The appearance of many MTH diesels would be improved with a little more attention to baffling the lights to keep light from showing where it shouldn't. I'm very pleased with the Dash 8-40CWs, but the extraneous light escaping through the cab-door window detracts from their appearance. The photo of ATSF 802 illustrates the problem. From some angles the glowing bulb is even visible through the window, obviously not a prototypical look.
The door doesn't open, and I finally got around to pulling the shell to block the light. I applied a strip of black model trim film to the window back. ATSF 800 in the second photo shows the improvement from this simple fix.
Another sore spot for me is the excess light shining down in the cab from lighted number boards. The bulbs are installed through a rubber ring or collar. One can cut down on the excess light in the cab simply by pushing the bulbs backward (as you would if replacing the harness) so that only the part of the bulb facing straight ahead toward the number boards is exposed. (Think recessed lighting). Just to be sure, though, I installed more black trim film under the bulb mounts. The first picture shows the light bleed into the cab. The second shows how things look after the fix. One down, two units to go.
Maybe someday MTH will address these kinds of issues. By the way I'm no fan of the white LEDs used on the PS 3 diesels.
RM
