Here's an in depth review C&P off of the Atlas Forum on these cars by RPM'er,
Andy Harman:
--
"Paul (Kossart) - The CB&Q Guy"
Proto-Lancing the CB&Q "Illiniwek River-Subdivision-Branch Line" in the 1960's.
--
............
My five CZ cars arrived last night, pretty quick turnaround... the one car
Walthers listed as in-stock got back ordered. Figures.
Anyway... at any distance over about two feet, the cars will pass for brass,
and I don't mean that as either a compliment, nor as a put down, merely an
observation that is mostly due to the plated finish. We've discussed the merits
of various types of nickel plating, overcoating, paint, buffed finishes,
Alclad, foil... and I don't really feel the need to get into a which-is-better
thing right now, but only to use it to describe the finish on the Broadway
Limited California Zephyr cars. It is very similar to the "semi-shine" finish
that brass importers seem to be using currently. It looks to be a pretty good
match to my Challenger (1999) Super Chief cars, which are bright nickel plated
with some kind of semi-gloss overcoat. Also very close in color and sheen to
the Overland hi-level El Capitan cars that came bright plated, and I
oversprayed with a mix of Testors gloss+dull.
With that comparison out of the way, it's time to move in to the 2 foot on down
range for a closer look. I think here, you can tell the cars are plastic, but
after sitting on the porch all day, the metallic plating *felt* cold to the
touch, adding to the brass illusion. The tinted green windows are still set
back farther than I'd like, but this has minimal impact due to the raised frame
molded into the glass, which is painted black. At first look, this seems a bit
much, but having just viewed the Emory Gulash CZ films over the weekend, this
is exactly how the windows looked on the prototype - the greenish cast as well
as the black frames were very visible.
The diaphragms are operating, and are sort of a cross between several existing
designs. They are a single telescoping part, similar to the Walthers design,
but they use external plastic rod springs like the American Limited. I can't
tell if they have any additional springing internally, I would guess not. One
of mine had the vertical rod pulled partway out of the end, which jammed the
thing but it was easily fixed. They look better than the stock Walthers, and
operate at least as well.
The fluting is something I need to take a closer look at when I have some
references in front of me, but overall the effect is quite good. There is a
visible breakpoint on the roof where the mold sections part, but this is only
visible at certain angles - from most viewing, the cars appear to have the
correct continuous fluting.
The underbody details are fairly complete, and the 10-6s even have poop chutes.
Well some of them anyway. There is a lot of practical engineering at work here
- details which can be represented correctly are, but those such as poop chutes
in end roomettes which would interfere with truck movement have been omitted.
The cars lack train line and steam fittings, but I really have no complaint
there - these details would be difficult to mass produce without compromising
normal operation, and IMO for an RTR product should be left to the end user.
The most glaring defect in external appearance is still the end stirrups. They
are, well, massive. Just another compromise that I would rather fix myself,
than have factory-applied (crooked) fine scale stirrups broken to bits in the
box. You really do have to look right at them to see the problem, or have the
car coupled to a Walthers car or something with a metal stirrup to compare to.
The lighting worked fine in all four sleepers - the baggage car isn't lighted
:-) Hard to see what the actual color of the lighting is because of the green
window tint, but they clearly stand apart from the other cars I have with
incandescent lighting. The lighting seems a tad "hot" in the middle, unusual
for multiple LEDs, but this goes away if you dim or turn off the room lights -
you get a nice even look. Of course, equal light streaming from all 22 windows
on a 10-6 is hardly prototypical, but it's a start.
The sleepers all have what look like printed Venetian blinds - and of course
all of the sleepers have the same arrangement. Not sure what will be involved
in personalizing the cars. There isn't much to see in the 10-6 interiors. The 4
roomettes toward the center seem to have the beds in the down position. Can't
see much in the bedrooms. On the aisle side, you can see what looks like a
support post or screw stud bulging out of the interior wall. Once I get the car
apart, I'll see what I'm looking at in terms of finishing and detailing the
interior.
Saving the best for last... these cars run. Period. I don't know if Charlie and
BLI have paid attention to the commentary on this forum regarding operation,
but I've always said when it comes to operation, start with Kato and do what
they do. I will have to get out my Kato business car for a look, but I think
the CZ cars have a very similar running gear. The trucks have outside bearing
bars, which is a design used by Kato's *locomotives* and the pickup is very
steady. The cars rolled beautifully out of the box, but I did add a drop of oil
to each axle end. The trucks have no problems whatsoever in terms of motion and
swivel, nor do they impart any unwanted motion such as wobbling or trundling
side to side. I can work with the Walthers cars, but I often wish they would go
to something more along these lines for their trucks and pickups.
The couplers are..... real Kadees! Ok, not the first - the Centralia P85
coaches had them, as do the Intermountain/Bethlehem RTR cars. The CZ cars have
the Kadees mounted on a Euro-style swing-bar that extends slightly on curves -
the idea being that the coupling distance is increased slightly on curves to
prevent any binding, and then closed back up on straight track for the sake of
appearance. This design works well enough, but requires a very large and
unprototypical flat box as a guide. This also prevents the presence of any
draft gear, steam, or train line details - but once again, I believe it's the
job of an RTR manufacturer to emphasize the R's and let the end user worry
about the finer details. To that end, I may eventually convert my CZ cars to
traditional body mounts and add the details. But for the moment, I can run them
straight from the box, and they operate flawlessly over my Kato track, and the
coupling distance is about where I normally set up my Walthers cars: pongers
not touching when the train is stretched, not touching in curves, but _just_
touching if the train is compressed. And due to the coupler arrangement, these
cars should operate just as well on sharper curves, although I don't have
anything below about 26" to test them on.
The boxes they came in are a slight disappointment. BLI's locos come in full
blown brass type, foam-lined boxes... their freight cars currently come in the
nasty hard-plastic, N-scalish jewel boxes. The CZ cars come in sleeve boxes
(acckkk) which are perhaps slightly better than Walthers sleeve boxes, but
nothing special. They display nicely, but I doubt if I will use them for
storage and transport of the cars once they have been modified and given
"fleet" status.
To summarize the pros:
* Good looking
* Complete
* Flawless operation out of the box
* Brass-like finish (for those who like that sort of thing)
* Nearly flicker-free lighting
* Detail level is geared for eye level viewing, details do not compromise
operation
* Functional close coupling
Cons:
* Really expensive
* Windows not flush - this is minor on the 10-6, but may be significant on the
domes
* A few flaws in assembly/finish, boogered grab irons, but minor
This is not a totally comprehensive review... I'm sure I will discover a lot
more when I take the things apart, and also when I have a chance to do more
specific comparisons to the prototype. I also still don't have an idea how much
power a full train of these will pull on my DCC system, but hopefully the
circuitry they are using doesn't work like the Walthers DC sets.
These cars are priced at $65 sticker, or about 150% of the latest Walthers
releases. Of course they are unique prototypes, but just comparing car-for-car,
it's difficult to say one is a better value than the other. The BLI cars
include lighting, which is another 10 buck option (or 8 bucks for DCC) added to
the price of the Walthers cars. And you don't have to sledgehammer them apart
to install the lighting :-) And they come with Kadees, that's another buck or
so there. In terms of OOB, RTR.... BLI wins there easily with trucks that roll,
are square, and couplers that work. But give me 15 minutes with a Walthers car,
and I can make it run just fine.
The patina-plating on the CZ cars is sure to open this discussion up again. I
have tried to keep my options open regarding "stainless" finish. Right now, I'm
content to mix things up, my Walthers silver cars and my CZ plated cars, and
various brass cars. But if something comes along to really revolutionize the
process, or if I master one of the current solutions to my satisfaction, I
reserve the right to refinish any or all of my stainless passenger cars. But
for now,I live with the differences.
Andy
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. Make Yahoo! your home page
http://us.click.yahoo.com/dpRU5A/wUILAA/yQLSAA/8ZCslB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CBQ/
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
CBQ-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
|