I emailed Rapido Trains asking for replacment wheelsets for two of the coaches that were found to have missing wheels from one truck each.
I dont know how they got out of the factory this way but let’s hope that there is enough spares to replace them.
Has anyone else discovered this issue? Are there alternative wheels availible? I have a feeling that these wheels are special made.
One other thing, I gotta take the time to replace the awful crappy plastic couplers with KAYDEES! [soapbox] I wish they just stick kaydees on there and be done with it at 50+ dollars a car. Luckly I have a few #5’s with whiskers that I will try on them.
Not only the Rapido, but I wish that Walthers would equip all of their passenger cars with Kadee’s. I just bought a set of Walther’s mixed heavyweight and streamline to build the 1950’s ROYAL GORGE, and I can’t keep the damn train together to save my life. Which means replacing all of those cruddy plastic couplers (where does Walthers get them, anyway?) with Kadees. Not that I mind the time (I always keep a lot of extra #5’s around anyway), but at the prices these cars are selling for these days–hey, charge an extra $2 and put some decent couplers on, okay?
I have two Rapido brand coaches. When I received them they were derailing on good track.
I found some wheel sets out of guage. One car had 3 of 4 out of guage. I corrected the wheels sets. Also, I fit a small amount of extra weight in the cars. The weights are the stick-on kind. I put them under the roofs at the extreme ends. At the vestibule end, I needed to trim the top of the bulkead to allow room for the weight.
Cars work fine now. No problems. I have kadess available if and when original couplers fail.
These are great looking cars! I like the marker lamps, and I like the innovative lighting system.
Remember that even if Rapido and Walthers cars came equipped with the popular Kadee #5s, the potential problem is that modelers with tight curves will have to spend money to change them out anyway. Add to that the price of the car is going to be higher with the Kadees.
The EZ Mate “junk” couplers are good temporarily in that straight out of the box they can at least run with knuckle equipped cars until the preferred Kadees are purchased.
One headache/time saver to modelers building up rolling stock fleets is to go ahead and purchase several packs of various Kadees that they know will be used as the cars are assembled.[;)]
It is important to remember Kadee runs close to max on production already and does not have capacity to OEM all manufacturers. That is why the whisker couplers are not availablle in bulk yet - they can’t make them fast enough.
Irrevelant to me. I would have paid it either getting it already on the car or at the store and putting them on myself. Besides his cars are unique at this time, not like there is a number of makers as with the “Big Boy” for example.
I did receive information that I will be shipped wheels next week. I will let you know how that worked out. I think that missing wheels is pretty rare, it is a first for me buying a train car that came without wheels.
It is not a big deal because these are really nice cars and the others already had wheels on them as they should.
Apparently there is a small supply of marker lights that will be useful in a number of ways… a little bit of Ponderosa goodness if you ask me.
Just changed out the couplers on my Walther’s ROYAL GORGE with my trusty kadee #5’s–eight cars, took me a half hour, so it’s no big deal. Train is staying together so well that my Key Rio Grande #1802 4-8-4 decided it might like a helper on the grades–cool. Gives me some more fun to have.
I don’t know about the Rapido cars, but the Walthers’ specifically say on the box that a 24" minimum radius is recommended, so anyone who tries the cars on a smaller radius is GOING to have to do some adjustments to the cars, anyway, mainly around the trucks. I’ve got a 34" minimum, so derailing is not a concern, however the weight of the cars on a grade (I’ve got a couple of short stretches of 2.4%) will cause those EZ mate junkers to just pull apart. I’ve had the same problem with some of the EZ-mate equipped freight cars, so what we’re talking about here is just bad, cheap
That is a completely untrue statement, i have over 50 walthers cars and every one of them has run out of the box, no mods (other than axle grease) on my 22" radius turns at a pretty good clip, this includes budds, pullmans, superliners, and horizon fleet. If your trackwork is solid these cars will take 22" turns with no problems. The only cars that give me a little trouble are the superliner 2 cars and thats due to the molded brake gear. Now the heavyweights on the other hand, 24 means barely squeaking by.
Since we’re bashing the “sleazy-mate” couplers I thought I’d put in my $.02! The final straw for me was when I had a cut of about 20 cars that I had not gotten around to converting to Kadee’s. Well, they were sitting on a grade with the slack run in and several weeks later when I got around to moving the cut not one single car would stay coupled[:(!]! Every “whisker” had deformed and there was no spring left to keep the knuckle closed!
Even the “new and improved” plastic couplers with the coil springs are nasty… too many break-in-twos!
I don’t believe that for a minute. That is more (a lot more) then they would cost to convert purchasing the couplers at full retail prices. I am certain Rapido could work out a bulk purchase arrangment, or at least get them wholesale if they really wanted to.
Well I’m not the one who said gave the $5.00 amount, it was the owner of the firm, so I have no need to doubt him. I assume there are many factors that we are probably not aware of that could contribute to the amount. When the cars were first announced there were many complaining about the justified high prices. They just didn’t want to add to the price.
Carrying this a bit further, why don’t other firms - Walthers - Atlas - Athearn, etc. include original metal Kadees? There must be something beyond the wholesale price of the couplers. These firms aren’t run by stupid people.
I run Walthers passenger cars straight out of the box, haven’t had time to change over the couplers yet & they run great on the 22" curves I have right now.
A couple of the cars have coupler issues, but they are scheduled to get fixed.
Shron should instruct his purchasing dept. to try purchasing in bulk. Who knows? He might be able to reduce the price of the cars even with Kadees included. [:D]
I believe the $5.00 quoted was the total cost for shipping the cars with Kadees installed. I assume there would be other costs involved beyond the actual cost of the couplers themselves.
Sorry, I should have clarified myself. I was talking about the Walther’s heavyweights, not the streamliners, which I understand DO take a 22" radius fairly well. But I’ve talked to a lot of fellow modelers who have had to make adjustments to the heavyweights for anything under a 24" radius, if they hope to take a curve at something under a snail’s-pace. In fact, when I purchased the heavyweights to mix in with my consist (diner, Pullman), the owner of my LHS asked me what my minimum radius was just to make sure that I WOULDN’T have to do some adjusting on the trucks. And believe me, even on my 34" minimum, and even with the trucks lubricated, I can hear those heavyweights squealing around the curves. Actually, it sounds pretty neat, LOL!
I agree with Dave below. These are great cars. Let’s all welcome Rapido a new company. Any problems are relatively minor. Most makers (if not all) do not supply Kadees.
Another feature is the factory applied handrails and grab irons. It beats installing them myself. Details such as blinds installed in the windows ar quite impressive.
The KD couplers would have to be bought and then shipped to the factory, also adding to the cost. The plastic ones can be molded on site if they so desire and have the rights to so.
