KATO's Maxi-IV's Well Cars and Atlas 48' All Purpose Well Cars

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Apr 14, 2006
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Rancho Santa Margarita, Cali.
Some of you might have read in another one of my threads i ordered all 3 sets of KATO's Maxi-IV Well Cars in the TTX paint. i got them today and WOW they are AMAZING. They are HIGHLY detailed and the weight feels just right on them. I am blown away at how NICE these cars are!!!! I have a new favorite MFR for well cars!!! KATO Blows Walthers wells right out of the picture lol, dont get me wrong, I LOVE the Walthers Wells too, but man these KATO's are AWESOME!!!! I loaded them up with some containers and snapped some pics with a CSX SD70M on point. I will for SURE be getting the kATO Maxi-IV's in the BNSF paint as well that just came out. Also going to get the 12 sets of Intermountain Maxi-IV's that are coming out too. KATO and Intermountain decided to do the same road # on one of the sets so i will be getting 11 of the Intermountain sets and all 3 of the KATO Maxi-IV's in the BNSF paint lol. All together 42 wells in BNSF lol. Ill have 29 TTX wells too lol.

I also got all 4 of Atlas's 48' All Purpose Well Cars that just came out a little while ago as well. I love these cars too, nicely detailed, the only thing i have against them is they are WAY to light. i think for paying $20 each they should be weighted a little better. i mean they have almost NO weight to them lol. They are still AWESOME tho, i included these in the rear of the train loaded with 4 Walthers 53' Trailers i have super detailed with A-LINE trailer Dress-up Kits and are pictured in the last four pics:

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Next Comes Weathering the whole train :mrgreen: Well Cars, Containers, and Trailers :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Apr 14, 2006
4,073
0
36
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Rancho Santa Margarita, Cali.
Thanks Kevin and Ralph :mrgreen:

Those are some VERY nice cars! And they look fine on the curves. Assuming those are the curves with the radius in question.

Yup thats the 24" radius that there on right now, the 26" is on the outside track, and your right, they dont look too bad on that radius :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 

jbaakko

Active Member
Jun 25, 2006
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San Diego, CA
rr.blockchoice.com
Looking good. Apparently the UPS guy came by my place after I was home. Those *******s NEVER knock! I'll get mine tomorrow and post up an in-depth review/comparison. From the looks of it though, they fudged on the pad printing.
 

TruckLover

Mack CH613 & 53' Trailer
Apr 14, 2006
4,073
0
36
34
Rancho Santa Margarita, Cali.
Looking good. Apparently the UPS guy came by my place after I was home. Those *******s NEVER knock! I'll get mine tomorrow and post up an in-depth review/comparison. From the looks of it though, they fudged on the pad printing.

sign1 Bummer

And yes the small printing is pretty blurry, id say thats the one downside to them, there always a small downside to the BEST of stuff lol, and thats the poor thing on these BEAUTIFUL cars.... All well, all around, MY FAVORITE Wells out of them all :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
 

green_elite_cab

Keep It Moving!
Apr 4, 2005
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Hainesport NJ
Well, that answers my questions from before. I love the SD70M. the first one i saw was just like that one, and i remember it because it was on a special day. I'm really going to have to pick one of those up. I knew that Athearn used to sell sets of them with autoracks, and so i'm thinking i need to find such a set.
 

jbaakko

Active Member
Jun 25, 2006
1,082
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San Diego, CA
rr.blockchoice.com
I'm slightly impressed, though glad I did not pay $80!

1. Weight is half of NMRA RP-20.1
-A unit weight: 2.9oz
-B unit weight: 3.2oz
-C (intermediate) 2.7oz

End cars per RP-20.1: 5.5oz (~9")
Intermediate: 5oz (~8")

However, compared to Athearn's Maxi-III, they're heavier.

2. Pad printing around 125T black ends its iffy, especially around the lip created by the end of the cross member.

3. WEIRD trucks!!! The end trucks rotate off center (photos later today), and all are press fit, friction pin, along the lines of the old Life-like, Tyco, Backmann, AHM, ect, cars.

4. What happened to detail? Sadly no etched walkways. This would be fine if these were the only Maxi-IV's, but those IM cars are going to have etched walkways, for the same price.

In all, good buy when paying less then ~$65, if you paid the full $80, you should have waited for the IM cars.