Walthers GP15T-2 Review
Walthers
GP15T...
Walthers makes a GP15T model. It is not all that
good, but for a basic kit for a very cheap price it is a fair
purchase.
I got mine as a Christmas gift, but they run around $20-30. I
wouldn't
suggest buying one if you want to be prototypical for the East
End.
GP15T's tended to congregate around Chicago. Once in a blue moon
they would wander over to Cumberland, but they were not everyday
sights.
I would plan on building only one if you are modeling anywhere besides
Chicago.
The GP15T is a unique engine to Chessie. It is
a very small locomotive compared to everything else Chessie was buying
at the time. It is also the only Chessie locomotive to have the
small
"Chessie System" on the long hood. Notice the "C" does not hit
the
orange stripe. Only GP15T's were this way, they were too small
for
the regular logo to fit. Chessie owned 25 of these type.
They
all were delivered in the Chessie paint scheme and numbered
1500-1524.
The Walthers kit has a number of problems that you may or may not want
to fix. If I had to put a number on it, I would say this kit is
80%
accurate, just barely good enough to run.
As for the problems, the paint job stinks. The
yellow
is a lemon yellow not golden yellow. The orange stripe is almost
neon orange not orangish red like it should be. The handrails are
black not orange like they should be. The wheels, trucks, and
fuel
tank are black not blue like they should be. There is no bell
included.
There is one half way down the long hood on the right side of the real
locomotive. There is no slotted battery box, all of these came
with
the slotted battery box when delivered. Some of the doors
are
wrong too, but to fix that would be a major pain.
Below is a pic of the real thing. It is a Dean
Heacock
pic.
Below is one pic of the Walthers GP15T right out of
the
box and one finished. Look at the Walthers
GP15T tips page for a "how to" article on improving this kit.
For even more info on GP15T's look on my 1520cs-c&o
locomotive page.
