For those of you who have not seen them yet, in a cooperative effort Aster/Accucraft have produced the SUHA coach kit and an RTR version of the famous Maite Observation Car. These cars are suitable JNR rolling stock for the Aster C62 versions as well as the Aster D51 and likely other locomotives as well. They are primarily of metal construction and have interior seating as well as lights (which are somewhat weak).
I have just finished building two of my coach kits and they build up into sturdy and reasonably well-detailed cars.They don't fall together but instead take the better part of a day in the shop to build one. That experience let me build the second car in less than 5 hours. Wish I had more hands!
A couple of notes. The Accucraft website notwithstanding, the cars do NOT have working doors or working knuckle couplers. Also, the coupler mounting design is very flimsy and can't be expected to last long, so some type of re-inforcement is needed. I worked out a relatively simple solution and will be glad to share with anyone who asks. I would like the interior lighting to be brighter but haven't experimented with solutions yet.
Overall, these cars are a big improvement over previous Aster passenger cars and look like they will make a great train for my C62-2, and I'll report back once they have some track time on them.
Ross Schlabach
I have just finished building two of my coach kits and they build up into sturdy and reasonably well-detailed cars.They don't fall together but instead take the better part of a day in the shop to build one. That experience let me build the second car in less than 5 hours. Wish I had more hands!
A couple of notes. The Accucraft website notwithstanding, the cars do NOT have working doors or working knuckle couplers. Also, the coupler mounting design is very flimsy and can't be expected to last long, so some type of re-inforcement is needed. I worked out a relatively simple solution and will be glad to share with anyone who asks. I would like the interior lighting to be brighter but haven't experimented with solutions yet.
Overall, these cars are a big improvement over previous Aster passenger cars and look like they will make a great train for my C62-2, and I'll report back once they have some track time on them.
Ross Schlabach
