I just pulled out some cars from storage to run on the layout. They were in their original packing, stored carefully, and always handled gently. They were some really nice cars that I use for display when I have guests over.
8/10 of these cars were irreperably damaged in some way. Their fine details had broken off, bent, or were only being held on loosely. I am sick of paying 30,40, and 50 dollars for these cars, and then being provided with the most minimal packaging protection in their boxes. Most of my fleet is Accurail, Atlas or Athearn RTR/Roundhouse. I don't have to worry about those cars getting damaged. Chuck em in a shoe box and bounce them around. Not a scratch on them! But these Rapido boxcars? Destroyed after thinking about them twice. That nice Kadee hopper? Its in 16 pieces. Ooo, thats a nice looking $60 boxcar, it would be a shame if it... spontaniously dissasembled.
*sigh* Rant over. My anger is spent and my day is now ruined. So, what grinds your gears in the model RR world.
JJF
Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing.
Yesterday is History.
Tomorrow is a Mystery.
But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present.
I share the same feelings about locomotives. I do not have any desire for an uber-detailed plastic model that is just going to break as it receives maintenance or repair.
Athearn, Stewart, and Kato make up my diesel fleet, and the steamers are old sturdy brass.
I build almost all my freight cars from kits, so I can choose to leave off fragile details or install tougher options like A-Line sill steps.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Not even trains, but a car of a different sort. My girlfriend has a mini-cooper. The battery died. She had to have the car towed from here in Delaware to Annapolis in Maryland, about two hours away, because no one in Delaware can change a mini-cooper battery. It has to be reprogrammed at the dealer to get the car to accept it.
i wish Accurail made 1:1 automobiles.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
It sounds like you have a storage issue. Since moving to the land of no basements 5 years ago, my model railroading is done at a club. I only have "expensive" cars, Rapido, Tangent, Exactrail and so on. The cars are transported back and forth between my house and the club. I have had very little issues with details being broken off, and the majority of the issues I would take the blame on.
I stand by my choice to get rid of the Accurail, blue box, and other crude models for something more detailed.
An "expensive model collector"
JDawgThat nice Kadee hopper? Its in 16 pieces. Ooo, thats a nice looking $60 boxcar, it would be a shame if it... spontaniously dissasembled.
Ok...
There's something missing from this story....
I've never known *anyone* that's had cars falling apart like this short of a derailment that drops them on a concrete floor.
Bumping small details when handling is one thing, but unless you're just being overly hyperbolic for effect, if you're exploding a car into a dozen pieces I really have to wonder how rough you are on these things...?
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
I agree completely with the OP. On my previous layout, the bulk of my freight car fleet was Athearn BB. Accurail has now replaced Athearn for inexpensive, shake-the-box kits. I upgrade them with KD 148 couplers and metal wheels but I am perfectly fine with molded on details. They look just fine to me. I do have a small number of higher end freight cars with the fine detail that I bought at train shows at deeply discounted prices. That fine detail looks nice but is mostly unnoticed when in a long freight train. It does require extra careful handling or that fine detail is going to get broken off. What I find completely useless is fine detailing on the bottom of rolling stock. Why bother?
Now, please, don't get me started on high end passenger cars.
Detail is at the udder end of deCAT.
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
The worst part about buying expensive cars is realizing that they often break easily. Having cars shatter is never fun. I knw that regardless of how I'm careful, I don't take any cars for granted.
It seems many expensive cars have to satisfy the must-have itch.
I like high-end stuff. Being fragile is the price we pay for quality scale. My stuff rarely comes off the layout once put there so handling is not a concern. When it does come off it gets my full attention while I am handling it because it is so fragile. I know before I pick it up where the soft spots are.
If you can't tell the difference between a high-end or low-end musical instrument, audio system, TV, car, or sports equipment then don't spend the money, it's the same with trains. I know someone that has the most complete workshop you could ever want and every tool is top-of-the-line expensive. I have never seen him build anything with it, the workshop is the hobby, not what he could do with it. I think I have used his tools more than he has.
Nothing grinds my gears in this hobby, anything that is not performing the way it should, be it bad track or a malfunctioning loco can be fixed. Getting mad, like worrying solves nothing and is a complete waste of time and energy that could be put toward the solution.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
JDawg8/10 of these cars were irreperably damaged in some way. Their fine details had broken off, bent, or were only being held on loosely. I am sick of paying 30,40, and 50 dollars for these cars, and then being provided with the most minimal packaging protection in their boxes
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Expensive cars? Like Bentley or Rolls Royce? Maybe Lambo or Ferrari? Heck when people are paying more than $100,000 for a pickup then there are no expensive cars. Junk if you ask me.
Expensive rolling stock is also junk. Give me a robust kit like Bowser or Branchline any day.
Pete.
After watching many videos of how "Ham-fisted" people are unboxing cars for review, I can understand why parts break off!
.
n012944 It sounds like you have a storage issue. Since moving to the land of no basements 5 years ago, my model railroading is done at a club. I only have "expensive" cars, Rapido, Tangent, Exactrail and so on. The cars are transported back and forth between my house and the club. I have had very little issues with details being broken off, and the majority of the issues I would take the blame on. I stand by my choice to get rid of the Accurail, blue box, and other crude models for something more detailed.
thomas81z n012944 It sounds like you have a storage issue. Since moving to the land of no basements 5 years ago, my model railroading is done at a club. I only have "expensive" cars, Rapido, Tangent, Exactrail and so on. The cars are transported back and forth between my house and the club. I have had very little issues with details being broken off, and the majority of the issues I would take the blame on. I stand by my choice to get rid of the Accurail, blue box, and other crude models for something more detailed. land of no basements?? would that be florida lol , cause i live there also
land of no basements?? would that be florida lol , cause i live there also
Yep, that is it.
So, you have a bunch of detailed cars that make it all the way from China undamaged in their "minimal packaging", you take them out of their packaging to display, and put them back in their packages undamaged.
And the next time you take them out to look at them 8 out of 10 are "irrepairably damaged".
I don't quite understand how that happens, unless you have some of those Twilight Zone closet monsters.
Somebody's playing with your trains when you are not home.
Most of the time the only thing that falls off the highly detailed cars at my house are the air hoses, and manufacturers like Moloco are fixing that by using real rubber air hoses now, so they don't fall off.
Many times the packaging is designed so that the car or locomotive only fits inside it one way, and if the item is forced into the plastic clamshells differently, well yes, stuff can break off. I've always been very careful with handling locos and rolling stock. When I've worked retail I always treated the model trains as if they were my own and have had very few issues ever.
I tend not to like covered hoppers because there can often be issues with the nice see through walkways bowing, coming loose, etc. However, on all the ScaleTrains covered hoppers I've had, that has never happened. The earlier ScaleTrains tank cars did have some durability issues, but the more recent ones are much better.
Intermountain autoracks are delicate and the end doors have to be handled with care to keep them in the tracks.
I tend to be careful with handling model trains and I never take them to clubs or even other people's layouts anymore. Also learning how to make some minor repairs has been a long process and I'm much better at it than when I was younger. Some things I can fix so well that nobody will even know it was repaired.
John
I just noticed the OP included Kadee HO cars on his list of frustrations.
I'll bet I have 40 of their PS-1 boxcars, 10 hopper cars, and 1 covered hopper. I have never had any detail break off of any of these. As full disclosure, I rebuilt the entire roof of the covered hopper car.
But... that Kadee tank car... I only have one of those, and there is NOWHERE you can touch it without breaking something off of it.
It is a beautiful model, but way too fragile.
Nearly all my tanks cars are brass now.
cv_acrOk... There's something missing from this story.... I've never known *anyone* that's had cars falling apart like this short of a derailment that drops them on a concrete floor.
I agree, Chris. While some high-priced rolling stock might be somewhat fragile, it's hard for me to imagine buyers of such equipment being klutzy nimrods with little to no respect for such equipment.
It's not at all difficult or expensive to alter the boxes in which those items have been sold. I can't afford to buy lots of high-end equipment, but I often alter cheaper equipment with better details, and in most cases, not much of it is all that fragile, but is just as detailed....perhaps that might be an alternative...although, on second thought, maybe it's beyond their skills?
Here are a few examples of coddled rolling stock...
The kit is from Accurail, and I removed the cast-on grabirons and replaced them with metal ones from Tichy. The ice-bunker hatches, and platforms are from my stock of "train stuff", while the corner grabirons on the platforms are scratchbuilt with wire, also from Tichy.There's either a Kleenex or paper towel in most of my rolling-stock boxes, and items like this with fragile hatches or staff-mounted brake wheels always have a piece of foam glued to the inside of the box, just big enough to keep the car from sliding around - once the box lid is added, it helps to compact the foam a little more, ensuring that the car doesn't slide around inside the box.
These four are scratchbuilds, and all are equipped with wire grabirons, ladders, and walkway grabs, too, plus staff-mounted handbrake wheels...
Tissue and paper towels keep the cars protected, both from the box, and from one another.
This one is one of my very few "expensive" ones, an undecorated kit from Rapido...
...a paper towel and small piece of foam are all that's needed to keep the car from sliding around inside the box.
This one, a Roundhouse kit...
...came with moulded-on grabirons, and a lot less underbody detail, and got a different roof and different hatches and hatch platforms.
These two tankcars are also "expensive" ones from Tangent, both unlettered kits, and both fairly easy to build...
Beneath the sheet-foam, there are blocks of soft-ish styrofoam, keeping the cars from sliding around in the box, as the cars' domes are trapped between the styrofoam.
This rather small tankcar is also an expensive Tangent kit, another very nicely designed car...
It was another enjoyable kit to build, but the most time-consuming operation was lettering it...168 individual pieces of decal. The car is held in place by a piece of foam, and even shaking the box doesn't allow it to move much at all.
This final one is an extremely fragile car...I was attempting to buy another car, (for $10.00) but the seller was determined that I should buy this Westerfield kit, too...
I wasn't really interested in it, but he said ten bucks for the boxcar, but only nine bucks if ya take both.
The kit was quite old, and many of the finer parts broke off simply upon being carefully picked-up. Luckily, I keep a good supply of styrene strip material in a variety of sizes, and was able to replace those parts that broke. The car, when empty, weighs a mere 1.6oz.
Wayne
maxman So, you have a bunch of detailed cars that make it all the way from China undamaged in their "minimal packaging", you take them out of their packaging to display, and put them back in their packages undamaged. And the next time you take them out to look at them 8 out of 10 are "irrepairably damaged". I don't quite understand how that happens, unless you have some of those Twilight Zone closet monsters.
Exactly. Go to the junk tables at a train show and you'll see plenty of Athearn BB or Accurail type cars with smashed couplers, scratched paint, broken stirrups, and missing brakewheels. Anything that's handled carelessly will break.
I haven't had any issues with product arriving damaged, nor did I have any issues packing up my equipment and moving. Buy from reputable retailers, and use care when handling.
OK... a few more thoughts.
It seems the OP is talking about R-T-R pre-decorated train cars. It also sounds like he is using the original packaging to transport/store these models.
I do not use the original packaging. The original packaging is VERY WELL designed to prevent damage during transport from China, but it is not very easy to get the model back into and out of without damaging something.
My Stewart F Units fit into the molded styrofoam very tight, but with the added details from the Walthers dress-up kit, they will get damaged.
My Proto-2000 models simply do not go back into the original packaging once the chassis is installed into the body. They do not fit.
My Spectrum 2-8-8-4 is a real pain to get back into the original packaging, and very easy to put it in wrong. I also hate unplugging the tender any more than absolutely required.
My Tangent 6,000 gallon tank cars are the same as my Spectrum locomotive. Too hard to put back into the packaging.
My Kadee boxcars go fine into Kadee boxes, but the boxes tend to crack after about a dozen uses.
So... I use Axian boxes to transport my stuff. Train cars and locomotives drop right in, and there is no damage ever.
I use storage boxes from Bear Creek Model Railroad to transport my stuff. I did add additional foam to better package the models, however I think they work very well.
https://bearcreekmodelrr.com/storage-container-2-2
I see many share my frustration. I like how so many implied that I was handeling my cars impropery causing them to break. They were touched by me ONCE! One time they have been out of the box.
16 pieces is an exaggeration of course. The car itself is intact, but all of these fine plastic details are broken. I wear silk gloves when handeling my locos and my expensive models. Why? Because I don't want greasy fingerprints on them. I am fastidious about my models, and that is why I am so upset. If they can't withstand my delicate touch ONCE, then they won't survive a single derailment, crash or accident on the layout. An uncommon event on my RR, but it happens to the best of us.
I've discussed my complaints with some of the manufacturers, and they were good to talk with. But I am but one modeler in a sea, so i don't expect much.
Some time ago at the former (sniff) LAMRS layout, I was running a long train up a very long grade during an operating session. When my train had almost reached the top of the grade, a coupler in the middle of the train let go and half my train started accelerating back down the long grade. As the track was high up against the back wall and completely out of reach, there was nothing I could do but watch in horror as the cars raced down toward a fairly sharp 180 degree turn in a tunnel. I suddenly found myself playing catch as car after car shot out of the tunnel entrance and flew off the track and out into the aisle. As most of the cars were cheaper kits with molded on detail, there was little damage other than to my ego. I would hate to think what would have happened had these been expensive and highly detailed cars!!!
Hornblower
Back to Kadee HO cars...
Factory decorated Kadee cars are assembled without glue. The parts are all press-friction fit. If these are coming off, I use my smallest DeWalt nail set to press them back in.
I have never had to do this more than once.
hornblower Some time ago at the former (sniff) LAMRS layout, I was running a long train up a very long grade during an operating session. When my train had almost reached the top of the grade, a coupler in the middle of the train let go and half my train started accelerating back down the long grade. As the track was high up against the back wall and completely out of reach, there was nothing I could do but watch in horror as the cars raced down toward a fairly sharp 180 degree turn in a tunnel. I suddenly found myself playing catch as car after car shot out of the tunnel entrance and flew off the track and out into the aisle. As most of the cars were cheaper kits with molded on detail, there was little damage other than to my ego. I would hate to think what would have happened had these been expensive and highly detailed cars!!!
Metal couplers are your friend
JDawg I see many share my frustration. I like how so many implied that I was handeling my cars impropery causing them to break. They were touched by me ONCE! One time they have been out of the box. 16 pieces is an exaggeration of course. The car itself is intact, but all of these fine plastic details are broken. I wear silk gloves when handeling my locos and my expensive models. Why? Because I don't want greasy fingerprints on them. I am fastidious about my models, and that is why I am so upset. If they can't withstand my delicate touch ONCE, then they won't survive a single derailment, crash or accident on the layout. An uncommon event on my RR, but it happens to the best of us.
And yet many of us don't have these issues.
To quote C&C Music Factory, "things that make you go hmmmm......"
BroadwayLion Detail is at the udder end of deCAT.
I thought only cows had an udder end? Shows how much I know.
With a layout at almost 5 feet above the floor, most molded on details don't look as bad as when viewed from above.
I'm very likely the most critical person who will see my layout in person, and I'm not real critical.
I like all the lower end cars already mentioned, so that saves me money to spend on expensive computers, plug and play cameras and color printers that don't work right, if at all! Dan
Southgate 2I'm very likely the most critical person who will see my layout in person, and I'm not real critical.
This is something we all need to remember. I'll bet less than a half-dozen fellow model railroaders will ever see my layout in person. Most of them will only see it through pictures I share, and I have complete control over the photographs.
If it is good enough for me, it is good enough, period. It is my railroad.
n012944To quote C&C Music Factory, "things that make you go hmmmm......"
n012944 was quoting C&C Music Factory. C&C Music Factory was quoting Arsenio Hall.
To quote Billy Preston "Will It Go Round In Circles".