The Canadian

[MK]

The CP Rail drum head seems to be on correctly and not crooked.

[CNR5529]

Add-ons

Early on I mentioned that my order was for a base 10 car set, as well as one each of the 3 car and skyline add-ons. This round of photos will cover those add-ons. The standard 3 car add-on set includes a coach, Manor sleeping car and Chateau sleeping car. Both the 3 car set and the individual Skylines come painted but unnumbered/named. For anyone modelling modern VIA Rail versions of the Canadian, there is also a Prestige Class 3 car set which includes two modernized Chateau sleeping cars and a modernized Park car, which have larger picture windows in the bedrooms. These cars do come with car names applied, unlike the other add-on sets.

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All of add on cars come in standard Rapido jewel cases, which are wrapped in a stylish sleeve. The jewel cases include a poly bag of extra detail bits and the magnetic light wand.

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Both the Skyline and coach have the number plates applied, ready for decals.

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The Chateau and Manor cars on the other hand have no name plates applied, these parts being provided in the poly bags in different sizes depending on the names chosen. There does not appear to be any instructions yet on how/where to drill the mounting holes for the various sized name plates, and the full instruction manual is not yet posted on Rapido's website at the time of this review. It could have been simpler for the end user to have standard mounting pin locations on all the name plates, and have the holes pre-drilled on the cars. That said, I do not foresee any major complications with the installation process.

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The add-ons come with nicely printed decal sheets produced by Highball Graphics. With all the extra decals, I plan on also customizing some of my other sleepers too.

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While we are talking about add-ons, both the base 10 car set and the extra cars include these very fine stirrup details, which Rapido has elected to leave off the models as they may be prone to damage if handled excessively. Naturally, I plan on installing them. 

[CNR5529]

Final thoughts

If anyone was ever going to do this iconic train justice, we always knew it would be @rapidotrains. With the release of The Canadian, Rapido have managed to fill a 65+ year gap in Canadian railway passenger train modelling. Minor issues aside, I am thoroughly impressed and pleased with these models. The level of detail and overall finish is second to none, and I am confident in saying that most modelers will be equally delighted to have Canada's first and only Scenic Dome streamliner grace the rails of their layouts.

At this point I would like to welcome any one else who has received their sets to post pictures and share thoughts here (particularly photos of VIA Rail era cars). Similarly, if you wish to show off your train running on your layout, feel free to add to this discussion as well. I plan on continuing with the various modifications and additions previously mentioned, as well as showing other bits of rolling stock one can add to to make unique yet prototypical consists.

Thanks for following along!
Kind regards,
Fredrick

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Jeez, this thing is beautiful.

I have NO reason to own one, but I kinda want one.

But I still have lots of lumber to buy.

[Angus Shops]

Hmmm, it’s a little odd about the taillight on the Park car. It’s not on the HO version. I’ll have to figure out how to remove it. In reality, removing it is easy, the more difficult part is how to fix the paint. If only somebody could figure out the magic for a paint match...

On one of my trips on the Canadian in the early Via days I learned that some crew members referred to the Park car as the “glass a$$”.

Also, back in the days before Rapido announced the N scale Canadian, I bought HO versions of the Park, Skyline and coach as they became available as single cars thinking that they’d be nice collectables as there would never be an N scale version. Do I still ‘need’ them? Should I sell them, or should I add the the HO collection with the baggage and the Chateau now that they’re available and shoot for the ‘showroom consist’? Too many decisions...
Geoff

[peteski]

Hmmm, it’s a little odd about the taillight on the Park car. It’s not on the HO version. I’ll have to figure out how to remove it. In reality, removing it is easy, the more difficult part is how to fix the paint. If only somebody could figure out the magic for a paint match...

Good luck finding "stainless steel" paint like that. Plus, touching up metallic paint is very difficult, even with the exact-match paint.  The metallic particles usually settle at a different orientation than the originally sprayed paint, so the touched-up area will reflect the light differently.

Alclad II Polished Stainless Steel paint might be the closest match available from a hobby shops.

[CNR5529]

Geoff, I will definitively be interested in following along with how you patch the hole left behind from the tail light.

I can also confirm that the Alclad paint is not a good match for the Rapido finish. The Alclad comes out much "cooler" looking. That said, Jason had mentioned a good rattle can match while we were chatting at the Copetown show one year. I just cant remember what the brand was... will have to ask again.

In other news, I have discovered that some cars in the set have the trucks on backwards. In the CPR/CP Rail era, all the cars except for the dining car should have the longitudinal drag rods pointing backwards (when via flipped the skyline, that car joined the dining cars with rods pointing forwards). I think the dining car was originally designed to run dining room first, but CP must have flipped it early on to be kitchen first, so the dining room is closer to the sleeping cars. This is the only explanation I can find for the trucks pointing forwards when all the other cars point backwards. Unfortunately the trucks on the model skylines and park cars are mounted backwards (meaning the rods are point forwards), and all trucks are indexed and can only be installed one way. Oddly enough on the HO models they got it right, so looks like another error slipped in on the N scale version. A bit of filing is required to make an extra notch or remove the nub to allow the trucks to be reversed on the dome cars, but I am happy to report they are now correct on my cars. 

[Paradise275]

CNR5529, Jason should hire you to proof read, check that he has crossed all the T's and dotted all the I's for Canadian roads. LOL

[bbussey]

Geoff, I will definitively be interested in following along with how to patch the hole left behind from the tail light.

I can also confirm that the Alclad paint is not a good match for the Rapido finish. The Alclad comes out much "cooler" looking. That said, Jason had mentioned a good rattle can match while we were chatting at the Copetown show one year. I just cant remember what the brand was... will have to ask again...

Rustoleum metallic aluminum I believe is the good match for the Rapido-made New Haven cars and might work for the Canadian cars as well.

[OldEastRR]

Possibly Bare Metal shiny foil for the patch over the hole, also.

[wmcbride]

FWIW, the VIA HEP set drumhead came straight...

[peteski]

Rustoleum metallic aluminum I believe is the good match for the Rapido-made New Haven cars and might work for the Canadian cars as well.

I would be surprised.  Aluminum (metal itself, and paints) have white-to-bluish silver color, where Rapido Canadian "stainless steel" has a distinctively warm-silver color (of stainless steel).

[CNR5529]

I would be curious to see how the NH cars compare to the CPR cars. My understanding is the PS stainless was a bit cooler (bluer) than the Budd stainless. It is quite possible that the aluminum paint is a good match to the NH cars, but as Peteski says, may not be a good match to the CPR cars. I'd be happy to see comparisons though!

[MRLX1020]

I appreciate this thread, and will probably reference it in my upcoming Model Railroad News review and article of the Canadian.

[basementcalling]

Hoping the GP20 tank cars come out as nice.

Is there any passenger train that ran in US service that would be an equivalent to this one? CZ, Broadway Limited? Empire Builder? Others?