DOC posted:If that's the kind of products the Lionel USA turns out have them made in CHINA. A product that cost $95 should be better than this.
It is a nice car that's why I bought the overpriced car. I collect Heinz. But this one will not be in my collection.
I just hope I can get my $95 back when I sell it at the next train Meet.
Hate to tell you, but China cars have just "different" issues these days, not "no" issues. The method used for US cars, while not perfect, is generally less prone to random defects than the China products. I have a bunch of the US cars done using the method used for this Heinz car.
As Mike W stated, the things you are noticing are consistent artifacts of the production method, and right now the printer they use to do this is not able to print colors from the top of the car looking down on details that protrude form the flat surface of the side of the car (door guide edge, top of ladder rungs). Do I hope they can evolve the process to address this and improve in the future? Sure I do. But I find it more acceptable than the China stuff right now.
China products recently are much more susceptible to careless cosmetic manufacturing defects. I mean paint where it doesn't belong, paint that has somehow been scratched and again carelessly touched up in a manner that is so obvious that it draws attention to the defect, chips on the truck frames when they are painted. Things like that. As I say, it's random. I recently had experiences with 2 add-on passenger cars, and found issues of some sort with 4 cars (2 types of car, 2 of each) that I looked at before accepting at the hobby store. A person who has recently picked up the actual main set has not seen any issues. I have not picked up mine yet, I hope when I do I am as lucky as he was with his set, but it concerns me.
While the USA made products are not perfect, I'll take that over random defects that draw my eye to them. Your car, while you are entitled to be unhappy with the way it looks, is quite consistent and not actually showing any actual manufacturing defect in the finish itself that I can see (note the same artifacts are clearly visible in the sample Stu posted in early November - obviously you had committed to the order at that point, but what he showed is what you got, IMO). I know that's a fine line, and you are entitled to think it's BS or defending Lionel. I guess if this was the first US made car you've ever seen, you would have no idea that they all have those characteristics. It's more prominent on cars like this where the base color for the roof and ends is different than the sides. That's of course why you see the red color of the car itself where it really should be white on this car. Had the car been made with similar graphics to the car Breezinup showed, it probably would have been less obvious, since all but the lowest rungs of the ladders and the lower door guide were on a base of black, just like the main color of the roof and ends.
As to the overpriced nature, I think we all understand that we pay more for limited club runs than standard items. While the MSRP on a USA general issue car may be $85, most of us buying at a LHS are not paying anywhere near that. One of the US based companies that used to do small runs of special car decoration for clubs unfortunately folded up his tent a few years ago (along with his own line of trains), so a new method was needed for club cars.
As to getting your money back with a resale, I wish you luck. Hopefully there is somebody who would like this car that missed the order period and is still interested. You might not want to print your endorsements of what "crap" the car is and place them next to the item on your table though. 
Based on your descriptions of the item in this thread alone I'd pay you $40-$50 to take your "crap" off your hands, even if I would have happily paid full price (had I been interested) from TCA in the first place, since I had experience with the manufacturing method and would have known what I was ordering.
-Dave
