Curious if the pilots on MTH Premiere F3 are representative of real passenger F3/7 diesels? I've had several Premiere scale F units and the pilots always seemed rather 'open' when viewed from the side compared to my Atlas and Lionel models. Seems there is too much 'air' (space) between the rear of the pilot and the front of the truck. Am I seeing things?
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Sam. Google "GM F3 locomotive" click on images there is a scale line drawing from the side published by Kalmbach in 1949 you only have to scroll down a short way to see this drawing. click on the drawing and it will appear in a small window then right click on the window and choose view image that image will fill the screen and if you click one more time it will supersize. Right click one more time and choose save image and you have a copy that will enlarge quite a bit. You can see in this drawing that the pilot wrapped around to just barely clear the leading edge of the truck. No gap. j
Sam I just sent you a link to that drawing. j
I agree with you, Sam. MTH's version of the EMD freight unit pilot does not match the prototype quite as well as Atlas and Lionel pilots. Nonetheless, it is an improvement over the 1950 Lionel postwar F3 pilot that MTH started with.
When MTH announced FT's several years back, I bought an A-B-B-A set and was dismayed to see the the later EMD pilot (as shown in your photo) applied. I wrote to MTH and pointed out that all FT's had a distinctively different pilot, and they sent me a nice letter proudly informing me that they had applied their new highly detailed pilot (the one it came with, the one in your photo) to the FT's.
Clueless.
Next time Sunset/3rd Rail makes FT's the MTH FT's are going onto eBay.
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