin, those links are really useful

[Raeder]

You're welcome, glad to help!