Rapido's GMD-1 development report

[VonRyan]

I tend to agree Bryan; some of the opening hatch cars I have look oddly bulky because if what is needed to make a hatch open.... just my personal opinion... For what it's worth; were this an N scale meat reefer the hatches wouldn't normally be open when the car was running. Meat reefers didn't run with hatches open like some fruit cars did.... but I am in no way saying this is a meat reefer.......... I'm not saying what this is; it might be an N scale version of NCC1701/1... after all, we work for Jason............

MT hatches are indeed bulky (but still nice), however the Atlas hatches are outstanding, and certainly add a whole new level of detail to the car.

[peteski]

MT hatches are indeed bulky (but still nice), however the Atlas hatches are outstanding, and certainly add a whole new level of detail to the car.

I however don't buy any of the nicely decorated Atlas wood reefers. Why?  Because to me their detailing is clunky and toy-like compared to MT wood reefers.  MT car's engraved sides and door details are so much finer than Atlas'. So is the brake wheel.  To be honest I didn't even notice or realize that Atlas hatched look better than MT: To me the entire Atlas car just doesn't work.  Which is too bad as I like lots of their billboard paint schemes.

[VonRyan]

Interesting. I've always seen MT reefers as the lesser of the two in terms of detail.

Needless to say, whether Rapido makes a meat reefer or an N-scale model of NCC-1701, I'm sure both will be superb models.

That being said, I expect one or the other.

[bbussey]

MT hatches are indeed bulky (but still nice), however the Atlas hatches are outstanding, and certainly add a whole new level of detail to the car.

As Mike stated, it would be academic if this is a meat reefer because the prototypes weren't used as ventilated cars.  If I need ventilated cars, I run XIH boxcars. 

I don't think we will see an N scale model of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701 anytime soon, since it would measure slightly over 6 feet in length.  Ironically, the famous model built in 1964 and used for The Original Series from 1965-1969 is 11'3" in length, which makes it exactly HO scale (full size is 300m or 980').  That's how far back N scale bias goes.

[Scottl]

There are so many funny things about that picture.  It defines random.

[Puddington]

Interesting. I've always seen MT reefers as the lesser of the two in terms of detail.

Needless to say, whether Rapido makes a meat reefer or an N-scale model of NCC-1701, I'm sure both will be superb models.

That being said, I expect one or the other.

Thanks for the confidence but remember folks, I said NCC 1701/1....... if you dig REALLY deep into our newsletter's (and why would you waste the time) you'd actually see this is funnier than it now appears...um...ah.... nevermind.....

[Dave Schneider]

There are so many funny things about that picture.  It defines random.

The car and the Enterprise have the same taillights!

Best wishes, Dave

[Sokramiketes]

Thanks for the confidence but remember folks, I said NCC 1701/1....... if you dig REALLY deep into our newsletter's (and why would you waste the time) you'd actually see this is funnier than it now appears...um...ah.... nevermind.....

I'm not the Rapido expert but don't you mean NCC 1702/1?

[Puddington]

I'm not the Rapido expert but don't you mean NCC 1702/1?

See... and Jason says I don't read the newsletter - Yep; NCC 1702/1....... Really; I had never seen it, I just assumed it was.... ah poop... you know what I mean..............

Mike gets the "Open your eyes and smell the coffee Puddy" award today !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[Frank Amato]

There are so many funny things about that picture.  It defines random.

IKR!  That pic *has* to show up in the header soon!

  Frank

[briggsmodels]

It looks like they repurposed a caboose roof mold into a fowler boxcar mold.

[Iain]

I tend to agree Bryan; some of the opening hatch cars I have look oddly bulky because if what is needed to make a hatch open.... just my personal opinion... For what it's worth; were this an N scale meat reefer the hatches wouldn't normally be open when the car was running. Meat reefers didn't run with hatches open like some fruit cars did.... but I am in no way saying this is a meat reefer.......... I'm not saying what this is; it might be an N scale version of NCC1701/1... after all, we work for Jason............

Oh, it's a Borg Cube!

[Sokramiketes]

It looks like they repurposed a caboose roof mold into a fowler boxcar mold.

HO Pt St Charles cupola roof?



And what leads you to believe fowler boxcar over the meat reefer?

[Puddington]

HO Pt St Charles cupola roof?



And what leads you to believe fowler boxcar over the meat reefer?

um......... "nope".... we didn't repurpose a PSC van roof.(yes; we have made one in N scale..., not so much in HO)... we're not nearly that clever...........

[DKS]

I'm not seeing the point in trying to guess what's in the center of the tooling image. To me it looks like something that was left over from an aborted project, or tooling that was junked, and the space around it is being re-purposed for the "real" project, which clearly is an underbody and a roofwalk. The feature in the center portion of the tooling now has a hole bored through part of it and sprues cut through much of the rest, so I'm not seeing how it can possibly work. And even if it was some sort of roof, to my eye it looks considerably wider than the underbody, suggesting they don't really belong together.

Then again, I might be totally wrong... I often am...