Horizon and Comet Cars in N & HO - Plus a lot more!

[ski]

Looks like way back in 2010, a youngster called peteski pondered this very wheel question in this thread on another forum:

https://railroad.net/viewtopic.php?t=69327

According to a poster in that thread, the wheels are 33" in real life...I have no idea if that person is right.

[MK]

Looks like way back in 2010, a youngster called peteski pondered this very wheel question in this thread on another forum:

https://railroad.net/viewtopic.php?t=69327

According to a poster in that thread, the wheels are 33" in real life...I have no idea if that person is right.

And back then it was only his Post #3.  Who would have thought that a decade later he would surpass 20,000 posts, fast approaching 30,000!   

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I never realized the prototype had small wheels.

[kscessandriver]

I should go back and further my comment. My free rolling cars are Horizons. The Comets I got do not roll anywhere near as well as the Horizon cars. Probably similar to the Athearn Bombardier Bi-Levels I've got in the past. either way, I'm reasonably happy with them all in all, wish I could find a few more Amtrak Phase VI un-numbered Horizons.

[conrail1973]

I have to say that I'm impressed with the Comet Cars as they fill a need for those of us who model the Northeast.  On my small switching layout, I haven't had any issues with how they operate.  I'm glad that Rapido took the opportunity to manufacture these for N Scale, and I only hope they consider the F40PH for the commuter roads and Turboliner in N Scale 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I should go back and further my comment. My free rolling cars are Horizons. The Comets I got do not roll anywhere near as well as the Horizon cars. Probably similar to the Athearn Bombardier Bi-Levels I've got in the past. either way, I'm reasonably happy with them all in all, wish I could find a few more Amtrak Phase VI un-numbered Horizons.

I been playing around with the cars I have and I think the Kato F40PH may just be able to pull a full 5 car train. Luckily, there is plenty of room in the Kato engine for more weight and the F40PH-2C I built is loaded with lead and should pull about a dozen cars.

I think they may be just a bit more free-rolling than the Kato Amfleets but I have no Athearn Bombardiers to compare them with. They are much more free-rolling than either version of the Bachmann Amfleet (which is a very low bar to clear). I wonder if MTL graphite powder would help them any?

Besides the silver paint and the wide wheels, these are fantastic models and I highly recommend them.

[peteski]

I never realized the prototype had small wheels.

Those wheels look awfully small.

Yes, it looks like Rapido got it right. To me the wheels  on Comet cars (and Messerschmidt?) cars always looked smaller than 36".  That was why, back a decade ago I asked the question on railroad.net.  While that answer is not official, it agrees with what I suspected.  I wish I still had contacts in management at MBTA, but they all retired or passed away, and now it is ran by Keolis anyway.

I also manged to break one of those super-fragile suspension details on one of the trucks.  I hope Rapido can sell  me a replacement.

[kscessandriver]

I been playing around with the cars I have and I think the Kato F40PH may just be able to pull a full 5 car train. Luckily, there is plenty of room in the Kato engine for more weight and the F40PH-2C I built is loaded with lead and should pull about a dozen cars.

I think they may be just a bit more free-rolling than the Kato Amfleets but I have no Athearn Bombardiers to compare them with. They are much more free-rolling than either version of the Bachmann Amfleet (which is a very low bar to clear). I wonder if MTL graphite powder would help them any?

Besides the silver paint and the wide wheels, these are fantastic models and I highly recommend them.

I agree. For kicks I got some Kato Amfleet cars out, and yes, they (the Comet cars) do appear to roll slightly better than a Kato Amfleet. After playing with a couple of each, I'd say the Athearn Bi-Levels actually roll slightly better than the Rapido Comet cars. All very unscientific testing, of course.

[peteski]

I agree. For kicks I got some Kato Amfleet cars out, and yes, they (the Comet cars) do appear to roll slightly better than a Kato Amfleet. After playing with a couple of each, I'd say the Athearn Bi-Levels actually roll slightly better than the Rapido Comet cars. All very unscientific testing, of course.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I believe that axle lubrication makes a (negative) difference in rolling ability.  Kato Amfleet trucks have lubricant (yellow grease) in the axle bearings and I think that dampens their rolling ability.  Rapido Comet cars have bone-dry bearings, so the roll a bit better than Kato. 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

One other thing I forgot to mention is that it looks like there is no glue used in the cars. Everything snaps in like a Kato. This week really help when weathering the cars as the windows pop right out.

BTW I contacted Rapido about the lack of roof number decals. They stated the roof numbers would make a decal sheet far too large for the case and they are partnering with Highball Graphics to produce additional number sheets including the large roof numbers. These will also include a lot more numbers than included in the box.

Now I just need to fabricate some lift rings to update these to the newer Bombardier cars which were far more prevalent  on the MBTA. I may also try and remove the marker lights on the coaches. Anyone thought about replacing the capacitor with something that lasts longer?

[peteski]

One other thing I forgot to mention is that it looks like there is no glue used in the cars. Everything snaps in like a Kato. This week really help when weathering the cars as the windows pop right out.

My cars have the door windows glued in and also the ends of window strips are glued in. I have not trued to pry them out but if they come out easily then maybe because there is paint under the glue?
 

Now I just need to fabricate some lift rings to update these to the newer Bombardier cars which were far more prevalent  on the MBTA. I may also try and remove the marker lights on the coaches. Anyone thought about replacing the capacitor with something that lasts longer?

Sounds like a job for 3D printer.

As for the lightboards, they are IMO needlessly complex.  I'm planning on "reverse engineering" them.  From what I see so far, they have internal voltage regulator, and probably most of the capacitor's charge is wasted as heat by the voltage regulator.  You can likely just replace it with a larger value cap, but you would likely have to change the 220uF cap to at least 1000uF or more to see any de-flicker effect.  As it is now, when the car hits some dirty track, the circuit will reset to default state.

I also wish the light boards were mounted higher up in the roof. As is, they are almost at the top edge of the windows.

[sixpakpop]

Uh oh. Got a few from Train World and as I was running them, one derailed..... in a tunnel..... that's almost inaccessible.... Fished it out, and discovered this:
A couple of the other cars are missing one or two. Only found the one for this car. Wondering what to use to reattach it? And how do I get the picture turned around?

[peteski]

Those strange looking silver parts are representation of the dual inner brake disks and calipers.  I only  figured that out after one fall off and I took a closer look at it. Not sure why they painted them silver as the only bare metal surface would be faces of the disks (relatively small area on those part).  These are strictly cosmetic parts.

Anyway, they appear to be attached using CA glue (using a bit of CA accelerator would probably be a good idea). I haven't' glued mine back on yet.

Also, my Horizon cars have wheels that are tight in gauge. Fortunately it is an easy fix.

[kscessandriver]

For those who are interested and might find them for sale at a retailer still, Rapido put up their video with production models of both the Horizon and Comet today. My question for anyone with experience is, has anyone had luck in getting road numbers to come off to be replaced on Rapido products in the past? I'm going to end up with a couple duplicates, so I'll plan to eventually renumber a few of the coaches.

[Point353]

I also wish the light boards were mounted higher up in the roof. As is, they are almost at the top edge of the windows.

If you were to replace the large electrolytic capacitor with a lower profile (surface mount) part - perhaps mounted on an extra piece of PCB material installed in the cutout - would it then be possible to mount the lighting board somewhat closer to the roof?