Dennis asked:

Since you and Jack have both looked at these cars, what do you guys think about the
quality? Are the tank moldings decent, and do the fit together well? What do you
think about the walkway? Fragile?

The castings are nicely detailed. The tanks are molded in 3 pieces, a bottom and 2
side/top pieces. This results in a seam down the top of the car, which is made
worse by the rather uneven casting edges and drift angles. A 4th tank piece is
inserted in the bottom to help get the bottom and side pieces aligned. Filing and
filling the seams will result in an acceptable result, although working around the
rivets where the tank sections joined can be a challenge. These are definitely NOT
beginner kits<G>. The walkways are styrene and look relatively robust, although like
most listers with these kits I have yet to actually complete one <G>... I do have
one tank assembled and waiting putty. As has been noted before, you can buy these
cars with plastic or brass details... go with the brass! These include PSC's tank
car railing stanchions and the unique UTLX sill steps.

To summarize, it would be wonderful to have a 21st century tank casting for these
cars, but these kits are certainly very viable alternatives to give a rather unusual
car (the type V) and the narrow frame car, with almost the same parts is a good
place to start the more common type X cars...

Regards
Bruce Smith
Auburn, AL