Back on March 20 I reviewed the MTH Austrian 1020 class [ ex German E94 ] electric in the green scheme; this is my review of the orange one:
1. First impression out of the box: Ugh -- MTH got the color wrong, not "the right"shade of orange. And the Lenz-type couplers look skewed.
2. Powering up and operation: Unlike the green one, this one worked fine on its shipping+display stand, with no intermittent dropouts. Operation on DCS [ Infrared Commander ] and DC was fine; indeed at the very lowest speed it seemed better than the previous one.
3. The walkaround:
a) Although both work remotely, neither coupler was mounted squarely; the coupler at one end not only had a slight horizontal skew, but droops low enough that it extends below the top of the rails.
b) This one has the correct number of Indusi [ ATS ] pickups, one each side and both at the same end.
c) Hey, there's no whistles -- I have to confess I missed this on my earlier review. There should be one on the cab roof at each end -- even the Busch ads say so, and prototype photos seem to agree. From photos of the MTH German models it appears they have them, but the Austrian ones don't. I wonder if they were removed from heritage units so nobody steals them ?
The whistle sound effect is rather long, the kind I associate with entering a bridge or tunnel. I don't know if a full DCS system allows a shorter whistle, but that would be nice if it did.
d) The data plate on the side -- the "plate" itself -- is again poorly done in lithograpy, and because of the lighter color it looks even worse.
The data on both units is the same, literally: Villach, '87
e) The windshield wipers on both units do not touch the glass, or even come close, but the pair on one end really seems worse than the others.
f) There are a pair of small white recepticles on each end; I guess the upper one is for the "UIC cable" [ passenger train functions like door control, PA, etc ]; I don't know what the lower one is for -- perhaps someone who knows could say ?
g) It's also missing that short section of bussbar on the roof, so I guess they are all like that.
4. About the color: It looks "dull", like it's faded, and has more of a "satin" finish than a gloss. Now it is certainly possible that a 1020's paint could fade to this color, or something like it -- I've photographed Austrian coaches in an orange color that had badly faded. But typically we don't expect models to look this way -- I can't recally any model mfg doing a Pinkbonnet the way some of the Superfleet diesels faded -- and the ads that, say, Busch, ran would lead one to expect a paint that approximates their illustration. However, I see that Busch is taking a page out of the MTH playbook and illustrating their own ads, of recent vintage too, with apparently models of MTH prototypes rather than MTH production machines; too bad......
Roco, who did HO models of both the E94 and 1020 back in the mid-80's -- models which are visually superior to the MTH ones despite being half the size -- says that the correct paint is "RAL 2002" reddish orange; this is incidently the same orange that DB used on the "pop livery" first cl coaches and 614's. Too bad nobody told the Chinese.
Edited to add: RAL 2002 = Pantone 485. In German when discussing the Austrian railways this shade is usually referred to as "blutorange" = blood orange. I'd say the MTH version needs a little more blood -- just as long as it's not mine, us old guys don't have that much to spare........
5. Two other items that apply to both units:
a) When operating on DC either one will "randomly" [ well it may not be random, I just don't know the common denominator or causes ] go into "ghost mode": They operate in forward or reverse, including changes of direction, and with speed control -- but no lights or sound. How cool is that !
b) They smell. I don't know if the cause was the packing or the units themselves, but they certainly have a "new model smell" to them.
6. An addenda: I've had one of the body windows on the green unit come 'unglued' and fall inside. This is apparently a very common problem.
Summary: Another disappointment. It certainly appears MTH/ Busch give more attention to the DB models than the Austrian ones, and even the former aren't perfect.
In my opinion these are not $800+ models. Your opinion may vary, of course.
Best regards, SZ
