I am noticing that Con-Cor has a new wave of N scale coaches coming out in a nice variety of paint schemes - as usual for them. However, the prices are significantly higher than any of their past coaches; right up with Intermountain and Rapido. So, I am wondering if Con-Cor has suddenly made a vast improvement in quality to justify these new prices. I have always thought of Con-Cor products as appearing very plasticky and awkward, especially compared to the products that the competition had been making lately. But in my quest to put together a couple Santa Fe San Diegans, I'm tempted to see what their coaches look like now. Unfortunately, not too many retailers carry their products so I can't go to my local retailer to take a look. So before I drop a big chunk of money on an unseen product, I thought I'd ask for some opinions here. Thanks for any input! Nate
Where do you see this? On Concor's web site, all I find is the same junk they have made for 40 years (15 years for the Budd cars). The prices supposedly reflect the new trucks with MTL couplers, but the trucks are still made backwards.
On several on-line retailers' pages; woo woo woo ¤¤¤¤¤ for one. Their own website barely seems to include any info on their products.
I don't think they have changed much. Just the cost of everything is going up so they have to charge more. I have always modified anything I buy from CC with new wheels and couplers. I don't know how well the MT coupler installations are lately but the ones I saw in the past were pretty rough. I have really stocked up on the Budd cars as they make excellent core kits for etched sides and are good fodder for other kit bash projects. However the ones I have all came with the funky weird rust red knuckle coupler that never worked well. I replace them with the first generation KATO knuckle couplers.
I havent heard anything new from ConCor except the stuff we all know about already. Some of those newer items got very good reviews although pricey. ConCor sort of listen to a beat of a different drummer. They now have a new knuckle dummy coupler. Im not too impressed. And they do keep rerunning the same old freight cars with forty year old tooling and 2012 pricing. And they keep finding old steamers in the warehouse from thirty years ago with torn packaging that they sell for premium prices. But hey, If folks are willing to pay for that stuff more power to them.
Those smooth side coaches are the same ones they have been releasing since they were still outsourcing to Kato. As was said above, same cars, just new pricing. On another note, the stream liners they have been releasing are very nice, albeit pricey as well.
Unless it is one of their new products like the Zephyr etc. it is the same old crap. I bet they even pay retail for the MT couplers and then mark them up to us!! It is the same, one body type and a million incorrect paint schemes. Better off to look for cheap used ones and then modify.
It's the same old... same old stuff... the only improvement is they are charging more money for the same old tooling. Those Budd streamliners were introduced in 2001 (an WON MRR best N scale passenger car award in 2002). Back then... the MSRP was 19.99 for the RPO, baggage, coach and sleepers... 24.99 for the Obs, Diner and Parlor cars. The five packs of the smoothside cars was 49.99 and the individual cars were 10.99 to 12.99. There ain't nuthin improved on them other than the knuckle couplers on the smoothside passenger cars. As far as I'm concerned... the only really good things ConCor has put out since the Budd streamliners is the Pioneer Zephyr (and the variations).
My passenger set came with their own brand of couplings - horrid! - except for one car that came with MT couplings. I've changed the whole lot for MT trucks . . . Oh, and I understand that at least some of the passenger cars are mirror images of reality, but that doesn't bother me. They also seem a bit on the heavy side. A Kato F40PH struggles to pull 7 cars on its own, but two of them manage quite well. Regards, Pete Davies
Well the detail of the models hasn't changed. They have upgraded with the MT couplers on the N scale. HO I haven't heard or read of any coupler change even though one was needed. Also there wheels are usually out of scale so must be adjust before running or replaced. SO overall NO! Con Cor hasn't changed. Oh how I wish they had changed they are near to where I live so I could really get some deals and first releases; BUT! Quality First for this modeler.
To their credit, Con Cor is the only one who produce the Budd built, split window, coach that the Santa Fe used on this train. With some work and extra expense, a decent car can be had. The Kato El Capitan trucks (800121) can be picked up from Kato Parts and are the correct type. Only the snubbers on the side frames are not backwards as they are on the Con Cor trucks. The couplers do protrude a little more but still tolerable if you don't want to body mount.
Hmm, thanks for the idea. While I'm not an expert on lightweight coaches, Con-Cor is as close as I've found to AT&SF's coaches used on the San Diegans. I don't really have the time for such a project now, but I think I may start bying the parts for the future. I'm also thinking that a coat of Polyscale silver would work better than the flat Con-Cor silver... but damn that means a lot of decaling. Nate
The price of their cars has gone up. So have everyone else's. However, they are still somewhat less expensive than the newer brands. So, if details aren't a concern, over a trainload of cars, or several trainloads, there can be substantial savings. If money is a bigger problem than detail, this is something to consider.
