Post by fr8kar on Dec 11, 2020 18:33:47 GMT -8
Did anyone else end up getting one of the Backpacker well cars? Looks like they're all sold out. I got mine this past weekend and I like it. It's easily the heaviest well car I have.
My only beef - and it's a small gripe - is the copious use of plastic parts molded in color on the model. The color of the plastic is very close to the color of the paint, but there's still a difference. I hope that a coat of clear flat will help give me an even texture/base for weathering. In the past I've had weathering react differently to the surfaces of a multi-media model with bare plastic, painted metal and plastic parts.
Which brings me to the color. It's a bright yellow compared to the other intermodal equipment I have. That's consistent with other TrailerTrain models from ScaleTrains. I can't really complain about that because it will be weathered pretty heavily. But there is a pretty dramatic contrast between the color Athearn used on the Maxi I cars (a deep yellow ochre) and these cars.
As far as the detail is concerned, it's a knockout. The Athearn Maxi I is probably the closest thing I have to it in terms of detail level. The ScaleTrains model is just on another level compared to other Athearn cars (Maxi III, Husky Stack), Walthers and A-line/Intermountain Thrall cars. There's even some inter-box connectors included in the parts pack! The trucks are gorgeous and among the few operating roller bearing trucks out there that don't seem to operate like handbrakes are tied. These things roll!
I also got two three-packs of containers (Hanjin and ITEL). Of the six containers one had a twist in it lengthwise so that it would only sit on three pins at a time and would not sit level on top of another container. I used an X-acto chisel blade to work the floor out of the car (similar design to the old Athearn blue box containers) and the body straightened itself out. I glued the floor back in with the container sandwiched in between some 1-2-3 blocks and all is well with it now. The containers have almost the same pin style and spacing as the Athearn blue box containers, which is great for me because that's what I've standardized on (I have a lot of old Walthers and A-line containers I've converted to the Athearn blue box pin setup; newer Walthers containers have a different pin setup than the older containers with the rectangular pin). I permanently attach my stacked containers to each other, so the pin system really only matters to me when it comes to the container fitting in the well.
To that point, the newer Walthers containers fit in the Backpacker easily, and so do Athearn 20' and 40' blue box containers. I do not have any Atlas containers yet, so I could not test their fit. The A-line containers I have (standard cube corrugated 40' boxes) do not fit. The A-line containers are too wide at the IBC connectors which could probably be addressed by sanding them down. The corner posts themselves seem to be narrow enough to fit in the Backpacker, so that problem could probably be solved easily. Of course the ScaleTrains containers fit perfectly. In terms of detail the ScaleTrains containers really outclass the old A-line containers and the old Walthers containers. I don't feel like the lack of separate door rods on the old blue box containers really held them back, so to my eye they look fine with the ScaleTrains containers.
Of course I'd like to see some more schemes announced so I can pick up more of the containers. If the tooling allows for sides without logo panels, Evergreen and K-line could be done at some point. I can always use more of those. If not there are plenty of other schemes I can use with the existing tooling.
Apparently the model is a big success for ScaleTrains since it's sold out. I don't know if I can use another one without buying a lot more of other prototypes since these weren't that common. But I had to have one and I'm glad I got it. 40' containers though, bring 'em on!
My only beef - and it's a small gripe - is the copious use of plastic parts molded in color on the model. The color of the plastic is very close to the color of the paint, but there's still a difference. I hope that a coat of clear flat will help give me an even texture/base for weathering. In the past I've had weathering react differently to the surfaces of a multi-media model with bare plastic, painted metal and plastic parts.
Which brings me to the color. It's a bright yellow compared to the other intermodal equipment I have. That's consistent with other TrailerTrain models from ScaleTrains. I can't really complain about that because it will be weathered pretty heavily. But there is a pretty dramatic contrast between the color Athearn used on the Maxi I cars (a deep yellow ochre) and these cars.
As far as the detail is concerned, it's a knockout. The Athearn Maxi I is probably the closest thing I have to it in terms of detail level. The ScaleTrains model is just on another level compared to other Athearn cars (Maxi III, Husky Stack), Walthers and A-line/Intermountain Thrall cars. There's even some inter-box connectors included in the parts pack! The trucks are gorgeous and among the few operating roller bearing trucks out there that don't seem to operate like handbrakes are tied. These things roll!
I also got two three-packs of containers (Hanjin and ITEL). Of the six containers one had a twist in it lengthwise so that it would only sit on three pins at a time and would not sit level on top of another container. I used an X-acto chisel blade to work the floor out of the car (similar design to the old Athearn blue box containers) and the body straightened itself out. I glued the floor back in with the container sandwiched in between some 1-2-3 blocks and all is well with it now. The containers have almost the same pin style and spacing as the Athearn blue box containers, which is great for me because that's what I've standardized on (I have a lot of old Walthers and A-line containers I've converted to the Athearn blue box pin setup; newer Walthers containers have a different pin setup than the older containers with the rectangular pin). I permanently attach my stacked containers to each other, so the pin system really only matters to me when it comes to the container fitting in the well.
To that point, the newer Walthers containers fit in the Backpacker easily, and so do Athearn 20' and 40' blue box containers. I do not have any Atlas containers yet, so I could not test their fit. The A-line containers I have (standard cube corrugated 40' boxes) do not fit. The A-line containers are too wide at the IBC connectors which could probably be addressed by sanding them down. The corner posts themselves seem to be narrow enough to fit in the Backpacker, so that problem could probably be solved easily. Of course the ScaleTrains containers fit perfectly. In terms of detail the ScaleTrains containers really outclass the old A-line containers and the old Walthers containers. I don't feel like the lack of separate door rods on the old blue box containers really held them back, so to my eye they look fine with the ScaleTrains containers.
Of course I'd like to see some more schemes announced so I can pick up more of the containers. If the tooling allows for sides without logo panels, Evergreen and K-line could be done at some point. I can always use more of those. If not there are plenty of other schemes I can use with the existing tooling.
Apparently the model is a big success for ScaleTrains since it's sold out. I don't know if I can use another one without buying a lot more of other prototypes since these weren't that common. But I had to have one and I'm glad I got it. 40' containers though, bring 'em on!
