jwb
02-23-2012, 02:59 PM
Late last year I started to see ads for a die cast subway car model that's sometimes represented as "HO Scale". They are from a Chinese company called Daron. MSRP seems to be $25, but you can find them for less if you hunt around -- for instance <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.awesomediecast.com/index.cfm/fa/items.main/parentcat/31573/subcatid/0/id/509080">http://www.awesomediecast.com/index.cfm ... /id/509080</a><!-- m -->
I decided to gamble and sent for one. Here's what I got:[attachment=10473]
The ads call it an R-46, but the number and general appearance make me think it's actually an R-142. When I got it out of the box, it seemed undersize for HO, and it is, though the R-142s are meant to run on IRT lines, which take smaller equipment.
Prototype length is 51 feet 4 inches over couplers. I measured the model at about 46 feet 6 inches. Width of the prototype is 8 feet 9-1/2 inches, model is 8 feet even. Height is 11 feet 10-5/8 inches, model is about 10 feet 5 inches. As a result, it's about 10% undersize overall.
The wheels are very crude and are held in gauge only by recesses in the floor, but they do fit on HO track. It's naturally unpowered. The underframe is a total loss, but it unscrews easily. This certainly wouldn't be a bad model as a static feature on a background el structure, and maybe there are other things that can be done with it.
I decided to gamble and sent for one. Here's what I got:[attachment=10473]
The ads call it an R-46, but the number and general appearance make me think it's actually an R-142. When I got it out of the box, it seemed undersize for HO, and it is, though the R-142s are meant to run on IRT lines, which take smaller equipment.
Prototype length is 51 feet 4 inches over couplers. I measured the model at about 46 feet 6 inches. Width of the prototype is 8 feet 9-1/2 inches, model is 8 feet even. Height is 11 feet 10-5/8 inches, model is about 10 feet 5 inches. As a result, it's about 10% undersize overall.
The wheels are very crude and are held in gauge only by recesses in the floor, but they do fit on HO track. It's naturally unpowered. The underframe is a total loss, but it unscrews easily. This certainly wouldn't be a bad model as a static feature on a background el structure, and maybe there are other things that can be done with it.