I'm new to these forums. I figure this may have been reviewed and seen by most everyone. I've learned to try and be fair, unbiased, and open to all ideas and brands. I posted about MTH, Aristo (on a diff site), so I figured I'd pick my favorite from USA Trains.
These hoppers are excellent. The detail draws you in for a closer look. The trucks have metal wheels with spinning brg caps. They are great runners, and track well. They come with USA Metal couplers. I find all of my USA's are mounted lower than most of my other brands of equipment. I body mounted KD #830s and now they like 11.5' curves or better. You could cut the kd mounting boxes for tighter radius as in their instructions. I filed the sides of the kd box a little so they just make 10' curves. These are big and not for the little circles. If I had to pick a flaw, it would be to watch the bottom doors. They really open (neat feature), but if they do they'll hit the aristo frogs (it only happened once now I check to make sure they're closed!).
I've also purchased their modern tanker and noticed something today. I see the plastic end platform has broke. It appears to have expanded? It has just been sitting with no temp changes in the basement and nothing striking it?
These hoppers are excellent. The detail draws you in for a closer look. The trucks have metal wheels with spinning brg caps. They are great runners, and track well. They come with USA Metal couplers. I find all of my USA's are mounted lower than most of my other brands of equipment. I body mounted KD #830s and now they like 11.5' curves or better. You could cut the kd mounting boxes for tighter radius as in their instructions. I filed the sides of the kd box a little so they just make 10' curves. These are big and not for the little circles. If I had to pick a flaw, it would be to watch the bottom doors. They really open (neat feature), but if they do they'll hit the aristo frogs (it only happened once now I check to make sure they're closed!).


I've also purchased their modern tanker and noticed something today. I see the plastic end platform has broke. It appears to have expanded? It has just been sitting with no temp changes in the basement and nothing striking it?
