Scale sized R3

The RS-3 is 56 1/2 feet in length.  My MTH RS-3 is 14 1/2" end of coupler to end coupler.  If those couplers were scale couplers it would be pretty close to right on scale size at 14 1/8"

The RS-3 is my favorite diesel locomotive with the RS-1 a close second.

Actually, all of those RS3's are nominal 1:48. The early Lionel's are indeed bases on a toy-like platform but have well-done O-scale shells and AAR truck side frames. The MTH is excellent - except for the tooling error on the nose(es) - the contour is too flat. I investigated doing a project with a custom-painted Lionel RS3 shell on a later 2-motor Weaver chassis. It was a drop-in fit, except for mounting points (fixable).

To my knowledge, all of these locos are O-scale, allowing for model manufacturing fudge requirements.

When I look at the 2-motor versions of the RS3, they all seem to sit too tall on the tracks which makes them look stubby.     The weaver single motor was the best looking imho.      The prototypes tend to look long and lanky.

If  you could lower an Atlas or Lionel to proper height, it might look OK.    A lot of the MTH GPs that I have looked at are too high also.    I don't know why they doit that way, unless it is give enough height for a flywheel on the back of the motor.

The early Weaver RS-3s had short, body mounted couplers, as the engine was originally designed for 2 rail scale. To fix the problem for tighter than O72 curves, use a transition box car. Mount a Weaver truck/coupler on one end, and a typical 3 trail truck with a truck mounted coupler on the other. You will likely have to trim the tabs off the Weaver coupler arm that lock the arm to the truck position.

Chris

LVHR

@D500 posted:

The MTH is excellent - except for the tooling error on the nose(es) - the contour is too flat.

The MTH RS-3 has a cab that does not rise nearly high enough over the hoods.  It looks like somebody took an actual scale model and stepped on it.  Examine the cab windows that look out over the tops of the hoods.  Photos of the prototype, the Weaver model and the Atlas model are very similar.  The MTH windows look more like tank driver viewing slits.

Like Charlie (MichRR714) stated above, the RS3 (and the six-axle RSD4 for that matter) is right near the top of my list of favorite diesels.  As for my answer to Don's original question...IMO there still has not been an accurate scale-size/shape RS3 produced...and certainly not with the level of scale details that we've become accustomed to seeing on higher-end locomotives (think Lionel Legacy or MTH Premier diesel offerings).

Bob did a great job of describing what's wrong with the MTH RailKing version.  Plus it has lots of molded-in features like grab irons and pilot hoses.  Just not very detailed.  As for the Atlas trainman offering, the long and short hoods appear to be too wide to me.  The Weaver shell was probably the closest thing to an accurate representation.

That's why I keep holding onto the hope that either Lionel takes the old Weaver shell tooling and turns it into a highly-detailed Legacy model...or Sunset/3rd Rail designs one from the ground up.  I would certainly be a buyer of several of them for sure!

What is wrong with the K-Line, WBB RS3"s?

I saw a k-line reading rs-3 that I’ve been wanting at a hobby shop and finally saw in person the excessive gap between the trucks and the frame that some people have talked about in other threads. None of my other k-line rs-3s have that issue.

I’m new to the older weaver chain drive rs-3s and man are they finicky. I haven’t made up my mind on whether I like them or not.  They sure look nice though.

TTIWWP

@MerCrewser posted:

I’m new to the older weaver chain drive rs-3s and man are they finicky. I haven’t made up my mind on whether I like them or not.  They sure look nice though.

I have an older one: it runs just fine and looks good doing it...

Mark in Oregon

@Bob posted:

The MTH RS-3 has a cab that does not rise nearly high enough over the hoods.  It looks like somebody took an actual scale model and stepped on it.  Examine the cab windows that look out over the tops of the hoods.  Photos of the prototype, the Weaver model and the Atlas model are very similar.  The MTH windows look more like tank driver viewing slits.

Well now - i went and looked at my MTH RS3 (actually an RSD3/4) dummy and you are correct - the cab does look too squat. Gee, thanks - now I have another reason to be annoyed, along with the flat-face contours. Boy, MTH's usual excellent tooling quality had a bad day with this one. But its scale is still correct, overall, so far as I can tell. I may put a ruler on it later and check some plans.

Can we see some comparison photos? I have the latest RailKing and an older K-Line and don't see much difference between the two tooling, besides smaller details.

A few years ago, there was a RS3 post with comparison photos. I believe the Atlas was the best and accurate looking.

Here is a look at K-Line and Atlas.