Here's my review of Rapido's GMD-1.
This time, I'd like to do something different in the description. This time, I'm doing a written review with my own rating, which will be a score out of 5. This is an idea I got from fellow YouTube model railroader/railfan BArailsystem, and I want to try it out in my own way. BA does this in his very well done locomotive reviews that I highly recommend you to check out if you haven't. Please subscribe to him as well if you haven't as he does fantastic modeling, and great camera work at the layout, and the tracks during railfanning. You can check his channel here: [ Ссылка ]
I should also note that since I'm human, I did make some mistakes and miss a few things. A clear, and filled description is below in the written review.
Now onto the review!
Detail:
This locomotive is full of detail, which is not surprise from Rapido. But to see a Canadian-unique locomotive like the GMD-1 in plastic production for the first time, detail is everything.
Details that catch my eye are the eyebolts, etched footboard plates, underbody piping, steps, MU and trainline hoses, dropsteps, trucks, cab interior, and radiator vents.
The model comes with a bag of optional details to fit certain time eras, model specs, and so on. Includes grab irons as well for models that had been rebuilt or had parts changed out for different ones. Now the numberboards are very nice when out of the box. Some clouding appears, but is not much of a worry. When I renumbered the unit, I had to place something light behind the decals to whiten the clear numbers of the decals. They don't show up as well as the stock ones, but that's my fault. And the video quality dropped during upload which decreased the lightness of them more.
From my eyes, I see a top-quality model locomotive produced by a top-quality manufacturer. The array of detail makes it so realistic and that really strikes me. I give the detail 5/5.
Performance & Electronics:
As is expected from most DC models. Runs at about the same pace as most Athearn RTR models and almost matches the speed of my Walthers Trainline GP9u. Traction is great, even when the locomotive is pulling itself around plus about 7 cars. Although it doesn't match the traction of my GP9u, it's still good and may even be better than most Athearn RTR models I've owned.
Being a DC model, it's got a DCC ready board, for 21-pin decoders. Inside the shell, the wiring is very clean, and makes good, but friendly use of the space inside. Power pickup is good, but can be a bit more problematic on dirty track.
Overall, my rating is still good for the GMD-1, with the good performance you'd expect from higher quality DC models. However, the track pickup could be improved just slightly. 4/5 in the performance/electronics catagory.
Lighting:
What's nice to see is LED lighting. Surface-mount diodes do the work of lighting the headlights and numberboards. They nicely light the numbers and headlights to a brightness level that isn't blinding head-on, but isn't as dim as some models. Numberboards light up both directions at once, while the headlights are directional.
My score is greatly affected by what's doing the job. And that's the LEDs, which is great for me. Brightness is very good, where they look much like headlights. So I rate this at 5/5
So the locomotive's overall rating from my perspective is a great 5/5 rounded from the average. Detail and lighting rule, while the DC is as expected, but power pickup needs just a little tweaking.
Great job by Rapido Trains!
Thanks for watching a CPRail43 Locomotive Review, brought to you in part by the Rapido GMD-1.
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CPR43 Productions
