I received my FP9’s back from Rapido today. My set of the Canadian was one of those where through rough handling most of the stirrup steps had been damaged and some of the handrails and windscreens were missing.
Rapido did a great repair job on the units and one can not seen any signs of repair which I am certain you would see if someone like myself tried to do the repairs.
Rapido sent me a e-mail when the engines arrived and also just before they returned the engines.
I packed away the stand in F units I had been using and had the Rapido units lashed up in no time and away we went.
Now that I have the Rapido units back I can compare the sound between the Intermountain and Rapido F units. There is no doubt that the Rapido units have superiour sounding engines.
While the Rapido units just seem to sound more realistic than the Intermountain, I even compared the Proto 2000 F units and while they are acceptable they do not match either the Rapido or Intermountain sound decoders in the quality of their overall sound characteristics.
Now to start saving my money for a set of Rapido CN FP9’s in their 1950’s green, black and gold colours.
You don’t see any signs of the repair because, most likely they replaced the whole body, which is common practice. I agree though, that Rapido service is excellent, I have had some great dealings with Jason and the staff at Rapido.