Rosie and C-11

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Hurray....Rosie and C-11 are here!!!

I presume the C11 is going in to service on the Caiden Town Railroad but is Rosie also serving there or is she destined for the Future World collection?

I’m hoping to pick up Rosie when the big online Japanese retailers get her back in stock.

[Super]

Yes, Rosie has already been placed into the Future World Collection Container.

On another note, I am a bit disappointed with the C-11 and I will explain further in a bit.

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First a bit of interesting facts about this C-11 release, at least to me...

The whole engine is the C-12 mold so they had to have saved some money because they didn't have to create a new mold for a new release. The front, deflectors, smokebox door, smoke stack & drumhead all come apart with 3 screws. I was disappoint like Off The Rail mentions above about the sold configuration of the dual headlights but this might be better if someone wants to wire in some real lights. I was also disappointed in the finish as it looked to be rubbed but maybe this was intentional to knock down any sheen on the black finish, on the other hand the C-11-207 emblems are painted on unlike the stickers used on the sister engine C-12.

Now for the problem I had with this engine. A problem I had not ever come across with all the repairs I have completed on Plarails and Trackmaster trains. It took me 2 days and a complete rebuild & greasing of the motor and I still could not figure it out. You see right out of the box the motor made a 'clunking' sound and I though this was simply a gear somewhere that was cracked or had a defective tooth. After another day of studying this, going over it again and again, it turns out to be in the side rods. Both rods are in the exact same position on each side which is unusual as most of the time they aren't. So they moved in unison and the 'clunk' would happen every time the rods were in there most rearward position. My conclusion and the solution was that the axle slots in the front of the rods was a bit short on the inside so every time the rod would move to the rear and because each side was in exact unison they would slap the axle and minutely create a tension on the motor cause it to make a 'clunk' sound. Taking a fine mini rat tail file to the front of the rod slot fixed it....I know...weird isn't it? I assume this may just be an anomaly with mine as I assume that Off The Rails engine was fine upon his opening.

My thoughts on the Conductors Car and Coach will come soon as this Post is very long and I don't want to take up more of your time.

I hadn’t noticed mine making a clunking sound but I only ran it a short time on a basic oval test track. There’s another one on the way, so I’ll certainly check it for similar defects.
I did notice that this engine is made in Vietnam rather than Thailand, so perhaps it’s a problem with a new factory getting some minor QC issues ironed out.

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Now for the other 2 pieces included with the C-11.

I like the fact that we have an entirely new piece of stock in the conductors coach. Love it being black and kudos to Plarail (maybe they listened to me) for making the wheels black. I also like the embossing of the windows and leaf springs on the trucks on each side although if I had my druthers the windows would be opened and the embossing would have like a dark gray detail color to make it stand out a little more as it kind of gets lost with the black on black. Would have certainly liked them to have embossed a window or door on the ends as the flat spaces don't do it for me but all in all a very nice piece.

The Coach is a variation of the JR Coach and is quite nice although I do wish they opened the windows and added a end door like in the original JR Coach. Like the JR Coach, Plarail made them to be an end coach with no rear coupling but it is very easy to add a coupling like I did with my JR Coaches because the chassis has the post already in place for one and all you have to do is nibble away a small amount of plastic from the rear of the shell. All in all this new coach is very nice but I do have to admit that if I had to pick I would choose the original JR Coaches.

What do you all think?