Rapido N scale hep-2 Coaches

[dangerboy81]

It's hidden..buried at the end of the video, but Rapido just announced N Scale HEP-2 Budd coaches. Unless you all knew already and didn't tell me LOL!

[lock4244]

Hopefully they don't catch fire or melt like the LRC cars 

[dem34]

Yeah, tbh that is one of the things that bugs me a little. They'll gripe on and off about N scale sales but continuously either choose models that wouldn't be particularly popular in the first place or produce stuff that needs an evening of tuning to run right.
Like whenever I buy something from Micro trains, Atlas, ESM, Exactrail, Trainworx, Athearn, not even mentioning Kato. Besides a quirk like Athearn's McHenrys something not working is the exception not %50 of what I get and usually its something that happened in shipping and not something like a hidden brake shoe detail rubbing the axle or a truck mounted damper flinging off at a touch.

[lock4244]

Yeah, tbh that is one of the things that bugs me a little. They'll gripe on and off about N scale sales but continuously either choose models that wouldn't be particularly popular in the first place or produce stuff that needs an evening of tuning to run right.
Like whenever I buy something from Micro trains, Atlas, ESM, Exactrail, Trainworx, Athearn, not even mentioning Kato. Besides a quirk like Athearn's McHenrys something not working is the exception not %50 of what I get and usually its something that happened in shipping and not something like a hidden brake shoe detail rubbing the axle or a truck mounted damper flinging off at a touch.

The LRC has the rolling characteristics of a brick on heavy grit sandpaper. The wheels appear round, but they do not behave as such, and it's conceivable probable certain that a five car train would require two locomotives to drag them around the layout. They are junk, absolute junk... and they melt when exposed to current. Have I attempted to fix the wheels? No, waiting for the replacement light boards which, after two years from release I'm told that replacements are coming (but still no date or even a hint). I've heard that the testing done on the preproduction models is either non-existent or more like an echo chamber; both would explain what I've seen with the LRC. I recall some issues with their smooth side CN passenger cars, out of gauge wheels and couplers that don't actually couple being one's I've personally experienced. And the Prairie Shadows bulkhead flats by Rapido have similar truck and coupler issues, but in both cases it's quite random.

I'm looking forward to future releases by PS as they're now producing their own models, not having Rapido do them anymore. The PS 3800cf cylindrical covered hopper is a beautiful little car that reminds me of ESM, MTL, or Trainworx cars in that they're essentially perfect out of the box. My only complaint is that some roll better than others (but they all do roll), which is pretty minor as complaints go. I was told of the process by which the pre-production cars were tested - run on an actual layout on an actual modelers' non-clinical code 55 track on actual regular trains mixed with everyone else's cars during ops sessions. In other words, they we're tested under conditions they might actually see by the end user.

I've been told (I've no layout so can't personally confirm) that the Procor GP20 tankcar has some issue with derailing on track that other cars find quite tolerable. My fear is that the upcoming Rapido Procor 5820 covered hopper, ACF PD3500 (I recall the seeing MDT cars in my area of interest in my era), and Barrel Ore Hopper will have issues similar to some of their earlier cars.

[nkalanaga]

I only have two Rapido cars, simply because they haven't made anything I need.  One is a CN coach, because I like the paint scheme, which makes an occasional appearance in my 1974 Amtrak.  The other is the Prairie Shadows "Puddington Valley" gon.  Neither have any problems, either operationally or visually.

The coach rolls nicely, couples well with my ConCor cars (body-mounted 1015s) and Kato (truck-mounted Kato couplers), and stays on the track.  The usual test for a passenger car is to head eastbound into my staging yard - back-to-back crossovers through Peco medium radius turnouts.  A double reverse curve will test any passenger train, and using mixed body and truck mounted couplers makes it worse.  This car works fine in those trains.

The gon runs as well as any other freight car I have, and I don't have perfect track, although it isn't a torture test either.

Of course, I may have gotten lucky, and gotten the only two good ones, but that's my experience.

[bigdawgks]

I have well over a dozen Rapido New Haven coaches (both 8200 and 8600 series) and every one of them runs perfectly fine, so as far as I can tell it's not a common problem. I'm sure some models have legitimate issues but it's not fair to imply all their N stuff has problems.

[Dwight in Toronto]

There was quite a bit of poop on the deplorable lack of rollability when Rapido’s N scale “The Canadian” coaches were delivered.  Quick recap … their oft-boasted ‘superior underside detail’ resulted in said details rubbing on the wheel-sets at both ends of each coach.   

I returned mine for “the fix”, which involved Dremel removal of the offending underbody protrusions.  The coaches roll better, but are nowhere near as free-rolling as Kato’s SP Daylight cars.  Also, the factory coach lighting is prone to intermittent flickering. 

Appearance-wise, Rapido’s “The Canadian” coaches and locomotives are amongst the most beautifully detailed N scale models ever made.  However, production oversights and questionable QC provided this customer with a disappointing experience, diminished even further in light of the price point.

[CBQ Fan]

The question I have is does Rapido have the same percentage of quality issues with their HO offerings as N.

[lock4244]

I didn't mean to imply that all of Rapido's stuff has problems, but if I did it was because I've bought a fair amount of it and have had a higher incidence of defects out of the box than with any other manufacturer that comes to mind. Referring to the manufacturers I have person experience with - Athearn, Atlas, Bachmann, BLMA, Bluford Shops, Broadway, Deluxe Innovations, ESMC, Exactrail, Fox Valley, Intermountain, Kato, Micro-Trains, Prairie Shadows, Red Caboose, Rapido, Scale Trains, Trainworx, True Line, Walthers, Wheels of Time.

I have 74 Rapido passenger cars, and at least 1/3 have rolling issues that range from less free rolling than a comparable Kato car to zero free rolling ability (the LRC cars). TO their credit they usually try to respond to defects (the CN smoothside cars had a ton of coupler and wheel issues as I recall and they provided replacements parts quickly), but the LRC's have been out two years an no lightboard replacements (I did speak with them at Trainfest and they're in the works but no idea as to when). And the LRC's problem isn't a nuisance issue; the cars heatup to to the point where they burn skin to the touch, and the stench of burning plastic is quite noticeable. I do have many of their pax cars that are fine out of the box, so either my personal experience is not as fortunate as some, or they've had a lot of issues. Given the cost per car I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more. Granted, by passenger experience is limited to the CN smoothside, the LRC, two Canadian sets, and a single Osgood Bradley, but the rate of defect is pretty high.

Freight car wise I have 25 GP20 tankcars and a single B100 boxcar. All appear to be good runners on my little Kato unitrack test track set up, but I've heard from a single source that the GP20's enjoy derailing on code 55. This person runs on a fairly known layout that has pretty good track (from the yt vid I've seen) and they do run long trains of varied manufacturers equipment. Derailing may not always be the wheels, but possibly weight distribution on cars have body mounted couplers... heard an interesting conversation about that as a potential issue not too long ago.

I have 84 Prairie Shadows cars that we're manufactured by Rapido (the cylindricals are not Rapido, not included in figure) including the HS bulkhead flat, ECC gondola, and the Pointe St Charles (PSC) van. My recollection is that the common issues with the bulkhead and the gons we're couplers that don't couple or uncouple randomly, wheels that touch the underside of the cars, and out of gauge wheels. My recollection is that my two Puddington Valley cars are free of defects, but they were a later run and seem to have had issues addressed. The PSC vans were afflicted with coupler issues, but the real defect was they were not very free rolling, almost like they were an almost solution to the MTL slinky effect. They did offer replacement wheels, but they didn't produce enough to cover the entire run... I had one out of 15 that rolled relatively freely.

Visually Rapido cars are excellent or better. They do cars no one else will so hats off to them, and my combined fleet of close to 200 cars is not a sign of a disgruntled customer (cars as recent as the GP20 and B100) by any stretch.

If I think about it I've had issue over the years with many manufacturer's products for one reason or another (Accumates on Atlas cars, Atlas yard loaf SD50/60, C628/630) , Intermountain (cylindricals having bent end platform supports, the yard loaf SD45T-2, the stellarly unstellar SD40-2W) come to mind and have been critical here and to their employees directly. Nobody's perfect.

[lock4244]

The question I have is does Rapido have the same percentage of quality issues with their HO offerings as N.

I know they had documented motor problems with the RS-18's and the Turbo had issue as well, but that's the extent of my HO knowledge.

[CBQ Fan]

I know they had documented motor problems with the RS-18's and the Turbo had issue as well, but that's the extent of my HO knowledge.

If they had the same number of issues in HO I would have to wonder how they stay in business. Which leads to my second question is why N scale but not HO. Do they train their workforce on N scale production and them promote them to HO. 

[lock4244]

If they had the same number of issues in HO I would have to wonder how they stay in business. Which leads to my second question is why N scale but not HO. Do they train their workforce on N scale production and them promote them to HO. 

I couldn't say, but maybe because so much of what they do is Canada centric and it's better to have accurate cars that need work than none at all? I've had issues with their stuff but am still buying the 5820's and Barrel Ore cars, lol.

[greenwizard88]

Yes. In HO scale, and off the top of my head...

• They had some RS's that would burn out motors and couldn't be opened by mere mortals to be worked on. The inability to open them was, IMO, the bigger problem, and it showed that they weren't paying attention to their CAD engineers.
• Their latest run of Amtrak Phase III F40's needed a re-paint, because the stripes were the wrong size. And then, they had to swap trucks when they arrived in Canada, because they used the wrong ones.
• The Amtrak B... something or other material handling boxcars are missing the FRED holder, although the HO scale one had it.
• And there's a LOT of complaining about the E8's, and if you start counting the rivets they've missed at least two, maybe even three. Don't go to the Atlas forum.

IMO, Aside from a few one-off issues that they rectified, it's more that they portray the models are being perfect models, and set expectations impossibly high, so that they can't possibly meet them.

[CBQ Fan]

Museum quality models rarely if ever operate from my experience.  I like to see them dial back on detail, lower price a bit and sell more volume. Also bring the no brainer HO products to N scale. I unsubscribed to their update emails because it was so HO centric it wasn’t worth reading.

[lock4244]

Museum quality models rarely if ever operate from my experience.  I like to see them dial back on detail, lower price a bit and sell more volume. Also bring the no brainer HO products to N scale. I unsubscribed to their update emails because it was so HO centric it wasn’t worth reading.

Not sure what no brainer HO to N models are to you, but I wouldn't complain if their SW1200RS, M420W, GP9RM and slug, RS-18/RS-18u, Canadian piggyback flats, Canadian bulkhead flat, B70 boxcar, Sodium chlorate covered hopper, and Angus Van made it to N. Quite the list!

That said, the recent announcements will drill a deep enough hole in the wallet to keep me going for a while.