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Home » HO Scale » HO Locomotives and Rolling Stock  
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Athearn RTR Maxi-I 5 unit Well Car
Reviews Views Date of last review
5 1290 Wed July 23, 2008
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Recommended By Average Price Average Rating
100% of reviewers $95.40 9.2
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Description: This is a totally new model from Athearn of a Gunderson Maxi-I 5 unit well car.

The model comes with metal wheels, 33" on the ends and 38" at the articulated joints, as per the prototype. It comes with sprung plastic knuckle couplers.

The model is highly detailed and fully assembled. Ready to Roll right out of the box.
Keywords: Maxi-I Wellcar Intermodal


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CP9302

Engineer

Registered: June 2004
Location: Windsor, Ont.
Posts: 632
Review Date: Fri November 16, 2007 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $130.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Amazing detail, correct wheel sizes, excellent paint and printing
Cons: Very light car, details are easily damaged

This model is incredible! It should be in the Genesis line, the detail is so good. The only feature missing that Genesis has is the spinning bearing caps on the trucks.

The detail on this model is second to none. It makes the Intermountain/A-Line well cars look like Tyco. All the piping is there, the container guides look like etched plano ones, but are actually plastic. The supports at the bottom of the well are all scale thickness. The platforms are all etched metal as well.

The model is equipt with the proper size wheels and sprung plastic lower shelf couplers. I wish Athearn would team with KayDee on couplers, but that is easy to fix.

The main complaint with this car is the weight, or lack there of. As with most well cars not made by Walthers, these cars are very light. A 45' well is just over an ounce.

If you plan to handle the car alot, all that fine detail could also be a problem. Some of it is delicate.

This is an out standing model and worth the money IMHO. Every intermodal modeller should have at least one of these beauties in their fleet.

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-- Fred Barkhouse Jr.

Member of the Windsor Modular RR Club www.windsor-modular.com
WMRC Fast Tracks Reseller Site wmrc.fast-tracks.net

You can't spell GarbagE without GE
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Grande Guy

grande guy

Registered: May 2007
Location: Texas
Posts: 23
Review Date: Sat November 17, 2007 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $95.00 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Awesome detail
Cons: Pricey,weight

Hello,

I purchased 3 of these 1 Southern Pacific, 1 Maersk and 1 TTX and they are unbelievabley nice. If you want prototype quality without much work. You will want one set at least. I have heard that adding 1.5 ounces of weight to bottom container makes these run very well.
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sushob

Entrepreneurial Teen

Registered: October 2004
Location: PRR Territory
Posts: 980
Review Date: Fri November 23, 2007 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $90.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Nice detail
Cons: Some fuzzy paint, wavy walkway

The brake, ladder, and piping detail is great! The walkways are nice, however some of mine are a little crooked. The lettering is crisp, but the black ends look to have been done with a paint mask instead of pad-printed and have fuzzy edges. You really can't complain about weight with stack cars...there simply isn't any place to put it other than the containers.

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Nate
Susquehanna Hobbies
www.sushob.com
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SP4449BN9444

SGT engineer & Owner

Registered: November 2007
Location: Cody Wyoming
Posts: 1
Review Date: Wed February 6, 2008 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $89.99 | Rating: 10 

 
Pros: Really good looking and very nice to have
Cons: Have none

I dont have one but I know they are around the $90 range.
My old friend & neighbor had one and I almost bought from him if he wa willing to sell. He was a big BN & UP fan himself plus Amtrak & Rock Isand a little with of course Santa Fe. He gave a newspaper that got me to go to my 1st train show in Evanston Wyoming.

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SP4449BN9444
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jbaakko

Diesel Detail Freak

Registered: June 2005
Location: San Diego, CA / Hancock, MI
Posts: 7294
Review Date: Wed July 23, 2008 Would you recommend the product? Yes | Price you paid?: $72.00 | Rating: 8 

 
Pros: Well detailed
Cons: Light cars...

I have to agree with Fred on these, It seems Walthers is the only company smart enough to go die-cast for well cars.

They're a tad on a light side, even though Athearn claims that they're weighted sufficiently to run empty, I beg to differ. I plan to tweak the weighting. I wish companies would experiment with Tungsten, or go with Walthers' die cast route.

I especially like the scale thickness framing, however it poses another issue. My cars seem to want to warp inwards, causing the container holes to be a fraction too narrow, thus causing containers to want to pop out on one side, thus leaning to one side. Not sure how I'll get around that as of yet.

Detail and paint is impressive. I really like the 38" metal wheels on the 125T intermediate trucks. Much better then the old school plastic crud on the Maxi-III kits I have. Wonder if Athearn sells the 38" wheels?

On a side not, my car came with a walkway loose upon arrival, on the B unit. Simple fix with a drop of CA.

In all, I'll be looking for more, should have known the TTX ones would have sold out as fast as they did.

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Josh

Models: http://rr.blockchoice.com | My Videos: http://youtube.com/user/jbaakko
Model Railroad Tips: http://www.modelrailroadtips.com | Custom paint services, & Hobby shop: http://www.blockchoice.com
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