Here are a few pics I just took of the set I received today and a couple of items of note. (I'll post pics of the detail damage along with several rants in the next post.)
* The CSX containers that come with the set appear to be the CSX blue but their mat surface finish makes them appear drab when placed next to Atlas containers. Interestingly enough, the Jinzo 53' CSX Atlas container that I have takes on a purple hue when placed next to these MTH CSX containers. The doors on the MTH CSX containers do not open. However, the detail on the non door end and the detail of the rivots is very good. The pegs however are rather large compared to the Atlas containers. They cause the CSX containers to ride high when placed a top the Atlas containers.
* The detail on the husky cars is very good but also very delicate. There are many broken, bent or loose pieces on the end units. For the most part, the swinging guides work well. There was only two that I found that did not swing all the way end to accommodate 40' containers on top.
* The articulation attachment between cars is excellent...much, much better than the Atlas attachment method. Each spine top swivels out of the way to add the coupling and then is swung back over top of the coupling to prevent it from coming out.
* The printing is very crisp...even the smallest lettering could be read. There is no highlight striping on the cars though. Also, the walks appear to be plastic as well. The only parts that appear to be metal are the trucks.
* The unit, when fully assembled, is just shy of 6 feet in length...it appears to be about 66 inches. I would not attempt to run this on less than 54in track as the space between the cars is only about 0.5in and the middle cars do not have extra angle movement in the articulation joints.
* Some of the cars had issues where the top container could not fully mate with the bottom container due to molding issues around the walls. I only found this in one case.
* There appears to be a lot of frictional drag in the trucks, esp. when the well cars are loaded. I would recommend slow start speed profiles regardless and multiple engine lash-ups if 2 or more of these sets are present on a consist.
Overall they it is a nice set for an Intermodal themed layout...possibly not a modern Intermodal themed layout as I have not seen the units on any consist within the last 3 years in this area.
Anthony
