Model Power

I’ve spoken with the owner of my LHS and he recommends Kato and Peco for track. After flipping through the Walthers catalog, I’ve seen that Model Power track is pretty cheap.

I’d love to have the best stuff for my layout possible but I also have to follow a pretty strict budget for now. Has anyone ever used MP’s track and if so, how did it work out?

Thanks

I’ve used several hundred feet of Model Power flex track on a large club layout and have had good results with it. The rail is stiffer and harder to bend into shape than Atlas flex track, but the rail code is exactly the same as Atlas and the crossties are more accurately scaled on MP track. Once it’s down and ballasted, the only way to tell which brand is which is by the size of the crossties.

Peco and Kato track are like buying a Mercedes instead of a Chevrolet. In this case, a Chevrolet may serve you just as well as a Mercedes.

The money you save could be enough to buy a good locomotive.

About the track I would have to agree,I purchased 25 or 30 peices 7 or8 years ago and it is still giving me trouble free operation.

Well that answered my question…I’ll be picking some up soon!

Don’t buy their switches - I had a couple of N scale ones which had an interesting trick whereby the point blades would come loose and attempt to send stock in both directions at once…

I agree that there isn’t much difference at all in the track, other than it’s stiffer!
I used some in my helix and had trouble with it not wanting to bend/stay bent and lifting from the sub-roadbed with the “round and round” going on there. The Atlas wasn’t a problem at all…But the Model Power flextrack needed a lot more adhesive!
Don’t have an opinion on their turn-outs. I use Peco and will take one of those over the Atlas any day!

Atlas and MP track should work just fine but I would go with Peco switchs or another quality brand, cheap switchs can be a real pain.

bill

Model power make something good? i suppose it’s possible.
STAY AWAY FROM THEIR ROLLING STOCK!!!
Matthew

MP flex is OK. But don’t use the turnouts, they’re too sharp and the points are crap. Use the Peco ones instead.

Nick

Yeah…MP rolling stock is really a bummer. Lousy wheelsets and wheels that “pop” into the underside of the car chassis…and horn hook couplers that are on an extended
“arm” that pivots around the wheelset stem…I’m currently trying to find a way to put regular wheelsets on a couple of military MP cars. It hasn’t been a fun project.

Model Power has actually been making some pretty good stuff recently. Some of them include the Mantua Classics, Metal train F7A and Metal Train freight cars. The new metal cars are probably better than the plastic ones.[:D][:D][:D]

But they still can’t hold a candle to P2K!
Matthew

I’ve got some Model Power turnouts ( with twin solenoids ). I wouldn’t buy any new, but the cheap used ones I got actually work with a little tweaking, even the Bachmann Acela runs thru them at speed without falling off.

But I wouldn’t buy them new, my layout is just playtime till the new room is ready!!

Ken.

I recently purchased 17 Model Power Tanktrain cars…I’m not too happy with the couplers…they are the knuckle style, but upon inspection, the couplers look like they’re “drooping” out of the pocket. With a little bit of adjustment, I can get them to stay coupled for the most part on level track, but making the transition to an incline is rather frustrating. Worse yet, they do come uncoupled at random moments, making for frustration abound. I was contemplating trying Accumate, or Kadee, unless it’s a shimming issue I’m dealing with. I don’t want to throw in the towel, but I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew.

The problem with those Model Power cars is cheap couplers and pockets. Cut off the pockets and mount Kadee coupler pockets and couplers.

I have never used Model Power track, but I can say that really all track brands should be fine. the main differance is the level of detail and the cost.

Even though I have never used Model Power track before, I have used plenty of old seccond-hand track from yardsales and thrift-stores, and they work fine when it comes to operations. The only thing is that the molded spike heads are about the size of a scale bowling-ball (Do any of you old-timmers in the hobby remember this track?) I, however, can live with that. The only chief complant is the mixture of brass and nickel-silver track ( in my mind, it just doesn’t look right).

I can tell you that you can and will be better off with the Model Power track for a long time, However, if you want to save even more money, go to yard-sales or thrift shops and search under the nick-knacks and other items for a forgotten trainset or two, and that will get you more track (plus possible parts sources for kitbashes and locomotive re-gearing) for an adverage of $5.00 (depending on who is seling the set) and, who knows, you may find more treasures for future projects there too, like a broken watch, old Matchbox cars and other things for a model junkyard.

I personally don’t care for Model Power track when you place it next to anything else pick a brand it can’t hold a candle to it as far as detail and it’s over all construction. I will agree that it’s significantly cheaper but one has to ask himself why? Atlas code 83 isn’t that bad price wise and if you search hard enough you can find some good deals on it. To me buying track and turn outs are like buying tires for your car or truck. It doesn’t matter how good the rest of your equipment is if the track it ides on is inferior then everything else is mute.So if the track is a weak point then your entire layout will suffer because of it. Try mating it up with Atlas custom line turnouts you’ll have a good chance it will work ok but compare it to a Walther/Shinohara or a Micro Engineering turnout and you will see how much work you’ll need to do to make that M/P track mate up correctly. A few of us checked out the various profiles of al the named brand flex track and there is a difference in every single one. They are all roughly the same height but the profiles differ.

I would be hesitant and ask myself if it’s as good as any other flex track on the market why don’t more top name builders use it? I don’t know of one of them who wouldn’t want to save some money without compromising quality. Spend a little more now and it will pay dividends down the road.

Model Power Code 83 flexI use Walthers/Shinohara turnouts and use Model Power track because it is very similiar in profile and appearance. Atlas code 83 requires shimming. Model Power track is made by GT Italy and yes it stiffer than Atlas.

I’ve never “touched” Model Powers’ stuff. My gut instinct was to avoid their products. When I’ve not followed my “gut,” I made mistakes 95% of the time. This is called “prejudice.”

Mark

Model Power F units in action:

http://s73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/steemtrayn/?action=view&current=20081207163501.flv&newest=1

Not bad for $25 engines.