Has anyone bought any? How do they compare to the proto 2000 gondolas? rambo1…
I’ve bought a couple. They’re at least as good, perhaps better, than the P2K gons. The end doors lift out, so you can “fold” them down–very nice. I think they are likely below NMRA weight, but I haven’t weighed them.
I’m happy with mine.
Ed
They’re absolutely gorgeous… and correct for many Canadian gondolas, where the Proto cars are only stand-ins.
Of course, the Proto cars are very nice models of American cars, so they still have a place on Canadian rails as interchange traffic.
Steve Hunter
The P2K gons are drop end style, too and can be positioned up or down (or left off!). The kits had an extra pair as I recall. I don’t have any Rapido gons but have some passenger equipment. Overall very nice, a few “quality” issues on the Park series obs, though.
Ed
Exactly.
Important point is that the Rapido and Proto2000 (now Walthers) gondolas are based on completely different cars by different prototype builders.
Any Canadian paint scheme on a Walthers-Proto gondola is a stand in and not totally accurate.
Main visual differences: the Rapido car has a different rib profile, different number of ribs, and a shallower “fishbelly” to the side sill.
what quality issuses did u find with the park cars?rambo1…
with the park cars there is a little difference with the hep cars with the pipes underneath
I was the one who mentioned quality issues with Park Cars…
Mind you, these are gorgeous cars for a good value but the car I was shipped had the CANADIAN PACIFIC lettering crooked on the letterboard, 2 dome windows popped out (I reglued them) the back window above the tailsign was glued in crooked and some of the grab irons were improperly drilled.
Not major issues (well, the lettering is going to be a pain to fix) but it seems like Jason was rushing his manufacturer a bit to get these delivered.
You can see photos here:
http://acmodels.boards.net/thread/178/rapido-park-series-observations
I don’t mean to hijack a thread but I just mention in passing since we were discussing Rapido. Ed
Ed:
Have you considered asking Jason for a replacement? I’d be suprised if he said no.
Dave
Hi, Dave
I’m straddling the fence on that one… I suppose I could send him an email and see what he says. Jason seems to be a pretty decent guy and I’m sure he would stand behind his product.
I’ll go ahead and send him a few photos and see what he has to say. If it’s over $20 or so to send it back to the Provinces I don’t think it would be worthwhile.
I’ll start a new thread when I find out more… thanks for the suggestion, Ed