Quick review- Athearn flat car, Accurail boxcar, KD #148 couplers.

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Today my discounttrainsonline order came. A few of the thing I ordered were-

-4 pack of the new Kadee 148 whisker couplers

  • Athearn 50’ Flat car- Chicago Great Western- Kit

  • Accurail 40’ double-door boxcar, Milwaukee Road- Kit

First let me say the Athearn flat car is the first freight car kit I’ve ever assembled and it was easy and fun. Took me about 10 minutes. Everything snaps together and the only tool you need is a flathead screwdriver to screw the trucks on. I didn’t use the flimsy couplers it came with (knuckle couplers, BTW) but used KD #148s instead. They fit perfectly and are much easier to install than a #5 since theres no seperate centering spring. The flat car is also heavy enough that it doesn’t derail on curves, even when at the head of a 20 car (hard pulling Tyco cars) train. The flat car has metal axles with plastic wheels but rolls very easy. (I’m eventually going to put metal wheels on it) Lettering is very nice (pics added later)

The boxcar took a bit more time to assemble, but it still wasn’t too hard. You need a screwdriver and glue/cement to hold down the large metal weight on the indside. Make sure you center it so the car doesn’t lean to one side. It has plastic wheels and doesn’t roll as nice as the athearn car, but it doesn’t roll as hard as a Tyco. I’ll eventually put metal wheelsets on it. It comes with accurails accumate coupler, which is 2 pieces that sit on top of each other. I know a KD #148 would fit, but I needed the other 2 couplers so I chose to use the accurail couplers. They work pretty good, but will eventually be swapped for KDs. The lettering was very crisp, and the MILW logo looks great.

I used the other KD 148s for my Stewart F3 A. It came with very flimsy plastic couplers that wouldn’t hardly stay coupeled. The 148s fit great and work much better. However, the front coupler won’t center so I’m going to take it off and take a look at it.

Now I know the fun of assembl

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dingoix,Watch out! Those car kits can become habit forming…After 3 years of buying RTR I finally got back into buying both Athearn and Accurail kits…

I had forgotten how much fun it was assembling these kits.[:O][8D][:D]

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Hey, at least we’re saving money by buying kits and we’re having fun assembling them. The only thing that has to be replaced on a kit is the couplers and wheelsets in most cases, but most RTR cars need new couplers anyway.

4

I’ve always enjoyed building kits a lot more than RTR stuff. You save a little money and you get the chance to put it together yourself instead of someone else doing it. It’s always something I enjoy sitting down and doing when I get back from a run to the hobby shop, as usually I buy a kit most times I’m there, unless I’m getting something else instead.

I really kind of like those wisker couplers from Kadee, they go in easy and work nice smoothly. I’m very happy with them for the most part.

Noah

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The boxcar didn’t have metal wheels, but I put some wheelsets from a Walthers well car on it

flatcar