I have to say AS make some of the most detailed and well finished products, but I have now bought 6 different products and they all have issues, 3 have needed diy fixes to get them to even go round curves or through points, very little is made of these issues because its AS. I also find AS don’t take criticism of this sort of thing well on a certain forum. Well done Sam for calling this out
That's on Accurascale to FIX their product. Getting upset about the problem doesn't help them. They need to learn HOW to resolve those problems during production.
@West Combe Model Railwaythat's not what business. Obviously they have talented engineering to make a product look really good. Most of the manufacturing looks good. They are charging a premium for a product that has a QC problem. As we see, only one boogie is bad. (it would have been interesting if Sam reversed the car/wagon and see if it would derail the same extract boogie, which I assume it would). These issues happening here and there means the problem is in mass production, not in design. Thus, they need to sort that out. Having rollingstock that derails constantly is bad for biz. I'm used to buying Japanese model kits, the quality of workmanship is usually the best in the world. So much so that very minor defects agree noticable. Compared to opening a typical American box and being disappointed. Not only is the quality not great, but the price is usually much higher. An easy example is a re-release MPC X-Wing at about $35. (Badly tooled in 1982) vs the slightly smaller $25 Bandai version which looks amazing. 4x the details, 4x the parts, more plastic that's a joy to build. The ability to make a better product is there. Fixing the issues would help their sales and public perception of the company.
Quality control in Chinese factories is really hard. It is not that the factory cannot do the manufacturing well, it is just that sometimes they choose not to spend the extra money. In another industry (but still in moulded products) we were dealing with one of the top manufacturers by size in China. Their QA systems were very good and we had our own expat staff in the factory periodically to confirm. We discovered by accident that some of the production was outsourced to a comparatively small nearby manufacturer for whom the party had decreed that our manufacturer was responsible to ensure work flow. We had declined the quote from that manufacturer as our supplier because of their substandard QA and equipment, despite the price being substantially less per production run. They were using copies of our moulds which we had not QAed as we had with the big guy. (Forget the IP issues!!!) So our containers had mixed loads of the better factory’s product with the inferior. We were paying the higher price for the lesser manufacturer’s product! Here, it is quite possible the bogies come from different manufacturers as well as from AS’s main manufacturer. Given the moulded part was the wrong size, the probability is that all products from the same mould should have the same defect - which the comments suggest is not the case. The production samples would have displayed it too. I would assume these were QAed by AS. I do not know the cause, but my experience would suggest a possible reason.
I must admit that if I had paid nearly £60 for this model and it had had these performance issues I would have been desperately disappointed. Loco grade packaging and details don't substitute for decent performance. I would have either sent it back or put it in a siding for decoration. Your reviews are great Sam and lack of bias is vital.
Honestly, I would get in touch with them. They are usually extremely good at solving the issues with the aftercare. Personally I would be doing that straight off for the broken part.
I knew you would be getting this one, this one with the Red Cross on seems to be really popular , always amazes me how wartime stuff is this popular yet I have yet to see a show that has at least a few wartime layouts, the most I have seen is about 2 layouts set in wartime, decent review overall Sam, I might get one in the future but right now not really sure which version to go for.
I think a lot of it gets bought by military modellers. They may not specifically be train enthusiasts, but will buy it up because it goes with their collection of military machinery and vehicles
@@modelrailwaynoob there most probably is a fair few wartime layouts out there but like I say the most I have seen in person is about 2, the last show I attended was the Doncaster BRM show this year and I remember there being one there but that was it, so yeah there are layouts out there but from the looks of it it is not a very common period to model.
@David's Trains I have two, Calllum has three I think and there are at least three or four other WWI that I know of and two WWII. I don't go to many shows so there may be several more. I perhaps notice them because I like the war stuff
This new wagon from Accurascale is like what you said, a fantastic model with separate details fitted all over the body of the wagon. Unfortunately, the bogie on your particular model is faulty because of its inconsistent quality control from Accurascale but it is still a very nice looking model Sam which I like it.
@@InventorZahran No it couldn't. They were not used on WWI ambulance trains in either in the UK or abroad. The first trains were only French stock, then built to order using WD orders. All were converted coaches for WWI.
Hi Sam, first time in a very long time that I find myself in disagreement with your scores. I personally would have been much more harsh with the performance score, given the fact that the wagon didn’t work! Still, can’t deny it’s a well detailed and good looking thing.
Yeah maybe that's fair Adam - it was a bit of a dilemma because I looked it up to see if others had had the same problem, and couldn't find any other stories. So it seems rare, but I still wanted to reflect the issues in my score... so maybe I was a bit more lenient than I would usually be! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
I have a string of six Siphons of various diagrams, and running they really look good, especially as a night express - BUT - it took forever to get them around any of my curves, all of which are radius four and above, let alone across points. I acquired the lot gradually over several months as I was reconstructing my layout, and had no way to trial run the first ones. I finally resolved the issues exactly as you did, reaming out the holes on the bogies and leaving the screws a bit untightened, so the bogies can now rock and turn. If postage wasn't so much from the US to the UK, I would have returned the lot on first failures, but a net cost of shipping to and fro for a refund of purchase price, would have meant having spent over £50 each with nothing to show for it. Also, I suggest you check the flange spacing with a wheel gauge, such as the NEM 102 or the NMRA gauge. The bogie issue alone makes me very suspect of Accurascale wagons, and, by extension, their locos. And, by the way, the hangers for the corridor connectors are very touchy, as are the connectors themselves. If you happen to knock off one of either, get out the tweezers and magnifiers - you'll need 'em. Still, it's an impressive unit, and in a long string of similars, even in mixed colors, looks GREAT, but take it easy across points, even after checking and correcting everything.
Amazed at how Accurascale can make such detailed high quality locos and rolling stock for prices comparable to other OO gauge manufacturers and offer so many different versions.
Yep that's true - but if it only takes a small team to produce this stuff, then the companies hiring vastly more personnel to do the same job are wasting our money with inefficiency. I say regardless of how they've achieved it, Accurascale's models are fantastic for the price... and other manufacturers will *have* to make improvements, or risk losing to their competition! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
@@PeggyDez Being a smaller mfg. they have a lot less funds to work with also, but my point was mainly on how expensive tooling would be for soo many small parts, and when you consider how much model railways as a hobby has decreased in popularity and then add in all the competitors there isn't a huge market to count on to defray the costs.
Just an extra word : I've received my two Siphon G today, and everything fine with them : no broken parts visible and, first thing I have tested, the bogies were turning freely, no stifness detected. For the moment, I had not made any dynamic test, I'm too busy tonight to do that. I'll take out from storage some relevant locomotive (GWR tender prairie by Dapol, and an equivalent in BR 4 or 5, I will see which one later) and set up some test track with Peco points. I'll come back later, hoping they will roll fine.
I feel like Sam still being able to use an affiliate link to get a small kick back from accurascale gives me a little bit of faith that their culture is much better than hornby for example. They seem open to criticism because of it which is pretty cool. Hopefully they learn from what reviewers say 😁✨
Great looking wagon. Mine came with one of the buffers off aswell but that's the only thing I could say against it. Accurascale knocked out the park again with this one
I received the Siphon G and finally got a chance yesterday to test it on switches (I think you call them points). I am happy to say that it operated perfectly on both code 100 and code 83 switches. FYI my OO scale 4-6-2 locos derail every time on code 83 switches but not on code 100.
Another great review Sam, as usual but I have to admit to a bit of a chuckle when, in your "military train" you placed the gunpowder van next to the Ambulance siphon G. 🤣🤣
Very interesting. Thank you for sharing your evaluation. One suggestion is to show it in operation with other passenger cars. Especially other cars with the diaphragms. Cheers.
I hope so too - hopefully it's not an issue that effects many other models - I certainly haven't heard many stories of the same issue! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
Hi Sam, I have the GWR shirt button dia .33 variant and it's the most I have spent on a goods vehicle. It complete an express consist with a King at the head. The box sets the expectation and I was hesitant to take it out of the clam when I saw how fine some of the details were. No rolling issues or damage to mine, just a gold paint bleed on the printing close to the sole bar. At this price point I would expect nothing less than perfection so would be sending mine back for replacement given the faults on yours. My first AC purchase, glad I don't need more than one... For me Rapido in the lead on value for a quality product. Cheers!
This was a really interesting and informative review. I ordered one of these ambulances several days before I saw your video and so far it hasn't been shipped, yet. Until today I was regretting not having ordered more than one Siphon G. Now I am hesitant to order any more. We'll see how the ambulance does when it gets here. I will post a note here to say how it performs. It may be a while, though; I live in the US and shipping from the UK can sometimes take a good while.
Good luck! Keep us advised as to how it runs. Unfortunately, here in the US, postage back precludes returning most anything, when you can burn a fifty dollar bill and at least get a little heat from it.
Thanks for letting us know the price of the model is the same at either Accurascale or Hattons. In these instances, I always check the package and posting charges, which can result in a significant saving if ordering a number of items
My problem was converting mm to fractional inches so I could buy the correct size socket. I was born metric and only learnt imperial to restore a Fairmont railway trolley. The axle nut measured 41mm, which turned out to be 1 5/8”, an expensive socket, but it worked well.
It's a time for hyper detailed vans. First the Rapido VIX and now this. All for just a few pounds more than the recent Bachmann Dance Hall brake van. Superb!
Another well crafted video from Sam's Trains. If I was in the market for one of these things I would be inspired to place an order. With sprung buffers and and fragile fittings, I feel it's a bit too upper class for my layout! Thanks for uiploading.
Can’t wait to see your class 37 review… I know some reviewers have had theirs for a while, so unless you didn’t order one, I hope your review isn’t too far away!
Great video, and as someone who has worked on a Siphon G many moons ago , these models are brillant, going to have to get one and replace my 3 lima ones. the one I worked on came from Swindon loco works and was used to carry coach panels from Swindon to Derby carriage works, after BR revenue service a lot were used for Diesel loco engine and carriage parts and marked with ENPARTS legend , after they finished with milk trains and the military in ww2 they were used for parcels and newspaper traffic well in to the 1980s, hope that helps ?
imagine you survive the war only for sam to marshall your ambulance coach right next to a gun powder van... total disregard for safety!! esp. as prone to derailment!!
Great review as always Sam. For the money, just too many manufacturing niggles and mishaps... Impressive by all of its details but a buffer pointing downwards, a stiff bogie, cannot handle points, pieces too easily falling apart. Not RTR as a result. The packaging is very professional printed indeed but not up for the job; very much requires a thick fully foam formed protective insert... We're not convinced by the rather unsharp injection moulding of the body either which makes it look a tad tacky and plasticy for the price... Not Accurascale's finest we should say. But that's us fussy and spoiled German premium brand modellers; quality above anything else... Accurascale has some homework to do...
Ive got two of these in BR Maroon. No issues with either model. Hoping for another batch with different running Nos to build a decent rake . Manors expected soon, hope they dont disappoint.
I'm sure that the wounded in that Siphon would have really appreciated being marshalled right behind a gunpowder van 😝 "survive Jerry to be blown up by one of our own gunpowder vans" 😛😛😛
One of the rubber connections has come of my model , and they are a nightmare to get back on as have 4 locating pins and managed to reglue it in the end , think some did run about with their end doors removed? but just a warning to anyone.and won't be paying so much for a peice of rolling stock in the future , I think the old Airfix/Mainline/ hornby and old Bachmann are decent enough and more durable, so be sticking with these , but saying that this Accurscale model is nice and very accurate😊
I'm expecting my TWO ones this week (GWR and BR red). The packaging is by itself indicative of a real high-end product. Which this beauty is. Proper bearings on the axles, superb decoration, galore of details, sprung buffers, real rubber connectors, and more ! You have your bang for the money, I'm impatient to get my two ones ! When you see coaches sold GBP 20/30 higher which had not this level of features, it's irritating to say the least. I take note for the bogie, I'll check mine on arrival. And for GBP 5 less, Bachmann have the Dance Hall brake van (RRP indicated, I've seen it at GBP 40)... As I said, irritating at least.
Astonishingly excellent level of detail, at an astonishingly high price. Is this detail necessary for a piece of rolling stock, especially when the underframes are rarely seen? For me, a simple choice arises... Do I buy : - 6 of these to replace the mainline ones (these are much nicer than the 1970's Lima Siphon G's)? Or - A rake of 6 of the new dapol toplight coaches, with die-cast chassis, interior detail and lighting? For the cost of two of these, I now have a rake of 4, lit Hattons Genesis coaches: It would be nice to see Accurascale start a "Junior" range, with adequate detail and price to encourage and support new members to our hobby....
The details look excellent. I have questions since it has a "floor" inside. While it has a single mold body, they should make the doors on the sides as different parts, so the owner can easily choose to have an open door or not. Only thing the model needs is a little bit of weathering to look real.
Ambulance trains are, by Geneva Convention, forbidden to include anything other than ambulance cars, kitchen/dining cars, and brake cars. Ammunition and powder, likewise, tanks and other military equipment are legitimate military targets and, as such, instantly remove all the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
I was initially pleased to see these. However, they are good for collectors and rule number 1 but I like military trains and so would need a lot more and would have to renumber them. The WWII ambulance trains were 12/14 cars (depending on which books you read). About half could be converted coaches and the rest vans. For me, they are daft on their own. I do like the blue versions however.
I’d send that back Sam . One bogey seems ok - it’s only one bogey that’s wrong . I think you’ve been too generous there , basically you can’t run this over points . Performance would be a one or two
Given how good that looks, I wouldn’t mind seeing them make the LNER Gresley 61’6” “Matchstick side” full brake in the Flying Scotsman USA Tour pullman style livery.
one suggestion for your points issue: maybe the flanges on the wheels are too wide? admittedly its more of a problem on older rolling stock but its my only theory
I don't have any running problems with my Siphon from Accurascale, but it too has one bogie tighter than the other. I only looked at this after seeing your review, but I'm wondering, perhaps wrongly, if this is deliberate so that one bogie can stabilise the body, but the other has some freedom to accommodate less than perfect track. Obviously in your case this has caused problems. I have found Accurascale's customer care to be fabulous. I emailed them about a very minor problem with my Deltic at 23:45 on a Sunday night and had a reply sorting my problem out in half an hour!
That's very interesting - odd that there's another that has one stiff bogie... if it is deliberate, it can't have been *that* stiff by design, otherwise their samples would never have passed muster... interesting thought though! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
When I saw that one bogie was stiffer, I had the same thought that you did. I thought it was probably for stabilization. Maybe it was and there is some other issue that is hard to find.
Are the points you use hornby ones? Try Peco and see if you still have a problem of derailing. My hornby ones I replaced with Peco and the problem disappeared. The odd hornby ones I kept I packed the plastic check rails with 20 thou plastic strips to line up the wheels and hey presto, problem solved.
Hi Sam I bought the br blue newspaper siphon g ,it has exactly the same faults as yours, stiff bogey at one end and de rails on points ,if you find a fix please let us know ,keep up the good work
Hi Sam, Larry Pucket from UK Model Railways (US-channel) had similar problems on one of his Siphon G - but not derailing. So again lack of Quality Control. Just not acceptable for this high price. Fragile precision details are no excuse and why do we 'need' all those under frame details you only see when turned upside down ?? Maybe this car is ment to be a show case model - upside down !
I would send it back to accurscale they are pretty good at replacing faulty goods. Shame as it's a nice looking model. I've seen other reviews on these models and they seem to not have the same issues.
Yeah I probably should have, but in the interests of the review I decided to fix the issue myself - not something I'd recommend, but I was happy to take the risk, Thanks for watching, Sam :)
Sam are your points 2nd radius? Maybe the wagon needs 3rd radius minimum to get around on rails or even Express points. But normal coaches can usually manage 2nd Radius points? A bit of a mystery.
Just unpacked mine and have the same problem with it derailing at some (not all) points. It seems that the bogies cannot turn sufficiently as the white brackets (part number 31) fitted to the solebar stop the bogies from turning as much as they need to turn. I am not going to remove them from my model and will return it instead. Hopefully later updates will have solved these problems.
The Siphon van would have looked much better attached to the Ambulance coaches. Thanks for running Torquay Manor in any case. The poor engine must have been scared out of her wits.
I don’t model GWR normally but do have a loco and take of coaches and been looking at these but the first time I think the price is too much for me, it’s approaching Pullman car with lights pricing, can get a set of 3 Consett iron ore hoppers (would love a review of these) from KR for not a lot more
Yes that's fair enough - it's certainly very expensive for a single wagon, even if the price is reflected in the level of detail... definitely a big question mark over whether such complexity/detail is necessary... but it sure is cool! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
@@SamsTrains how do you think it compares to the other very well detailed wagons on the market like the aforementioned Consett Hoppers by KR or the Rapido Brake vans
I think, at the price, you probably should take it back for a refund or replacement. It's not normal for Accurascale to have derailing issues, so I think you may have a dodgy Siphon. For the price, you shouldn't need to do your own repair work, and I don't think Accurascale would expect you to do your own repair work either.
Hey Sam, what is your opinion on the hornby pendolino? Its really expensive considering its age and with the coaches having no interior detail it just seems so overpriced. When you think the newer and much better class 800 is roughly the same price, the 390 looks like a total waste of money.
It doesn't seem to be no - I can't see anything near the rails, and I can't feel anything physically catching when I push it along with my hands... I will double check this though! Thanks for watching, Sam :)
Reinforces my opinion that Accurascale put in too much detail at the expense of robustness and running. This hasn't stopped me getting at least one of most of their products. Think Bachmann do a better balance in this trade off but are noticeably more expensive.
As someone who’s second most important criteria behind value is performance, this is an unsatisfactory performer dressed up with a lot of bells and whistles to fool consumers. Accurascale needs to improve their quality control before I have confidence in their rolling stock
Hmm - doesn’t run and parts broken. I’m so over these expensive, over-detailed and fragile, poorly QC’ed products. Just build a reasonably detailed, well made, affordable model, eg like Dapol does. In Britain. Sigh.
Unfortunately this is too expensive for me to justify a purchase, Considering you can get an Accurascale loco with Sound, for less than the cost of 5 of these, its not good value for money. I would expect to get a rake of 10 wagons for the price of one of my locos,
Too many defects to warrant the review scores, in my opinion. Broken buffer, other details missing, then the faff with the stiff bogie and the derailments. This is an item that under normal circumstances a customer would have returned for a refund or replacement. Customers should not be expected to fettle a brand new purchase just to (try and) get it to work as expected.
hi sam.accurascale are proving themselves a number 1 contender in the uk market. great quality decently priced . like any new company they are bound to have teething problems both with their production suppliers as well with minor defects which may raise its head on some models.
