I have recently written about the Osgood Bradley cars I received from Rapido. Great looking with marvelous detail and paint jobs. I have had to do some tweaking in order to get them to run better, the latest being, I have had to add a small metal washer to the under body then re-attach the trucks so they would rotate smoother in the curve.
I began to notice, right off, that with turns the trucks would catch or grab on some under body parts in the turn, causing the old derailment. I was careful to look at the under body detail and see if any could be removed, but that really did not work. By adding a thin metal washer just above the truck and re-attaching it to the bolster it seem to work, the cars did much better in the curves. It did not affect the coupling and I really do have smoother operations with my passenger runs.
I believe the same problem plagues some issues of the Walthers heavyweights, and that is partly due to hangups on underframe details, but also, and probably more often, related to the metal contacts for the purposes of lighting the interiors.
I do know that Jason Shron keeps an eye on the forums and he may address this publicly. He also tends to be very forward at dealing with problems such as this, and will urge you to contact them by phone to explain the symptoms you are experiencing. He is very particular about getting things right, and putting them right for his customers. Or, so I have noticed for some time now.
You are right about Jason. I had a post a month ago about some problems, wrote about it on the forum and he replied. I was impressed that he keeps up with what is said. I have been really pleased with the Rapido line of cars.
If there is a problem I try and study it, if I can make an adjustment that improves the running of the car I try it and write about it.
Seriously, by adding that thin washer it was amazing how well the car ran on my tracks and the truck no longer grabbed part of the under body.
What thickness are the washers you used? I am contemplating purchasing some of the Rapido or Walthers cars and would like to have this info before hand so I can get them started off on the right foot.
Sorry for the delay, these are very thin metal washers that just fit over the post that you screw the trucks onto. The radius of the washers provide enough surface for the truck to turn. They measure about 1/2 inch, as I said the hole in the center is just wide enough to fit over the post.
I have 7 of the OB Rapido cars and I am also having the same problems with the trucks catching or snagging. Can you tell me the make and model number of the washers you used to fix this problem with your cars?