Piko 38847, G-scale covered hopper car

My last business trip to the United States was just one week long. I have decided however to stay over the weekend and do some sightseeing. I traveled down to southern California and obviously I had to visit a nearby train store, too. This time it was a place called TrainShack located just a couple of miles from the famous Hollywood sign.

I liked the store a lot. It is big and offers a wide selection of items in different scales. I could not find any amazing deals though, but I was still determined to buy myself a souvenir. For that single reason, I decided to get the following Piko G-scale hopper car.

The item's number is 38847 and it cost me a little over $50. Well, it was "just a little over" before the sale tax was added. All taxes included it was very close to $60. Still cheaper than in Poland, but I can't say it was a steal...

The car comes packaged in a cleverly shaped piece of a cardboard. I forgot to take a photo of this interesting invention, but it was veeeery difficult to open. This time Piko has definitely managed to surprise me with the way they delivered their product.

The content is very little - just the wagon and a set of instruction and leaflets. It's surprising that an American cargo car, probably targeted towards the US market, does not come with spare knuckle couplers. Well, I guess Piko simply never does it...

Since there's not much to unbox, let's just take a look at the model...

The car definitely feels sturdy. It does not contain any fragile details, and it feels like it could actually survive being dropped on the ground. There are no movable or operable elements, either. This simplicity is understandable considering the price point, and it might actually be an advantage for people with kids. Still it feels like USA Trains offers more fun with their products at a similar cost...

The wheels are obviously made of plastic. The painted symbols and letters are flawless and crisp. The roof seems to be the most decorated element of the model, but still the walk is not really see-through and the hatches do not open at all.

My major concern with the car is however its size. It just feels small. Even the product's box is smaller than the usual Piko packaging. The model is supposed to be a freight car and I think it should really be larger. It's only 30cm long...

Comparing it to my European gondola car confirms that something is not right. Piko 38847 is not just shorter, it's also barely as tall. I think the volume of those two models should be comparable, but it looks like the American car would offer only around half the capacity of its Polish counterpart.

The funny thing is: this is a two-bay hopper and Piko offers a one-bay version, too. The other one is even shorter and features only 21cm of length. Is this really the same G-scale as other Piko rolling stock? I'm really not convinced...

The model is a nice souvenir from my trip to the USA. It is a good quality product for rather undemanding audience. Its price might be a tempting factor if you plan to assemble a longer train. Just remember it is simple and its scale seems to be a little off...

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A further note about the size - the hopper cars made by USA Trains are all produced in 1:29 scale, and not 1:22.5. So they're smaller, too. The difference is however that USA Trains is very transparent about this fact. Perhaps it would feel fairer, if Piko was a little bit more vocal about the characteristics of its products.