Piko 37942, G-Scale gondola car

Following the review of my first holiday gift, here's a quick look at the second G-scale freight car I found under my Christmas tree. This time it's PIKO 37942: a small gondola car.

As expected the car comes in a strong box featuring design typical for the PIKO G-scale products. The box measures 22 x 9 x 6 inches in size and its window offers a very clear view of what's inside.

The content of the box is very simple. We get the car itself and a set of narrow gauge buffers. I'm not a fan of those, so I won't be installing them.

There are two more things inside the box but they're hidden way at the bottom. There's a small assembly/disassembly diagram for the car's replaceable parts and a PIKO G scale track brochure.

Here's the car straight out of the box. Ready to run!

The car is made of quality plastic and feels sturdy. I would not be afraid to allow my children to operate it. I'm not going it to crash test it here but my feeling is it would not get damaged if dropped on grass or dirt. I definitely like the solid feeling.

The bottom of the car offers some details but I would call those the necessary minimum. It looks however pretty good and has the advantage of not featuring parts that require careful handling.

The wheels are all plastic. I would prefer them to be metal of course, but I guess all PIKO cars in this price range offer only plastic sets. They can of course be upgraded at an extra cost.

And that's basically it. There's nothing more that needs to be covered about this car. Let's take a look at some photos and evaluate its look.

Summary

How would I rate this car? Well, it's definitely simple but I did not really expect more at this price point. It looks very good in my opinion and is exactly what I would expect from a basic G scale rolling stock. It features a good amount of details and has the advantage of feeling pretty sturdy which is critical for someone with kids.

Cons:

• plastic wheels

Pros:

• sturdy feeling
• nice look with fair amount of detail
• very reasonable price

Liliput 95752, G-Scale stake car

I was in doubt whether to do this review at all. After all, it's just a freight car. A single freight car. Does it deserve a separate review?

But then I remembered that whenever I'm considering buying something, I'm looking it up on the internet first. And what I usually find is just some official photos without any useful first-hand information. And then I wish people shared more...

So this review must be worth it! And I'll try to make it a habit to always share at least a little bit about everything new I get. So this time it's Liliput 95752: a stake car in G-scale.

The car comes in a sturdy box 18 x 8 x 5 inches in size. At first sight - it looks good. Let's take a look inside...

There's actually quite a lot inside the box. You'll find:

• the car with "wooden" logs
• LGB-like couplers (with installation manual)
• knuckle couplers
• hand-brake wheel
• plates for various railway companies

This is the car taken straight out of the box. As you can see, the couplers are not installed at all.

One thing to be noticed immediately is that both the stakes and the logs are removable. Actually they're very loose. It's very nice in case you want to model a scene like the one below but might also be problematic in case you just want to run your trains. I might consider attaching them permanently...

The car itself is made of a good quality plastic that feels nice when held in hands. The same cannot be said about the logs. Those are made of cheap-looking, light, empty inside and glossy material. Slight disappointment here but let's assume the logs are not the most important element of the set.

The car comes without any couplers installed. Two types are however included so every user should be happy. We can either install an American knuckle coupler:

Or a more traditional (for us in Europe) LGB-like coupler.

In both cases the installation is pretty easy. Still - the manufacturer decided to provide an installation diagram for the LGB coupler.

One thing I was worried about was whether the car would still fit into the box after the installation of the couplers. Well, it does fit... barely... or should I say: perfectly?

The car features a lot of details. We have plenty of handles and some of them are movable. They seem fragile, too...

The under-frame is quite rich. All those rods are separate parts that are not glued and can be moved. Yep, those feel fragile, too...

There are two extra details that can be installed. One is the railway company logo that goes on the side of the car. And there are several to choose from. Here I have attached an Austrian Railway plate:

The other is a hand brake wheel. It looks great although that's one more part that does not feel very durable. Especially if you consider that all those logs are loose and can hit it easily...

A very nice surprise is the car's wheels. They're made of metal and are pretty heavy. They really feel like a solid piece and make me believe I bought a quality product. And they do feature an interesting design, too.

Since the car is complete now, let's take a look at some more photos:

Summary

I like the car a lot. My first impression is that the money was well spent. I'm a little worried about the fragile parts and might consider gluing some of them. But I absolutely love the metal wheels!

Pros:

• lots of details
• selection of couplers
• nice metal wheels
• very good price

Cons:

• fragile parts
• wooden logs made of cheap plastic