I got my first Rapido cars yesterday and the detailing is beautiful I must say. I would however need to say that they seem “mechanically” weaker, of particular note is a freight car style wobble where other stuff does not.
Anybody encountered this?
Still ordered another couple today mind you.
I have two Rapidos and yes very nice indeed but I can’t run them on my present track as they don’t really care for heavy grades or 22" curves. So a new main line is in the offing. To answer your question I find them very finicky. As to the wobble I haven’t noticed it but some tweeking of the boggie screw or a Kadee spacer might help.
Fergie
Kadees are a must. On my friends cars, the paint was not very crisp. Nice detailing though.
Agreed. I don’t have a great deal of time on them yet, as mainline presently stretches about eight feet. I was also disappointed with the paint job on such a finely detailed model. Still, I have three on the roster and two more on order.
Chris
I have 3 so far. (Two GN coaches and one NP coach.) I had some derailing problems at first. I found some wheels out of gauge, and I corrected that. I added a small amount of extra weight although that may nor have been needed.
One GN coach continued derailing. I saw one truck was riding on just two wheels (one axle). I loosened the truck screw and that corrected the problem.
Wobbling? I did not experience that. You may find wheels off center on an axle which should be easy to correct. Use a wheel guage to check all axles.
I really like the grab irons being installed already. Other postives are the realistic window blinds, the marker lamps, the factory installed lighting system, and the end gates. Also, it is easy to remove the roof and later re-install the roof. That’s not the case with my Walthers cars.
Guys,
in your opinion how do the Rapido 85ft cars compare “weight wise” to the Walthers Budds? My Walthers track pretty well and I’ve only had to adjust two trucks.
I really like these passenger cars. I’ve got two right now with another on order. They seem to sell out very quickly. I have since ordered ahead from my LHS. I have the Milwaukee road 1955 scheme. I found that the wheels were out of gauge and corrected that rather quickly. Also my last car’s PC board had some lighting problems so I emailed Rapido and they sent me a new lighting kit along with 4 new batteries. Their service is exemplary. I will defiinately buy more of their products.
My concor HO Milwaukee road passenger cars that I recently sold don’t even compare to Rapido’s quality.
I have 2 Rapido cars with 1 on order. I have about 8 Walthers cars. All my future cars will be Rapido - need I say more?![:D]
The wobble might be caused by a bent axle tip or an off-center wheelset. If that is the case, give us a shout through the web site and we’ll send you some replacements. If anyone on the list ever has a problem with a Rapido car, please feel free to email us and we’ll try and fix it for you.
The cars have no trouble with 22" radius curves, but you’ll need to swap the couplers for the long-shank couplers included in the box. If you have a 22" radius curve on a 4 per cent grade, tell your passengers to stay home as that should be a freight-only run…
As for the painting, we’ve been steadily improving. If you pick up one of our new cars in Erie, Erie-Lackawanna or PRR colors, you will see a marked improvement over the stuff we shipped last year. A major reason for the painting improvement is a change in packaging - many cars were getting scraped and scuffed in transit because they weren’t protected well. Now the cars are wrapped in plastic and the styrofoam cradle has been redesigned for a more snug fit.
We’ve also improved the way the cars go together so they have a much more solid feel to them. This has eliminated the low coupler issue that affected some of our first cars.
In addition to those improvements, we’ve just moved to a new, larger factory and we have hired more skilled painting and lettering people so we can get even better. The samples I received from the new factory are really smooth and crisp.
The factory move is the reason for the delay between the arrival of the first four paint schemes of the new 10-5 sleepers and cafe-bar-lou
Again, my future passenger cars will be Rapido!! Jason’s response to this post indicates one thing to me. Rapido cares and keeps in touch with their customers!!![tup][tup][tup]
I wish all manufacturers kept in touch with their customer base as well!![:D]
Although I keep bustin’ his stones about doing some US prototypes [;)], I think they are great cars (although I haven’t purchased any yet). I also really appreciate the fact that he keeps an eye on what his customers and potential customers have to say and responds to our concerns directly. Keep up the good work!!!
I had one car that had a slight wobble to it but once I tightened up the truck it was fine. I have 6 in the newer ONR colours and 4 in the old ONR colours and find they are they finest passenger cars I own. If you ever get the opportunity to meet Jason you will know why he cares about his customers. Jason has a passion for this stuff that not many other companys have. For such a small company Rapido Trains I believe is setting the standard that all the bigger companys strive for. I can’t wait for the Turbo!!!
Just a small observation…
There have been several threads with good feedback regarding Walthers and Rapido passenger cars. But often times they’ve turned into: “Which is the better product?”
That doesn’t necessarily mean much, since each of these two competitors are basically offering specific passenger car models that are not available from the other.
Win-win for us as, even with minor glitches here and there, they’re both great! The Rapido and Walthers HO passenger cars complement each other nicely.
We’ve come a very long way from the days when the most decent looking “store bought” HO passenger cars were from AHM-Rivorossi-IHC. [;)]
I bought six of the Rapidos within the last two months, and have five different sets of Walthers cars, plus two sets of late Rivarossi cars, which are really the same as the Walthers.
Comparison:
The Rapidos win hands down on detail, but the paint is not very crisp on the newer PRR 10-5 and Cafe-Bar cars I have.
they both come with cheap plastic couplers. On maybe one out four of both type cars, the centering spring kept them from coupling on a straight track without encouragement. The couplers are easily broken. Heights had to be adjusted. I changed them to KD immediatly.
They both have diaphragms, but the Walthers work on curves and look unrealistic, whereas the Rapido look good, but are so stiff they derail cars if they impinge (same with Branchline).
The Rapidos have a problem with a bow in the undercarriage casting closer to one end which causes it to separate from the shell slightly and point the coupler housing slightly downward at that end, making it low. I saw a procedure recently to fix this.
The Rapidos have weights in the ceiling, which from the mechanical design standpoint is poor, and contributes to their tendency to rock. These weights broke loose in shipping of two of the cars. Later I hope to take these out and put some in near floor level.
The design of the lighting kits is innovative, but let me ask this: the first time you forget to turn them off, killing all the batteries, how likely are you going to be to replace them? They are not bright, and can easily be overlooked in a lighted room.
My Rapidos roll very well, bettered only by Branchlines. The Walthers with 4-wheel trucks seem OK, but the heavy ATSF’s with 6-wheel trucks are stiff.
Hal
I have a full train of walthers heavyweights. Took two years and a few smashed roof tabs to understand them. Along with the bad warp in trucks as well. Those are easy fix and not a show stopper. I still have them.
Now the Rapidos. I bought three sight unseen and expect two more any time this month. There will be more until that train is complete. Yes there were issues like missing wheels or such. Minor inconviences, Rapido took care of all that quickly. They are “Creaky” sometimes but I think future runs will be more solid.
The Rapidos take 3% grade changes to and from without any fuss and the couplers will eventually get replaced with Kadees when the plastic fails. The Grey of the B&O closely matches the E7’s I bought to pull them with. I suppose I will literally stop buying one trains worth of Rapdios when I approach wheelslip with the E’s. So… 5 cars down… 10 more or so to go.
Regarding the Kadees, I dont mind spending 4 bucks per car or whatever it is if the factory will put them on right the first time so I dont have to worry about it as I do now with the current plastic couplers.
In fact, I think it will take an Act of Congress to get the industry to stop trying to save a dollar using inferior plastic kadee wanna bes. They go straight to the trash can and thence to the landfill to sit for a thousand years as mute testament to failed engineering.
In fact… [soapbox] I love it when I spend 60 dollars for a fine product and then another 4 or 5 dollars to put Kadees into it. Same as I have to do with a 400 dollar steam engine with a plastic dummy and prospect of major surgery to franken-graft a working coupler on there. [banghead]
And start on another for a different road name or style. The worst part is waiting. But even waiting months isnt so bad, they updated regularly in the website and pdf’s Talking about things like shipping damage and how it will be fixed in future… stuff that ap
Well, for what it is worth, I have been thinking hard about starting a passeneger train and have been looking at the Rapido cars. A bit $$ yes, but if the quality is there, I dont mind paying that much for these cars that I could have for the next 50 years.
Seeing the post from Jason and Rapido was nice. As a small business owenr myself, I have a lot of respect for those that like to take care of their customer with a personal touch. Not just a number. I will be looking at the Rapido line a little closer now.!
Just got back from the LHS with my 4th Rapido, UP cafe-bar-lounge, road #6201. Went around my 22" radius fine with the stock short couplers, but that was coupled to another with the long couplers on it. It’s a beauty, just have to put some people in it! Kicking myself because I forgot to get the new WS “people eating” fig set!! BTW, MRPO, my LHS had a 10% off everything sale on and the 59.95 car was marked down to 49.95 (their norm on SO stuff) and I got another 10% off that!! Who needs the internet or mailorder[:P] I’m lucky though, northern NJ still has quite a few LHS’s[:D]