With the discouraging reports of brass quality below, I have just about been sufficiently scared away from starting an HOn3 pike.
Are there any endorsements out there for anything HOn3 that runs decent?
I think that it is about time an outfit like Athearn, Proto 2000 Steam Heritage, or Bachmann Spectrum came out with a great-running HOn3 model that runs as good as the recent wide-gauge offerings in HO. I know they could sell lots of them to the bunch of us, even at 4 to 5 bones a piece, and blow the brass market out of the water.
Let's deluge them with requests for a K-28!