Rapido HO 40' USRA boxcar: Frisco

Discussion in 'New Products' started by rjthomas909, Jun 10, 2019.

  1. gna

    gna Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Or in my case,
    9. Buy more drill bits after breaking two drilling for grabs

    I've been kicking this around lately. I looked at the Walthers rebuild of a USRA DS car.
    Sure, the brake wheel is wrong, and the ladder should be grabs, but otherwise I'm looking at a Tichy Steel Rebuild kit, metal wheels, couplers, paint, decals, slight modification to underframe, etc,
    I'm probably close to the street price of the Walthers car.
    And it's still just a stand in...
     
  2. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Yeah, but look at all the stuff you have picked up to use on the Tichy that will be there ready to use on your next project.
    I bought all kinds of tools and parts that I used on various kits. The projects I built are mostly gone now, but I still have the goodies, with the exception of my air brushes, compressor, Dremel, and a few other items. I still have my power pack, but no track. Go figure!
    K
     
  3. geep07

    geep07 Member

    Ken,
    You are absolutely correct on your first sentence. But building that car kit was by no means an easy task. Lot of small detail parts. I doubt I will build another one or similar.
    Like I previously stated there is much to say about highly detailed RTR cars.
    Since you stated you have all the goodies I challenge you to build any highly detailed car kit and let us know how it went. I know in my younger days, "a walk in the park".
    I challenged myself to do it, it appears that I won and lost it at the same time. It was fun and frustrating.
    To each to his own, as they say!

    John
     
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  4. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    John -
    Alas, I am no longer capable to build a highly detailed kit. I only have three unbuilt kits left - the Highliner A & B F-unit kits, used by Athearn Genesis, and an Athearn observation car lettered for ATSF. Guess which one I'm working on - yep, the obs, which I plan to turn into a business car. The two Highliners are terrific kits - you can build any F-unit model except for the FT or the FP's. They have all the grills, etc needed. But, as I said above, I no longer have all my equipment, etc, though I do not lack in parts. But, the big problem is two fold - my eyesight is still OK, but not what it used to be, even with my Optivisor. Secondly, and more serious, when I'm trying to do something requiring a steady hand, I get some shakes. I'm in the process of trying to repair two models I heavily detailed several years back, which both got trashed by our movers when we relocated to Naples. I'm having some trouble with this task - I have a beautiful P2K Rock Island E6A, which is a mess regarding its details, plus parts are missing (axle end caps). Its box was ripped during the trip. The other is a beautiful P2K PRR S-1 switcher. That one is probably my fault, as I didn't have it tightly braced in the box, and all the detail items were broken off. It must have bounced around in there between St Louis and Naples - where we were the fifth to be unloaded after four previous stops along the way in the US southeast.

    FYI, we used the mover who moved the Rams out to LA, and were highly rated. Go figure! More serious than my models, they broke or marred some pieces of furniture. We had a ~$6000 damage claim, which they either paid to us, or to a repair service (who did a nice job).

    Anyway, we survived. But, I'll not be able to accept your detailed model contest, as I'll not be competitive any more. I did build several Tichy kits, and had several unbuilt ones. Sold them all to a fellow in our estate sale for about what they cost me. I did keep my two ore cars, which are lettered SLIGO for the Sligo Iron Works. I remember posting the fable I created about these cars. The ore supposedly made a higher quality iron product, necessary for US defense purposes, because the ore was enriched by being saturated with chiggers, which are quite common around the Sligo-Newburg-Dillard area in Crawford, Phelps and Dent counties in Missouri. This is highly secret, of course. Don't tell the Chinese. Ha!

    Ken

    ps: Your layout is terrific!
     
    Last edited: Apr 17, 2020
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  5. rjthomas909

    rjthomas909 Member Frisco.org Supporter

    OK, finally arrived. Here is an example:

    IMG_0933-sm.JPG IMG_0934-sm.JPG
     
  6. Looks good in the pics
     
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  7. gna

    gna Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Gotta say, that looks pretty good.

    Here's the Accurail by comparison (from page 1 of the thread):
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2020
  8. rjthomas909

    rjthomas909 Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Of course they had to make the road number EXACTLY the same as the Accurail version.
     
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  9. geep07

    geep07 Member

    With both cars on a moving train and both weathered, be hard to distinguish which is a better car!
    Wait! Stop the train! Let's have a look!
    Wait! Stop the train, I am going to tip the cars and look at the under carriage!

    No doubt, hands down, the Rapido car has detail parts that pop out. Makes great still pictures. Both cars on a moving train makes a great video.
    Would like to have one or several in my inventory!

    John
     
  10. patrick flory

    patrick flory Member

    I’m afraid those details will pop “off” in my case. Have to unpack and repack every time I want to operate. Not much different than a train set.

    Not getting one, or two as they require.
     
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  11. meteor910

    meteor910 2009 Engineer of the Year Staff Member Frisco.org Supporter

    See if Accurail has the decals to change the number. They work very well.
    K
     
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  12. gna

    gna Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Accurail has them for $4: http://www.accurail.com/accurail/4600.htm (scroll down and choose 4615 for Frisco)
     
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  13. rjthomas909

    rjthomas909 Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Thanks for the tip, guys! I will get some.

    -Bob T.
     
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  14. gna

    gna Member Frisco.org Supporter

    They work great on wood cars like this. Beware the long soak time to get them off the paper, which can lead to fragile decals.
     
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  15. gna

    gna Member Frisco.org Supporter

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  16. Bob, I have plenty of left over numbers from K4 or Clover House if they would work for you?
     
  17. rjthomas909

    rjthomas909 Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Thanks Steve. I think I have some in the stash.
     
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