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.
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
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"
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.
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.
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.