I gotta give Joe props here. The circus train set is awesome! I do have the first 2 runner packs, and eagerly awaiting the next runner pack! Even the packaging is great, really sets the mood for this pack. I have an Ntrack layout coming up, so hopefully pictures will come soon from that lay out. Now the big question is... how are you going to follow this up? I think I can speak for trainboard folks on this one, we need the pre 50's train next, so we have something for all of our challengers and AC-12's to pull around.
Glad to hear that; your the first person to post that had received any of them to my knowledge. I was curious since they are made by Con Cor. Detail was my concern. Thanks for sharing.:tb-wink:
I just received the third Circus Train runner pack and I'm very disappointed. The packaging is cheaper than the first two sets and two of the cars were literally disassembled in the package. The wagon flat car had an hideous wood platform glued to the top of the car deck to restrain the wagons. This was not present on the first wagon flats in the series. For this I paid nearly $200. The fact that MTL could've used better passenger cars is not lost on me but used cars that have been around for 40 years. At least the Z scalers are getting a better product from MTL. I just wish that someone could come up with a comparable series of trucks and couplers so that we could avoid them altogether.
My only complaint is that "hideous wood platform glued to the top of the car deck to restrain the wagons" as you called them didn't come in the earlier set. Although I am looking for a way to remove it now. I hoping MT release some more wagons. if not I am going to cast some more to make 4 wagons per flat instead of 3. The printing is good, the animal cars was the one I was worried about, but they look pretty good for what they had to work with. The vehichle hauler is a new body mold on 89's flat frame. The long container body is a resin body on an 89' frame, and yes, mine was apart in shipping too. Not exactly a big deal to stick it back in place. One of the guys in our shop is a Circus train fanatic. He has scratch built a 40 car HO circus train but is now into N scale so this was a natural for him. He originally wasn't going to buy the sets because of price, but I ordered an extra set of each in for him just in case. Once he saw them, he was hooked. If a guy that knows Circus stuff inside and out likes them, MT must have done something right. He is the one that has me convinced to make up extra wagons to help fill out the flat cars. Also working on drawbar details for the wagons.
Set came damaged I received mine too......second car from bottom is in many pieces so I have not even taken it out of the box...called and e-mailed my e-tailer and they don't have anymore and can't get any so they offered a refund; NOT what I wanted:tb-hissyfit:. I've e-mailed MicroTrains directly so we will see what will happen...bummer (and I have one of everything in the series so far). Chuck
I'll try to take some pictures later tonight or tomorrow. So far I have the 6 car original set, and one of each of the runner packs (Sleeper & Flats). There is one more set yet to arrive, the Animal cars. Even though 15 cars is only a fraction of what the real train is, it is a good enough representation for me. I did pull my starter set out today and set it on the track. No broken parts although the underframe was loose on the container car. It just needed to be set back into place as it is a press fit. Look for some flashing/leftover hanging sprue on the truck pins. A few of my passenger cars needed the truck pin end cleaned up to allow the cars to roll free. I also adjusted the passenger couplers to their minimum and spun the trucks on the flats around 180 degrees to shorten their coupler extensions up to get closer coupling.
Skipgear, The wooden "frame" will pop right off with a gently applied xacto knife along it's sides. It appears to be held down with a contact-like cement. The underside of the wagons will have to be modified since they're different from the earlier wagons. The earlier wagons had a dually set of wheels (or what passes for wheels) while the ones in this set have triple-wheels on each side. I sanded the innermost wheel off so that the wagon will sit fully on the car deck. Now to make some wheel chocks. Yes, it would be nice if MTL would offer additional wagons to fill out the car and to fill out the "pole flat" since Ringling stopped using tents in the late 1950's. My wife is a circus fan having grown up in Milwaukee.
