Does anyone have any experience with Lionel's modern era milk cars? I am familiar with the postwar 3462, 3472, and 3662, but I've never had any of the newer versions.
I just bought the reissue of the 3672 Bosco that I've been wanting ever since I saw it in the 2002 catalog. I can't wait until it arrives. I assume it is similar to the postwar 3662 mechanically, correct?
Jim
The only difference with the Milk cars are that the new ones have moving plastic parts inside like the arm that holds the milkman. They are actually quieter than the old ones. I don't know about yours but mine is semiscale compared to the PW cars that are 027. It really makes the PW ones liik small.
Kev
Can't stop working on the railroad!
Kev,
How well do the plastic parts wear from use? I am already thinking of getting a postwar 3662 mechanism to swap in after reading that.
I have that car. It's very similar to the post-war version. Very reliable. I've had mine for over 10 years as well as a couple others and never had a problem. They work as well or better than the 1950s versions.
I agree with BigAl, the madern day operate smooth and quieter than the PW ones. I wouldn't worry at all about the plastic wearing out or breaking. The PW Milk car parts will not work in the modern day cars as the new cars are semi scale compared to the small 027 PW ones.
RRADICT think your thinking of the smaller ones 3462/3472 as the 3662 is the bigger semi-scale one.
Life's hard, even harder if your stupid John Wayne
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My experience is that the Modern Era cars are not as adjustable as the Post War cars. The Post War cars had a plunger assembly that slowed the operation, while the newer cars fire the cans at one speed only.
Jon
I have to say, I am very disappointed with this car. Right out of the box, it wouldn't unload more than one can without jamming the figure. After removing the body, I found glaring assembly issues with the mechanism:
1. The large vertical piece of metal to the left of the milkman was incorrectly positioned in front of the figure. That was why the cans were sticking. Bent it to the proper angle to solve this issue.
2. The tab on the plate below the figure sweep arm was misaligned in it's slot. The bottom of the figure sweep arm was also distorted. This partially cured the sticking door issue.
3. Weak door springs. Increased tension.
4. The dashpot piston is present on the plunger, but the cylinder and seat from the postwar design were eliminated . The dashpot (when serviced properly) was the key to the slow and smooth operation of the 3662/3672 of the postwar period.
Clearly, modern Lionel made this move as a cost saver. Although it doesn't impair the operation, it would certainly help these modern cars operate better if the dashpot was retained.
Was this a hard item to fix? No. However, I don't think the end user should have to clean up sloppy engineering on a brand new piece.
No way I'll buy any other modern Lionel after this latest piece. This is not the first Lionel product that hasn't performed as advertised right of out the box.
The products from the UAW years were bad enough, but Lionel's chinese production seems to be even worse from a QC standpoint.
I've got two postwar 3662s that needed nothing to operate flawlessly.
Jim that is a bummer that you had such trouble getting this thing to operate out of the box. I bought mine used so the bugs possibly could have been worked out before I brought it home and I only paid a mere 29.00 so it would have been ok to make adjustments but at full retail or close to it that is unacceptable. I forgot to mention that I replaced all my milk cans with PW repos which help the functionality, these are slightly heaveier and slow the little milkman down. Sorry you had a bad experience and yes Chinese QC is terrible with only 1 item being inspected out of every 10.
You did much better on yours. Mine set me back $160.
Jim, I am very lucky. We have a shop out here Arnie's and the guy is great he doesn't charge a lot just because the box says Lionel. The people there are very nice and will always ensure that you are happy and that you get the best price. I didn't realize that Lionel made a PW scale size milk car as I have only seen the 027 ones that I have so sorry for the misguidance there.
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