Just received some of the new Santa Fe Beer Cars-IMHO they are magnificent. Great paint and details Here's a couple pics. Dig the cut levers, the printing on the coupler assembly and the killer underframe detail. It includes an extra set of air hoses too. Super Shock Control ATSF 621560.
Got mine, looks great for sure but we'll see how it works in the 'real world'. I figured if I could get the BLMA piggyback flat to work this should as well.
They are nice looking. It does occur to me, however, that we've got to the point where there's now separate cut levers, hoses, and hanging brake gear (the very best shot of this car is from the side at a low angle - it's just remarkable what's under there - better than anything I've ever seen) yet there's still cast-on stirrups, cast-on grabs and cast-on door hardware. It's an odd mix of really extraordinary cutting-edge detail with some otherwise conventional construction. Normally I'm also the guy that grumps about paint colors. Until proven otherwise, I think it looks pretty darn good and the lettering looks flawless, including the ACI label and the 70's era lube plate. Some similar cars (not sure about these) had galvanized unpainted roof panels when built, but at this point I'll trust that Craig got it right.
Speaking of paint color. Was anyone else expecting the cars to come in the "Super Shock Control" red? These seem just a little too brown in person when compared to the prototype.
No its not the car that looks off, the OPs lighting is a bit dark and yellow, so that will throw it, the SSC BX-166s are a bright red very close to the proto. the modern BX-166s are however a bit more darker than the proto... But that's not really a problem either. Barlowfaudio, I will suggest that any light that produces "sunlight" would greatly help those well taken shots (fyi you can get a LED "Daylight" bulb at WalMart for ~$10... I've got 6; and over the last year of one LED and a standard incandescent bulb, I've had to replace the incandescent bulbs twice... )
No, I'm not comparing the OP's. I'm comparing the one I have in my hand that I received a couple of weeks ago. This one I have (BLMA 18034 #621474) seems too dark and not the "Shock Control" red that I'm use to as the prototype photo I posted above shows.
I agree with glenna. Mine just came in the mail today and it is much darker and more brown than what you see on BLMA's website. I have other ATSF equipment in the same Indian red, and this is just off. I'm going to be sending mine back and hope they get it right on the next production run. As far as the model goes, I'm absolutely blown away by the amazing detail. I just wish it had been the brighter red seen in BLMA's photos.
I expected my Super Shock car to be a lot brighter too ( like my Athearn ATSF box car ) now it is a good match for my first run Intermountain Santa Fe caboose .
Everyone has different layout lighting, so I can see how these cars will look a bit more "brown" to some. My workbench lighting makes them look more brown than my layout lighting. Here is a pic taken outside in real sunlight. They look good to me compared to my other ATSF cars from other manufacturers. Top left - Red caboose Top Right - Micro Trains Bottom left - BLMA Bottom right - MDC/Roundhouse -Mike
Mike, I wish I could see your pics. They are completely missing in Firefox here at work AND in Safari on my iPhone. I have the Red Caboose and Micro Trains versions. I just have to drag them out and compare myself. But they seemed much redder than the BLMA versions.
I wonder if they had an exact paint mix which was used at all times? Different series, but the color applied by PC&F was definitely a bright red.
Very odd. I'm hosting my pics directly on my website, so there is no restrictions on who can view them. How about a direct link to the pic? http://www.owensvalleysub.com/Misc/atsf colors.jpg -Mike
No. The hospital I work for must block the port or IP address. On Firefox/Windows I get: http://10.137.251.101:15871/cgi-bin/blockpage.cgi?ws-session=1048016727 Yeah, it's the hospital network. When I switch my iPhone to LTE I can see your pic now and the link works. I see that you don't have the MT Super Shock beer car that came out a couple of years ago. I'll have to make my own comparison photo and post it.
Ok, so comparing the five cars that I have the new BLMA Beer Car definitely has a slight brownish tone to it compared to the other models I have. One photo in shade and one in sunlight. One surprise is that none of them really look as red as the Shock Control prototype that I posted above (earlier). Mind you, the BLMA car is a beautiful piece of rolling stock. And I'm proud to run it with the rest of my fleet. This is more academic than anything and NOT a complaint. What I find interesting is that none of them look accurate color-wise except the Red Caboose RN-17209-11 (Older Run) (Second from the bottom of both photos). All the rest appear either too bright or too dark. Again, not complaining, just an interesting discussion. Maybe it's "rivet counting" without actually counting rivets. But I'm fascinated by the decisions that manufacturers make. First photo (Shade): 1. Red Caboose RN-17209-27 (Newer Run) 2. Micro Trains #122-00-061 3. BLMA #18034 4. Red Caboose RN-17209-11 (Older Run) 5. Red Caboose RN-9531-3 (Brown for comparison) Second photo (Sunlight): 1. Red Caboose RN-9531-3 (Brown for comparison) 2. Micro Trains #122-00-061 3. BLMA #18034 4. Red Caboose RN-17209-11 (Older Run) 5. Red Caboose RN-17209-27 (Newer Run)
The 'as built' car with Roman font reporting marks appears to be a lot redder than the later ATSF repaint with the gothic reporting marks (and missing the "Super" Shock Control logo). I have the original one and it looks red enough to me. And I'm a guy that immediately repainted my first-run Intermountain cabooses because those were just wrong, wrong, wrong - way too brown. I can't tell you if that 621474 car is wrong or not, but I'll acknowledge that it's a lot browner by comparison. I'm pretty sure that's a 1980's version repaint. Red does fade and color shift like crazy, let alone that ATSF was not entirely consistent on paint color between shops, particular the boxcar reds/mineral reds.
