Covered Hopper Kits, Athearn BB v/s Accurail

BEFORE WE BEGIN THE COMPARISION...

Like many of us, i have built countless Athearn Blue Box(BB) AND Accurail kits. Though BOTH of these are on the cheaper end as far as kits go, i find them to be the BEST kits you can get for the small amount of money they cost .

I feel comparing these kits is quite fair, since they both cost about $10.00, give or take $5.00 depending on where you buy them. the amount of parts are about the same, the quality between the two is about the same, and the skill level to build them is about the same:winki: .

After building 3 covered hoppers, back to back today, i felt compelled to write up this comparison since while both kits are similar, they both have very distinct differences, thats differences that i never noticed till i built them back to back.

THREE REGRETS...

1- i didn't take pics of the steps along the way , but hey, i didn't know i was going to write this till after i built them:119: .
2- i wish i had a scale to give you folks the exact weights of the cars , i use dads scale to get the weight right, but thats at his house.:119:
3- BOTH covered hoppers are ACF, but the Athearn BB has four discharges, the Accurail has three, so these are not 100% identical, but i feel they are plenty close enough to compare them:winki: .

ONE LAST NOTE:

The Athearn BB i am using in the comparison is actually a Bev-Bel Athearn, for those that don't know what that means, simply, its a regular Athearn BB, but it comes in a road name that Athearn didn't produce, thats it, so that means except the paint its just a plain old Athearn BB.

**ACF COVERED HOPPER KITS, ATHEARN BB V/S ACCURAIL**

Athearn BB



Accurail



MAIN BODY PARTS & APPEARANCE BEFORE ASSEMBLY...

The Athearn BB had three more BODY parts then the Accurail, these parts were the four top hatches on the hopper, the Accurail just had one continuous hatch that represented all four top hatches. i found the Athearn BB hatches to be better detailed, but in the same token, Accurail did do a good job on the detail of the single piece looking like four separate hatches.

The main body shell on the Athearn BB had just a touch more detail to it then the Accurail did, but nothing real significant, i found BOTH to be about the same quality wise:winki: .

The paint on BOTH of them was very good , the lettering was crisp and the small writing was legible on both of them also.

TRUCKS...

Ahtearn BB
Came assembled, plastic wheels with metal axles. i checked to make sure they were in gauge, and they were. The trucks are attached to the body by screws.

Accurail
The trucks had to be assembled, plastic wheels and plastic axles. i checked to make sure they were in gauge, and they were. The trucks are attached to the body by screws, or push pins, you have the choice, the parts are there for both ways.

COUPLERS...

Athearn BB

Came with horn hook couplers only. They are mounted with the old Athearn standard "push clip".

Accurail

Came with two sets of couplers, a set of accumate couplers, and a set of "dummy" couplers. They are mounted by screws.

NOTE: I wouldn't use the couplers from EITHER of these two kits, you just cant beat Kadee's:winki: .

BODY ASSEMBLY...

Athearn BB

After cutting the sprues off, and deburring the parts, i found that most of the pieces didn't fit well together at all:eeki: . additional shaving of some of the parts edges was definitely needed for a nice match up fit.

the weight on the Athearn needs to be glued in with CA or with double faced tape to keep it in place.

Getting the two end pieces to fit right for a good fit on to the main body might take a try or two, i didn't find this design real "user friendly", don't get me wrong, its not that hard, but like i said, you might not get it right on the first try .

Accurail

After cutting the sprues off, and deburring the parts, i found EVERY PART fit together PERFECTLY , NO ADDITIONAL shaving on the edges of parts was needed, the models pieces basically just all fell right into place, EXCELLENT fit up.

The weight is held into place by tabs located on both ends of the car, no need to glue it in, its not going anywhere.

NOTE: you probably wouldn't have to, but i glue the models together for better durability:winki: . BEFORE GLUING, if you go that route, make sure you add the proper weights to the car FIRST, you'll thank yourself later for doing that .

FINISHED PRODUCTS...

Finished, BOTH of these kits made for some real nice models, as you can see from the pics posted in this thread . They BOTH rolled well, and the coupler hight was correct on each of them. i did however notice that the Accurail weighed just over twice that of the Athearn BB:eeki: , i couldn't believe how light the Athearn BB ended up being, so like i mentioned before, be sure and use your scale before you glue the bottoms on, so you can get the weight of the cars correct.

Personally, while i liked BOTH cars, the Athearn had just a touch more detail, just a touch mind you, but as far as assembly goes, the Accurail was easier, and made much better.

DISSCLAIMER...

These were only MY observations while building these kits, you may/may not find my observations to be the same as yours:winki: . ALSO, this comparison only goes for the ACF COVERED HOPPERS,...the boxcars, etc. could be a whole other story:winki::119: .