ACME E-lok Baureihe 120 141-7 DB - Epoche VI

Hot on the heels of  the latest Brawa Voith Gravita 10BB which arrived last week from The Hobby Store in Faversham www.hobb-e-mail.com/‎,  their latest HO arrival in the form of the long awaited DB E-lok Baureihe 120 141-7 in the current DB Traffic Red livery, pre-fitted with Loksound decoder was picked up from the shop today, and I've taken some photos to give a flavour of what to expect from this premium release...

The packaging is superb, very similar to the excellent boxes that ESU ship their premium locos in, complete with a solid plastic base to which the loco is bolted, an allen-key is provided for release. This is a further improvement in loco packaging and would be suitable for transporting in future, given the very fine detail these models are now coming with as standard.

First impression are, it was worth the wait, ACME have really captured the beautiful simplicity of the BR 120 well, all angles look spot on, with the all important 'face' particularly pleasing. The decoder is the standard ESU Loksound we've come to know as fitted to both ESU and Roco offerings of late complete with the usual array of sounds including platform announcements, door closing and the various compressors and brake sounds of the loco itself. Performance is superb, as should be expected from a loco in this price bracket, with the third headlight and cablights independently switchable. The pantograph is an excellent representation of the prototype, and is not cursed with an over-firm spring so rides the catenary well without exerting undue forces. All in all I cannot fault this, and it scores a perfect 10.