Athearn 53' Containers - A Rant

[MetroRedLine]

The Athearn 53' containers (which currently come in a 3-pack) certainly aren't new; they've been out for the past few years. But I have a serious beef with the painting/printing of them.

I recently bought a 3-pack of their 53' containers in the Railpool (APXU) scheme. Athearn totally botched the orientation of the "Railpool" wordmark on the sides of their containers.

Here's the left side of the model (front end is facing the left side of the image) - The logo is placed on the upper-left corner of the main panel.

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Here's the prototype photo - the front end is also facing the left side of the image. -  The logo is placed on the upper-left corner of the main panel. All is fine and good...

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But then...here is the right side of the model (the rear doors are facing the left side of the image) - The logo is placed on the upper-right hand corner of the main panel. - This is wrong!

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Here's the prototype from a similar angle - the logo is on the upper-left corner of the main panel, just like on the other side of the container. 

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The shade of grey used also appears a bit too dark, but I can forgive that somewhat since a little fading can probably fix it.

This isn't the first time Athearn has botched this - their green Hub Group containers have a similar issue where the left side of the model has the correct positioning of the Hub Group logo in the center and the "Hub Group" wordmark to the right of the logo. But on the right side of the model, the "Hub Group" wordmark is to the left of the Hub Group logo.

This stuff isn't very hard to figure out, Athearn...

What makes this even more frustrating is that Athearn's renderings (which are also used for the product image on online hobby shop sites) only show one side of the containers, so we have no way of knowing whether they did it right or messed up on the side that's not depicted. Even when looking at the actual product in-person, the correct side of the container faces out in the blister pack and the incorrect side is hidden.

Argh...

[peteski]

I wonder if (considering "Ed's Law"), there are examples of the container out there where the wordmark is positioned just like it is on the Athearn model?

[samusi01]

@peteski could be quite right... I'm questioning their typeface. Seems quite different between the images and model.

[ednadolski]

would Walthers Solvaset take that off?

Ed

[MetroRedLine]

I wonder if (considering "Ed's Law"), there are examples of the container out there where the wordmark is positioned just like it is on the Athearn model?

Highly unlikely, since unlike say EMP or J.B. Hunt, Railpool is a smaller, relatively recent operation with only one type of container and one livery. They don't have a large fleet of acquired containers where there are different variations on their logo placement.

[jagged ben]

Railpool has been around 10 years or more I think.  (There are ex-Railpool UMax containers.)  I don't know for sure but wouldn't make assumptions.

Is the reporting mark on the model also APXU?

Btw this isn't nearly as bad as Atlas getting the 'SF' in the wrong place on the Kodachrome GP39s.  I mean, people actually know the history and concept there.

[MetroRedLine]

Railpool has been around 10 years or more I think.  (There are ex-Railpool UMax containers.)  I don't know for sure but wouldn't make assumptions.

Is the reporting mark on the model also APXU?

Btw this isn't nearly as bad as Atlas getting the 'SF' in the wrong place on the Kodachrome GP39s.  I mean, people actually know the history and concept there.

Yes, that's why I carefully selected the adjective relatively. And isn't someone saying that Railpool probably has a container out there with the same lettering position as the Athearn model also an assumption? Internet comments are built on assumptions. Come on now.

Yes, the reporting mark on the model is APXU.

If this was an aberration, I wouldn't be as ticked off, but Athearn also messed up with the more popular Hub Group container, as I previously mentioned.

[peteski]

And isn't someone saying that Railpool probably has a container out there with the same lettering position as the Athearn model also an assumption? Internet comments are built on assumptions. Come on now.

Someone? My statement was: I wonder if (considering "Ed's Law"), there are examples of the container out there where the wordmark is positioned just like it is on the Athearn model?

It's not even an assumption - just a speculation invoking "Ed's Law".  "Wonder" means I am just pondering it, not even assuming.  Playing my role of devil's advocate.

[Rivet Miscounter]

Athearn isn't known for going out of their way to get things right.   At least from my observations of various models over the years.

You could send them actual photos of every single Railpool container and there's still a good chance they'd do it wrong.    And you can pretty much forget about them changing it in a subsequent run, but it wouldn't hurt to let them know.

And, even though these are a pretty pristine bunch of containers and small batch, there's a decent chance one of them ended up with the flipped logo and that's the one Athearn found, or someone sent to them.   Regardless, letting them know how the majority are done would be beneficial.

I'm not trying to minimize your situation at all, btw.   You have every right to be frustrated.   I'm with ya...