Thanks for sharing, Steve. I have four of these beasties. Two from the first run I believe in 2009 and two more from the 2018 release. All of these models are beautiful models, but they had two fatal flaws that almost put me into the Loony-bin. The first was the grain-of-wheat incandescent light bulbs used for lighting that were prone to burning out if you toggled them between "high" and "low" beam. They were also a real pain in the ass to replace if you were able to disassemble the skyline shroud from the boiler without destroying the model. The other flaw was that Athearn used very stiff springs in the #2 driver that literally forced the #1 and #3 driver to ride above the plain of the railhead thus reducing the models ability to barely propel itself over the layout. In essence, I have four highly detailed, $600 door-stops that I have to double-head with other locomotive just to get them to pull anything. It appears that the folks at Athearn finally resolved these two technical drawbacks by using LEDs this time around and installing equalizer springs with the proper tension. It also appears that Athearn finally installed a quality Tsunami2 sound decoder in this batch so hopefully the driver-chuff sync is resolved along with the horrible sound quality associated with in the earlier models. My #4357 arrived the other month from TrainWorld and I still have to preform lubricate the mechanism, check wheel-gauge/coupler-height, program the decoder and a proper break-in, but I'm encouraged by your video that Athearn finally got their collective heads out of their back-sides and manufactured a proper model for once.

Good job on the scenery and ballast and thank god the a/c is working, 116 degrees? I’d be moving, lol.

They came out really nicely. Who is the manufacturer of the backdrop behind the retaining wall?

I may have misread, are those the standard Hooker Comp series longtubes, or are the the Hooker Super Comp series? I was wanting to put a set of super comps on mine to accommodate all the performance upgrades that’s been done, but at this point in time, I think I’m going to try out a pair of tri y long tubes, easier to get to, better ground clearance, hard to beat, I know I’ll lose a little low end and some small mid range, but they come on hard top end. Hard to be a good 1 3/4”-2” super comp long tube though!!

Excellent job Steve your panzer IV J looks stunning mate! The mud splashes, darkened exhausts & figure look especially good! I'm gonna try your method of using highly thinned down brushed-on lines for the camo details on my mine this time. It sounds like a top idea! Pencil lines bloodywell bleed through the lighter paint, & I've had trouble just freehanding the camo, but your idea sounds like the best way! Thank you!

Gidday from Australia Steve! I'm waiting for delivery tomorrow (YAY!) on the interior version of this kit, which I got for half price! (AUD$55). The external detail looks awesome mate! Very cool! Did you find the fit of the main gun kinda 'floppy' & loose, as others I've read have mentioned? If so, I'm gonna try to find a way to firm up the fit. I love all the exterior details; I guess I'm gonna be out of circulation for a while with interior details to deal with as well. Oh, & plus I bought a P.E. upgrade set to go with it, with an aluminium turned main gun barrel. So I guess I'm gonna need to pay even more attention to firming up the fit of the main gun come to think of it aren't I! I'm heading straight to your next video on painting this little gem! Thanks for sharing your build!

Nice video, nice job on the wall!

Great idea, looks great!

Looks nice. Good choice on using plaster instead of plastic or balsa wood.

They look real nice so far

Great job. Looks great…

I've had mine for two weeks.

I like your approach to your rockwork. Nice to see someone that understands geology. Well done!!

Pretty good match job with the background rock face…

That’s some really nice work 👍🏽💯…you’re a natural ballaster 😊…

Very useful information 👍🏽

Another company to check out is Tangent. Their stuff is a little pricey but it's very nice and their customer service is very good also. Scale Trains and Rapido are hit or miss with how their items show up in the mail and their customer service is just so so. I don't know about other folks but that's been my experience with them.

You’re really doing a great job, Steve.

Great job on the led lights.

What a great job on the rocks and scenery. Everything came out looking really natural.

Nice job. The layout is really coming along. Is the locale Arizona? If so, your large rock faces may require the desert varnish that one sees on the AZ red rocks. The dark vertical streaks.

Looks great! I'd be overjoyed if my current project ended up looking like that!

Again, that dirt work is spot on. I wished you would have shown a closer view of the ballast after the washes - it really toned it down nicely from a distance

It's fantastic watching you work, and seeing the mountainside magically appear. Question: What brand and size are your turnouts in segment 13:10 of your video?

It's looking really sharp looking now I hope I can do as good as you're doing when I get to that point on my layout

looks good, the dry brushing will pull it all together...Vallejo Acrylic paints have very good products and videos as well as books, they are from Spain, but all the books and products are in English too.

These are spectacular gp30 models, the level of accurate detail featured on these models is incredible and this is the best gp30 model available in ho scale. I may decide to purchase one of these Scaletrains gp30 models for myself later on once I have my money 💰💰 organized.

The Alco sound is called syncopated.

There never was a RS-5, Cotton Belt or otherwise

That's a retooled Stewart RS-3 body.

Very impressive and handsome SP GP9 locomotive models, these have an impressive level of detail features although probably not as much as the Athearn Genesis GP9 models. I like both the Walthers Proto and the Athearn Genesis GP9 models and I might decide to purchase some models for myself in the future, the SP locomotive headlight display features are amazing.

Love this video series! Why? Because I also have several Life-Like Proto-2000 locomotives that have been sitting in boxes for at least 10 years. I sold most, that didn't have cracked gears, and now that I'm finally getting around to building my first little shelf layout, it's time to open the cartons, and see what's left. So, I'll be watching your entire series, and trying to replicate your success, and then selling all but a few after I've repaired them. * subscribed *

Looks pretty good. Definitely better than I could have done. I can do almost anything with my hands except artistic painting. I have 0 skills in that area. How is the house coming along?

I think it looks pretty awesome great job

NOCO products are the best! We have the Genius 1 & the Boost GB40!

I just bought my friend the SP&S with sound for his birthday present and he loves it. It really is a beautiful model.

Looks good to me! Thank God for the a/c to work again, nothing good working in a hot room 😅 trial and error is what I say. I was in the process of building a train layout 15 years ago I started, I was inexperienced then, I torn it up years ago to start all over again, I saved all the track buildings etc…luckily nothing to extreme to redo. It’ll be fun to rebuild something in the near future. I’ll be watching 😎

Don’t do it. The circuit that you’re taping into controls other stuff on the bike . If the usb charger fails it could take out other stuff on the bike.Its better to get a usb charge from Amazon and connect it directly to the battery wit its own fuse.

What did you do for reverse light and neutral safety switch?

oh phooey ... watching this video may have cost me some $$$$, lol

Thanks for this! Happy Riding

I'm getting ready to drop the fuel tank on my 1974 Trans Am w/455 with 68,000 original miles on it. I've had it in storage for the past 28 years in an indoor shop that I have just finished putting a concrete floor into with a lift. Looking into getting some information on the first project with the fuel tank in mind. Thank you for the posting of this project. It will be a great resource.

I made the same mistake early on. Once you look at tangent, prairie shadows, arrowhead and exact rail you really don’t want anything else. I wasted a few dollars.

that GP30 is lit!

what model is that engine pulling those cars? looks interesting

I just found your blog, so sorry for being late. What's the reason for applying paint at the bottom of the roof and brushing upwards? Seems to be in the opposite direction of gravity??

loving to see the progress! looks fantastic.

Very handsome and well detailed model of the GE ac4400cw locomotive from Scaletrains, this is the most accurate and best example of an ac4400 that I've seen in ho scale outside of any brass series locomotive models and Scaletrains produces spectacular products.

Looks great.

That looks really nice. Btw, when do you sleep? lol. Seems like you’re working on something 24 hours a day.