Finally got the chance to open the boxes and take a look at my first ever Sunset/3rd Rail purchase. This post reflects my initial thoughts, as I haven't yet removed the styrofoam in the trucks and diaphragms or run them. I'll do a fuller review at some point in the near future.
First impression:
Optics have a way of making an initial impression. From the outer packing to the individual boxes in which each El Capitan passenger car is carefully packed in styrofoam and plastic wrap tied with red string, the whole thing screams 'quality.'
Each car exterior is a work of art. True, much of this can be credited to the looks of the prototype. But the proportions and details seem right. The vents, the hand-applied details and everything about the sides and top make these cars seem like Sunset found a way to shrink the real cars down from 1:1 to 1:48. And, the weight of these cars is very nice. Overall, very nice looking while sitting on the rails. Turning the cars over, however, I was a little surprised that the undersides have almost no detail. Undersides are, for the most part, flat smooth sheets of metal. I'm not someone who gets overly concerned about the underside of a car, so I'm not out-of-sorts over it. But by the same token, cars at a much lower price point provide some level of underside detail (from Lionel cars with some, to Atlas cars that are incredibly detailed), so this was unexpected.
One small concern I had before this set arrived was that it would basically "blend in" with my Atlas GSC CZ cars, such that my Western passenger fleet would amount to a large monolithic or one-dimensional silver fleet. Well, I set the El Cap cars on the outer main next to my Atlas GSC CZ cars and they are obviously different fleets - even from a distance where you cannot readily see car detail. The metal color of these two fleets are different and, to me, the El Cap set has a more "real metal" looking color.
In terms of the interiors, the varied colors used on the upholstery add a very nice quality touch. Again, it reminds you that these cars are special. The overhead lighting looks like real overhead light fixtures to me, although as someone else noted, the interior lighting doesn't stretch out from end-to-end, leaving the passengers in the last several rows on each end of each car in the dark - maybe this allows them to get "cozy" on long trips? Not a deal-breaker, but certainly an area that could stand some improvement. Overall, this is a very nice set.
In terms of initial issues or questions:
- Several cars have "loose" undersides. The bottom plate is either level with or hangs below the car's side walls. In one case, the plate is so loose, the side walls flex like the car is half-together, as if it were boxed up before they finished putting in and properly tightening all screws. I tried tightening a couple bottom screws but using reasonable torque, the screws do not turn. Not something I'm planning to mess with - not risking screwing things up on a set at this price point.
- I didn't inspect them all, but one of my couplers is problematic. The metal spring thread (sorry, don't know the technical name) seems to be too long or not wound properly and is sticking through the coupler knuckle area. And, this coupler just doesn't function.
- I think the marketing material stated each car has 6 passengers. I have a few that only have 3 or 4 or 5.
- The set comes with two step-down cars, where the diaphragms are high on one side and low on the other. One of these cars obviously sits right behind the unique car, but where in the set would the other car be used, given all other cars have high-level diaphragms?
I'll do a more thorough look when I get the chance and after I speak with Scott about these issues.
Peter
