Rapido N scale wide-vision vans

[dandopinski]

Are the batteries for marker lights?

[peteski]

No batteries included. Type of battery not indicated in documentation.

Maybe the batteries are stored somewhere in the model's nest?  Seems strange that they included a lighting circuit but BATTERIES NOT INCLUDED.

I'm not a fan of (leaky) batteries which have to be replaced.  Track power is the way to go.  Yes I know, there are issues with track power too, but at least the light module will not have battery terminals corroded from leaky batteries.

[delamaize]

Hey everybody, got my cabooses today, they look awesome. Just for those of you that are curious, the undecorated one I picked up is partially unassembled. So that's going to make painting a lot easier.
As for the batteries, I called Rapido and talked to them today, the lady I talked to said that it takes two LR 41 coin batteries. When I get home I will plug the batteries into one of them and report on if this is just marker lights, or if it has interior lighting also

EDIT: Yup, no interior lights, Just the marker lights, which IMHO, look pretty good. not too bright, and the ability to turn it off with the magic wand.
Overall, I like mine! It will be a while before I can actually run them, as I don't have a home layout for a while.

[dandopinski]

Marker lights only, that's good news. Never liked the overly bright interior lights. Most (real) cabooses had a 12V interior light system.

[Narlie]

As mentioned by others the units need LR41 coin batteries. Rapido has corrected their online documentation.
And yes the batteries are not included!
That brings me to another point.
Documentation is getting minimal if not non existant these days.
Got some Atlas n scale cars recently, no parts list or diagram with and not existant online. They are now following Rapido's lead. 
Is this the new trend?
Oh well, I guess if it keeps prices down.
But I still like the product.
Dave B

[peteski]

Documentation is getting minimal if not non existant these days.
Got some Atlas n scale cars recently, no parts list or diagram with and not existant online. They are now following Rapido's lead. 
Is this the new trend?
Oh well, I guess if it keeps prices down.
But I still like the product.
Dave B

It is a trend, but not new.  Paper documentation/parts diagrams started disappearing from model boxes quite a few years ago from Kato and Atlas locos.  Athearn and Scale Trains still seem to include some printed documentation.  So does Bachmann and BLI (although I have not bought any recent releases from those 2 companies, so not sure).

Basically, all forms of printed media is disappearing because of their online presence.  Save the trees and some money.

As for this keeping the prices down, you coudl have fooled me.  IMO, prices are at their all time high.  But I'm just another old man yelling at clouds. 

[dangerboy81]

Marker lights only, that's good news. Never liked the overly bright interior lights. Most (real) cabooses had a 12V interior light system.

They have interior lights too, but they are nice and dim. 
EDIT : on second look, maybe it's just light bleed through, it is dim, but it is lit up.

[mu26aeh]

Mine showed up at the LHS today, so maybe I'll grab it this weekend.

[TravelingCarpenter]

Happy for guys that want these. Just super disappointed in the foobs. RI,BN,and the SOO
Life ain’t all roses and rainbows.
TC

[Dwight in Toronto]

Picked up my Rapido pre-orders at a LHS earlier today.

As nice as the two cabeese are, the ONR model came with one of the windows popped out - it’s rattling around inside the shell.  Also, it has a smudge of green paint just to the left of the ONR logo, where it says “Rail Services”.  If it was just the window, I’d fix it myself.  But the smudge is unsightly, and since Rapido is only 20 minutes from my house, I’ll be exchanging it.




I also got a six-pack of the barrel ore cars, which are also really nicely detailed.  Note a tiny brake cut-lever or whatnot is dislodged and hanging loose on the right-most model in the pic.  That was easily tacked back in place.

[Scottl]

Wow, those vans look amazing, as do the barrel cars.  Nice work Rapido!

[turbowhiz]

As previously mentioned, removing the Cupola for the batteries is definitely NOT easy. The documentation is misleading with respect to the location of the clips. Press in on the front/back walls of the cupola HARD to try and coax the monster clips inward while pulling upward. Try not to destroy the smoke jacks while you’re doing this.

I trimmed down the clips to make any future removals much more manageable. The result is the cupola still remains firmly in place, but removing it now is a gentle tug rather then an all out nerve racking war to remove it!

[Dwight in Toronto]

Turbowiz … holy smokes, no kidding on the effort to pop off those cupolas! 

I gave it several fairly decent squeeze-&-yanks but abandoned the effort. The instructions caution that there are wires attached, and I had visions of a sudden snap-away leaving torn wiring behind, so I felt it better to leave well enough alone!  I’ll try again later.

Curious to see what the car-end lighting looks like, but I don’t know if I’m big on the battery approach.

[wmcbride]

I am going to try and pop mine open late today to install batteries.

I may be in left field but I would think maybe track power with the battery space used for capacitors would have been a better approach...

[peteski]

I am going to try and pop mine open late today to install batteries.

I may be in left field but I would think maybe track power with the battery space used for capacitors would have been a better approach...

Well, if the trucks are designed for power pickup (like Kato trucks) then yes, I think track power would have been a better choice.