Ready to Roll detail improved

[Lovemymodelling]

I’ve had a bit of a bounty parcel today various intermountain and Exactrail freight cars and my previously posted genesis P42.

Perhaps I’m a detail snob when it comes to freight cars avoiding scale trains operator and Atlas trainman mostly going for exactrail, proto2000 , genesis etc however I saw a recent review on Athearn ready to roll gunderson 60ft box cars and was impressed with the underbody detail and separate grabs at the ends and some photo etch parts too so purchased one in TTX TBOX (ATH75250) and a red CP rail (ATH75262). For $40 I’m impressed about on par detail wise with my early genesis 50ft cars with underbody details, so much ive ordered a triple pack for the TBOX , only one criticism and this isn’t just for there cars, my TBOX has the interior weight moving around inside , this is my 5th model like this the other being from Tangent and Exactrail I’m not going to risk taking the body off the chassis and risking loosing some of the details in the process may dremel a small hole and squeeze a little CA inside hoping it will hold the weight down but then there is the risk of it glueing the weight on the side of the car and not the floor, anyone else had or rectified this problem? I’ve added a couple of pictures of the details 

[mdvle]

2 hours ago, Lovemymodelling said:

Perhaps I’m a detail snob when it comes to freight cars avoiding scale trains operator and Atlas trainman mostly going for exactrail, proto2000 , genesis etc

 

Your not alone - many people, particularly with smaller layouts, are going for the more detailed options.  ScaleTrains has commented during Q&A sessions that the Rivet Counter / Operator split is something like 85/15.

 

On the other hand, if one needs something for trains shows or club layouts where mishandling can happen the greater durability of the Trainman/Roundhouse/Operator models may be better.

 

2 hours ago, Lovemymodelling said:

however I saw a recent review on Athearn ready to roll gunderson 60ft box cars and was impressed with the underbody detail and separate grabs at the ends and some photo etch parts too so purchased one in TTX TBOX (ATH75250) and a red CP rail (ATH75262). For $40 I’m impressed about on par detail wise with my early genesis 50ft cars with underbody details, so much ive ordered a triple pack for the TBOX

 

Athearn's RTR line of freight cars is for the most part quite good these days in terms of details.  The big difference compared to Genesis will be how accurate they are to a specific paint scheme, but for many that doesn't matter.

 

The RTR locos can be a bit different depending on when the tooling was last upgraded or added to so better with them to try and get pictures to see if their details meet what you want (or look at the announcement PDF's to see if they list any improvements), though even there they have bumped some of the lower end RTR items into the Roundhouse category.

 

 

[mdvle]

Another point regarding Athearn's RTR line, particularly for the locos - they have upgraded some of the tooling over time so if looking at buying a used item you may want to see it / get photos instead of just relying on a description to make sure the model meets your expectations/wants.

 

Example, because it was a recent discussion on another forum, the RTR SD38/39/40.  These were initially based on tooling Athearn purchased from a company called RPP (Rail Power Products) who tooled up shells back in the 80s/90s - but these shells often had issues either with accuracy or with things being to thick, etc.

 

But that tooling eventually wore out, and Athearn tooled up new molds for those models that are much, much better.  So while buying a new RTR SD38/39/40 is going to be okay, used models can be from 2 very different sets of tooling.

[Graham Heather]

When these box cars first came out, they were in the Genesis line.

With coupler lift bars and air hoses as standard in blue and yellow boxes.

Great looking cars and run well.

Graham.